On Monday 30 May at 4pm, the villagers of Madama reported that a fire had been started by seven to eight settlers in one of the village’s wheat fields. The field was close to the place where less than a week ago, Hamad Jaber Qut – a 66 year old shepherd, was attacked by 15 settler youths with knives and sticks whilst tending his sheep and getting ready for prayer.
Mohammed, a resident of Madama, witnessed the arson attack which came at the hands of settlers who reside in the illegal settlement, Yizhar which is 1.5km away on top of one of the hills overlooking the Palestinian village. Mohammed saw them throw petrol and light the wheat. On seeing the smoke, the residents of Madama called the fire brigade to put the fire out, by which time the settlers had retreated back into the settlement. The fire was put out in due course.
When the ISM went to see where the attack had taken place, a jeep of Israeli soldiers could be seen watching the area.
This arson attack follows a violent physical attack on Hamad Jaber Qut who has sustained serious injuries to his face including two black eyes, gashes to his head, and bruising to his abdomen and legs after being attacked by 15 settler youths. When asked by the ISM whether he would go back to the land, he replied; “This land is our land, the settlement is in an area they should not be. The settlers did not take into consideration that I was preparing to pray before I was attacked. They are animals. This will not make us feel afraid, we have the right and god will be with us. All the world should know that their [the settlers] existence is illegal.” When asked whether he will go back to the land to tend his sheep, he replied; “Yes, I will go back. They will not stop us going.”
Madama is a village with 2,000 inhabitants located in the south of Nablus, in the West Bank. According to its mayor, Lehab Tahsin Qut, since the construction of the illegal settlement of Yitzhar in 1985, 1,000 dunams of land has already been confiscated from the village.
Yesterday private Israeli bulldozers arrived in the village of Al Ma’sara in the West Bank and destroyed a section of farm land belonging to the Brijia family, uprooting five grape trees and an abundance of wheat. The bulldozers who were accompanied by Israeli military jeeps belonged to an electrical company who were installing an underground cable to provide electricity to the nearby illegal settlement of Efrat. The family of farmers, who have legally owned the land since 1964 had been given no prior warning of the destruction and neither the workers nor the army could provide any paperwork when asked. This latest destruction of property is a sad blow to a family who have already lost four dunums of their land to illegal Israeli construction.
Al Ma’sara, 13 km south of Bethlehem, is home to about 900 people. The village is situated in a mountainous and fertile rural area which enjoys an abundance of natural water resources. Construction and expansion of Gush Etzion – one of the nearby illegal settlements – has already confiscated a large portion of village lands. Villagers believe that this latest destruction of land is part of the Israeli government’s bigger plan to expand the illegal settlements around Bethlehem and link them together, isolating Palestinian villages, who are already a minority in the area and strengthening Israel’s hold on the West Bank
This past week in the outskirts of Hebron, ISM activists have been helping farmer Abd al Kareim Al Jabari to work his land after him and his family have suffered continuous harrasment from settlers who have prevented them from working their land. In the most recent settler attack on Monday 8th, settlers stole the crops that Abd al Kareim had gathered during the day, took them to another field and tried to set them on fire. To prevent further attacks, he has asked ISM activists to be present whilst he works on his fields.
Six members of Abd al Kareim’s family have been injured after unprovoked attacks by settlers. In 2005 Abd al Kareim’s arm was broken during a prolonged attack. In 2008 his daughter Ayatt Jabari was hurt after being hit in the head by a stone thrown by a settler. Since Palestinian vehicle movement is restricted in the area, Ayatt Jabari had to wait two hours before the ambulance arrived.
Eight years ago a tent serving as a synagogue was raised on the family’s land. The High court has ruled that it should be removed from the private land, but it still remains, despite several complaints and protests from the family and Palestinian, Israeli and international activists.
The family’s land is situated in between the illegal settlements of Kiryat Arba and Hava Oat in the east of Hebron. Hava Oat is a small settlement situated on the top of a hill opposite the main entrance to Kiryat Arba. Kiryat Arba is the biggest settlement in Hebron with approximately 7200 illegal inhabitants. Settlers have made a walkway through the fields of the family. Subsequently, settlers pass by through the fields throughout all the day.
The illegal settlement of Hava Oat overlooking the land of the farmer
Military vehicles pass by the synagogue tent built on the land of the farmer
14 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
Harvesting grain in Khuza’a.
On May 8, 9, and 10th the farmers of Khuza’a harvested their wheat. Khuza’a is a village near the Israeli border in the southern Gaza Strip. For three days they visited the fields, starting very early in the morning and picking the fruits of their land. For three days the Israeli occupation forces fired from their automated turret while the farmers continued to harvest their grain. However, they did not allow the Israeli Occupation Force to prevent them from going to their land.
The area where the farmers, along with three international ISM activists and five Palestinian activists traveled to, is about 450 meters from the border. Before the second intifada melons were grown there, along with other fruit trees and olive trees. “We came here to do barbecue, party and relax… the Israeli jeeps used to pass in the distance but did not bother us, they used to leave us in peace.” Ahmed said. Today the trees have been uprooted, the plants destroyed. The only thing that can be grown, because it does not require constant attention, is wheat. But the wheat needs several hours to be collected, and snipers have fun terrorizing the farmers during those hours.
On May 8th in addition to the activists there were eight farmers in the fields, mostly women, but also a child of 13 years and a girl of seven, all brothers and sisters of the AnNajjar family which resides in Khuza’a. They were on 10 dunams of their land, collecting the golden-yellow wheat in bundles and they thought that the presence of activists (foreign and not) could protect them at work, and decided to go farther than usual to collect plants to feed their animals. Where the wheat fields end the land is crossed by sand dunes caused by Israeli bulldozers; here grows thorn bushes and small trees that seem dry, but are a good food for donkeys and sheep. A man bends down to pull up some plants, extends his arm and points his finger at a dune a few tens of meters away, “You see that land? That land is mine and I can not go there.”
From the towers, the Israeli forces are not slow to remember who has the power to decide which land can or can not be farmed by these farmers. We heard the first shots in the air above us just before 9:00. Suddenly and without warning, three bullets landed within 50 meters of the farmers who were working their land. When someone shoots into the air you just hear the shot, but if the bullet is in your direction you can hear the whistle, and the sound of the bullet landing. The soil was sandy, and when the bullets hit, we could see three clouds of dust rise. Close. Too close to a group of nearly 20 civilians who were only harvesting wheat. Some twenty minutes later a man, furious, stopped collecting grass for his animals and said of the other side of the border, where a tractor is plowing a field, “Look, the Israelis can grow undisturbed. However if we go out they shoot at us. ”
Harvesting grain in Khuza’a.
Harvesting grain in Khuza’a.
Harvesting grain in Khuza’a.
The lands of Khuza’a in Gaza.
On the second day another group, also linked to the extended family AnNajjar, started to collect the grain in a nearby field, which also covers an area of 10 dunam. There were more than 10 farmers intent on collecting the grain and some woman who were collecting grass. But what can they make from 10 dunams of land? Akhmad AnNajjar tries to quantify it: “In the past, we brought home 50-60 bags of wheat, now we are only able to make between 10 and 20: we are unable to take care of the land because we cannot reach it, the amount of grain is much smaller than it was 10 years ago.” From the control tower a shot was heard at around 7:30 and at around 8 o’clock, the motion of the jeeps and tanks across the border were beginning to become constant. On the third day jeeps and tanks continued to move constantly, raising clouds of dust on the land that today is recognized as Israeli. The bullets were not missing either. A man told us: All day they shoot. But when there is presence of internationals they shoot a bit less. ”
Khuza’a is a farming village that is located in the southern Gaza Strip, in the governate of Khan Younis. The center of Khuza’a is located about one kilometer from the border, while about 80% of its arable land (from a total of 2000 dunam) is located in an area where there is a high risk of being hit by Israeli bullets or areas where the Zionist entity has unilaterally denied access, the so-called “buffer zone“. Many dunams cannot be cultivated, and access to some land is completely blocked by the occupation forces. According to a UN report, 35% of all of Gaza’s arable land is in “high risk” areas, and cases of farmers being seriously injured or killed while on their way to cultivate their land are not rare. The poverty line reaches 80 percent, the same for unemployment and the majority of workers who lost their jobs since the beginning of the 2nd Intifada are still jobless. Among the marginalized people are farmers and fishermen who depend on international assistance.
Akmad explains why despite everything, he and his family go there again and again to collect the grain: “We want to eat, and live a normal life. This is our right, this is our land, we will not abandon our fields, even if Israel continues to shoot and try to intimidate us.”
26 April 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
Today the farmers of Beit Hanoun harvested their wheat. This would be unexceptional news in any other part of the world, but in Palestine things aren’t always so simple. Beit Hanoun is close to the Israeli border, a border where Israel imposes an illegal “buffer zone” in which it claims the right to shoot anyone it wishes. Israel claims the buffer zone is 300 meters wide, but farmers and scrap collectors who work along the border are often shot at at distances up to 1.5 kilometers from the border. The border is lined with massive towers containing guns, sometimes the guns fire, and people die. You won’t read about the dead in the New York Times though, they are Palestinian and their deaths are unremarkable and un-newsworthy.
In honor of the slain Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni the Local Initiative, the group that organized today’s harvest, had decided to launch the Vittorrio Arrigoni Campaign to Harvest Wheat. Today was its first action. Vittorio had often worked with farmers to plant and harvest their crops along the buffer zone, after his death we continue to harvest in his name, in his memory.
We set out to the fields at about eleven. Loudspeaker, posters, and scythes ready. We parked the van and started to walk to the fields, playing Vittorio’s favorite song, Onadeekum, over the loudspeaker. We reached the field and set to work; kneel, cut, and make a pile of freshly shorn wheat. The field we were working in is about a kilometer from the border, it doesn’t look like much is planted closer to the border than this. It is dangerous to work close to the border. After a few minutes shots ring out. They aren’t aimed at us though, at some other unseen farmer, maybe a poor man trying to collect rocks to make cement which is in critical shortage in Gaza due to the blockade Israel imposes. Back to work we go, the wheat still needs harvesting, and there is nothing to be done about unseen shooting. Perhaps later we will read about the death of somebody in the newspaper, but you can be sure that the New York Times will make no mention of the murder. We didn’t finish harvesting the wheat today, but we will back, we will continue to challenge the illegal buffer zone that Israel imposes on Gaza.
