Tag: Land burning

20 dunums of land and 200 olive trees set on fire by settlers in Sarra

3rd July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Sarra, Occupied Palestine

On the morning of the 30^th of June, settlers from the illegal outpost of Havat Gilad rallied 100 settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Qedumim to attack the land of the Palestinian village of Sarra.

Late in the morning, settlers went to the land located between Sarra and the illegal Israeli outpost and set fire to the land, resulting in twenty dunums of land burnt and two hundred olive trees destroyed. The Palestinian fire brigade arrived at the scene to put out the fire, but was prevented from reaching the land by the Israeli military. The fifteen Palestinian farmers who own this land have not been able to access it for years – they have been denied access because of its proximity to the illegal outpost.

The village of Sarra, located southwest of Nablus city, has seen 2000 dunums of their land annexed bythe illegal Israeli outpost of Havat Gilad. This outpost was erected in 2002 and is considered illegal under both international and Israeli law. The Israeli government dismantled some structures of the outpost in 2011 which led to ‘price-tag’ attacks in retribution against Palestinian communities nearby. The structures were soon rebuilt by the settlers and have since then been protected by the Israeli military.

This is a regular tactic of Israeli settlers to create ‘facts on the ground’ by establishing illegal outposts, which are then protected by the Israeli military and eventually designated as neighbourhoods of exisiting settlements. There are currently around 121 settlements in the West Bank, along with around 100 illegal outposts.

The illegal outpost of Havat Gilad on the right and the burnt land on the left (Photo by ISM)

“Nothing forbidden for them, but nothing allowed for us”

14th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Qaryut, Occupied Palestine

By Team Nablus

Settlers from the illegal colony of Shilo set fire to land belonging to the nearby village of Qaryut. Around 25 families own land in this area. The land contained wheat crops and olive trees and is next to land previously stolen by settlers, which they had been cultivating for themselves only two days before.

Illegal Shilo settler Moshka takes pictures of his handiwork, torching Palestinian land. (Photo by ISM) — Illegal Shilo settler Moshka takes pictures of his handiwork, torching Palestinian land (Photo by Qaryut villagers)

Red Crescent paramedics went to the scene of the fires at around 6pm, where many villagers had already arrived hoping to put out the fires. However they were prevented from doing so by four settlers and half a dozen soldiers who had turned up to protect the settlers. Villagers were made to stand and watch their future harvest go up in flames. With the fires building up they had nothing to do but argue in vain with the soldiers about the gross immorality of the situation.

The settlers present also prevented the fire from spreading on to the annexed land they have been cultivating. It was clear to see the fires had been deliberately lit as there were many separate fires in a close range, rather than one large fire spreading on the overcast and wet day. Villagers witnessed Moshka, one of the settlers – (who is a regular problem causer; his son is a patrolman for the settlement too) – use a lighter to set fire to their land. The fire was only put out by the arrival of heavy and atypical rain from a thunderstorm an hour later.

Two days prior to this attack the settlers had started ploughing stolen land and cut down four trees. They have been expanding the settlement on the Palestinian side of the highway to Ramallah and Jerusalem. Fifteen dunams of land was torched. Meanwhile two dunums of wheatfields had been burnt in the South Hebron Hills earlier that day.

A familiar sight, soldiers and settlers working together (Photo by Qaryut villagers)

Settlers set Palestinian land ablaze in village of Burin

By Alex Marley

15 September 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

In the afternoon of Tuesday, 11 September 2012, settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar burned farmers’ land containing almond trees in the Palestinian village of Burin.

Around 10 settlers came down from the nearby settlement of Yitzhar and started to burn the trees; when Palestinian shepherds came to investigate the fires they returned quickly to the settlement. They were guarded by security officers as they watched from above.. The firemen arrived within several minutes and were successful in their efforts to control the fires. After one hour the Israeli army, Israeli Disctrict Coordination Offices (DCO) and border police arrived.

Land belonging to villagers from Burin burns as firefighters struggle to put it out.

This small village of approximately 3,000 people deal with a constant threat of settler attacks and Israeli army harassment. Two illegal settlements and one illegal outpost surround Burin: Yitzhar, Bracha, and Givt Arousa. The residents of these illegal colonies make it clear that they will do whatever it takes to force the Palestinians out of their homes. Their criminal acts range from burning olive trees, to shooting home made rockets at the village. In 2011, approximately 4000 trees were destroyed, burned and uprooted, by the settlers’ violence.

Alex Marley is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).