11 November 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Friday, the house at Khan al-Luban, south of Nablus was trespassed by settlers from the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Levona. The settlers attempted to destroy the water supply at the house.
Settlers from the Ma’ale Levona take photos and video at Khan al-Luban
Earlier in the morning, house-owner Khalid al-Hamed, his two sons and two international activists spent some hours lifting rocks out of a pit outside the house where the major water pipes are. Settlers have previously thrown those rocks down into the pit attempting to break the pipes.
At around 12:15 one settler arrived and filmed this activity from the road.
Later, at around 14:15, the same settler returned with three others. The men filmed and photographed the house. They also made threatening moves towards the international activists.
One of the settlers, who was armed with an automatic pistol, then located the only other functioning water supply to the house and grounds and tried to destroy it by pulling the pipes from the wall. He also attempted to break the tap. The water supply for the house is an outside tap that sits around 50 meters up the hill from the house. Settlers have previously attacked and damaged the water supply and the other buildings on the property.
The settlers left the immediate area as the homeowner arrived on the scene.
Minutes later, two Israeli military vehicles arrived containing five soldiers. They continued to harass Khaled who was visibly distressed about this latest intrusion to his home and the damage caused. This harassment lasted another 45 minutes until the soldiers finally left, having taken no action.
For more background information on the situation at Khan al-Luban see here.
Stephen Alexander is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement.
18 August | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Saturday August 11, 2012 the same events of three days earlier repeated themselves in Khan Al Luban. A group of 4 illegal Israeli settlers, from Ma’ale Levona, armed with guns and wooden sticks, came into Khan al Luban at 10:30 p.m. The settlers yet again broke into the house owned by Khalid al-Hamed Daraghmah where international activists and the 2 sons of Khalid were staying.
When the settlers arrived, Khalid’s sons and the international activists asked them to leave the property, but they refused and instead sat down near the spring on the Daraghmah land. After about half an hour, 2 Israeli police cars arrived along with 2 military jeeps after having received a call from the settlers. A few minutes later, 2 more military jeeps arrived at the scene. By then, the Daraghmah land was full of Israeli police, soldiers, and security guards from the illegal settlement. The soldiers entered the house searching for weapons, but as usual they did not find anything.
Click for more pictures. Photo by Marcus Fitzgerald.
Around midnight, the soldiers, police, security personnel, and settlers left the area while Jamal, the oldest son of Khalid, and the international activists remained in the house. Throughout the night settlers stayed on patrol in the street near the Daraghmah house, shouting and honking the horns of their cars.
At 7:30 a.m. the following morning, a border police car stopped near the Daraghmah house on the road leading up to the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Levona. The border policemen then proceeded to break into the house, aggressively asking for passports and other documents. Like the night before, the house was searched and no bag, cigarette package, or piece of clothing went unturned.
Jamal was brutally pushed into one of the rooms by the police officers where he received several blows to the face before he was handcuffed and taken away. Jamal was taken to the Israeli police station of Binyamin, wrongly accused of having hit a soldier. He was released on bail the day after.
The continued pressure of the Israeli occupation forces and illegal settlers remain a a constant threat during both days and nights in Khan al Luban.
Alex Marley is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
17 August 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
At around 10:30 p.m., a group of Israeli settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Ma’ale Levona arrived in Khan Al Luban, a Palestinian hamlet located in the vicinity of Al Luban village. Armed with guns and wooden sticks, the settlers broke into a house owned by Khalid al-Hamed Daraghmah.
Israeli settlers armed with guns and sticks on the land of Khalid al-Hamed Daraghmah.
The owner Khalid Daraghmah was alerted by his dogs when the 6 armed settlers arrived by car. Khalid went out and asked the intruders to leave his property. The settlers refused claiming that, “this is not private property, but property of the state of Israel.” The settlers forcefully entered his house, going into every room, shouting and kicking household objects.
The settlers then headed towards the water spring that is next to the house. International activists that Khalid called for support also tried to stop the settlers and explain that they are intruding on private property, but again the settlers refused to leave. On this occasion they argued that it is their right to be there, because “the prophet Abraham was here 2000 years ago. “
About half an hour after the settlers’ arrival, a white jeep arrived at full speed. Two Israeli soldiers ran out of the car and headed aggressively towards Khalid. The soldiers grabbed Khalid, shouting, and pushed him violently into a room of the house. The international activists tried to enter the room but were prevented by the soldiers.
Some 20 minutes later, another car arrived carrying 4 soldiers as well as 2 Israeli police cars carrying 4 policemen. The soldiers interrogated Khalid and the police spoke to the settlers who claimed to have been attacked by Khalid.
The soldiers scoured the house, ‘looking for weapons’. They entered all the rooms of Khalid’s house which have been emptied since a previous settler attack. After finding nothing at about 1:00 a.m., the police, soldiers, and settlers left.
Khalid says, “they are gone now but unfortunately, they will be back.”
Alex Marley is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
15 August 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
For the past four years, Khalid al-Sanih Daraghmah and his family have faced regular attacks by Israeli settlers at their home in Khan, 2 kilometers south of the West Bank village al-Luban. When Khalid bought the two homes on the road to the illegal Ma’ale Levona settlement 5 years ago, he imagined restoring them and planting the 20 dunums of land that they sit on.
Khaled Daraghmah sits in his house, originally a police station from the Ottoman era – click to see more photos
Today, the two houses sit with the insides burned and gutted, without doors or windows, and under constant threat of further attacks. Only Khalid is left to protect them, as he has moved his family to another home for their safety. The move was especially motivated to protest his two eldest sons, who have been unjustly arrested several times, simply for being present on their own property.
Five years ago, Khalid purchased the two buildings from his cousin believing that he could restore them and turn the property into a paradise.
“I sold everything to buy this property,” says Khalid, “including my family gold.”
The first six months were strange, admits Khalid. Israeli real estate agents constantly inquired if he would sell.
“Everyone came saying, ‘Habibi (my dear), how much will it take for you to sell.’”
Over time, the voices became less friendly, and when it became clear he would not sell, the attacks began. The settlers began coming on to his property several times each week to cut trees, steal food, and use the natural spring that flows under his property.
One year after moving to the building that rests on the west side of the road, it was set on fire while he and his family were away visiting friends. The family then decided to live in the second home, which sits next to the coveted spring.
“We lived in the first house for one year, and this house for two, but after that I could not keep my family here, they were in too much danger,” says Khalid.
After several arson attacks on the home, and an incident where settlers swam naked in front of his wife and children, he decided that only he and his two eldest sons would stay in Khan to cultivate the land. The settler attacks continued and after his sons were arrested several times, he was the only one left to work and defend the land.
In April 2012, Khalid was arrested by Israeli forces and accused of attacking settlers. Three members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), as well as four from the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) were present and filmed the incident that led to his arrest.
He spent three months in jail, and was forced to pay 20,000 shekels to Israeli authorities to secure his release. His release came with the condition that he was not allowed on his land, except on Saturday, until his court date on October 28.
While Khalid was in prison, settlers removed all of the doors and windows to his homes, destroyed the irrigation lines that fed his crops, and destroyed a section of wall in one house.
A section of Khaled’s house desetroyed by Israeli settlers. Khaled has temporarily rebuilt part of it, but lacks money for concrete – click to see more photos
“They feel that I am weak now, as I do not have the money to continue replacing everything they destroy. So they come every day, watching me die slowly with no one to help.”
Illegal Israeli settlements
According to the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem, Israel has taken control of 50% of the land
of the West Bank by legalizing Settlements as Israeli territory. 500,000 Israeli settlers are living in the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Although all settlements are illegal according to international law, Israel officially recognizes 121 settlements in the Occupied West Bank. Another 100 settlements in the Occupied West Bank are smaller ‘outposts’, which are established with government assistance and are not even recognized as legal by the state of Israel. Nonetheless, most of them still stand.
Marshall Pinkerton is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
