Tag: Qaryut - Page 4 - International Solidarity Movement

Army harassment at peaceful tree-planting in Qaryut

8 January 2010

An overwhelming force of Israeli military soldiers converged on farmlands outside Qaryut today as villagers attempted to replenish their endangered lands with water and new olive trees. Despite the overbearing army presence, residents’ convictions were strong enough for them to stand their ground and finish work for the day.

Villagers entered the Qaryut’s eastern farmlands following the midday prayer, carrying 200 baby olive trees donated by Palestinian Agricultural Relief and the Ministry of Agriculture. Facing the busy Nablus – Ramallah Road 60 route, and the Israeli settlements of Shilo and Eli behind them they set to work planting the new trees in the land oft neglected by farmers from fear of settler or army reprisal.

As residents worked the land, others began clearing the large earth mound that had been constructed across the small dirt road serving as Qaryut’s sole link to Road 60. Residents reported Israeli bulldozers shifting the earth mound in to place on January 6th, a repeated attempt of the military to block farmers from their land. The villagers’ work alerted the attention of Shilo settler security, who were sighted on the hilltop overlooking the farmland, photographing the proceedings.

Israeli Occupation Forces arrived soon after. One hummer carrying 20 soldiers immediately entered the area, shouting aggressively at the Palestinians that they had no right to be working their own land.

“I decided to approach the captain,” said Rayed, resident of Qaryut and co-organiser of the event. “He started to yell at me in Hebrew and I told him, this is Palestine. We don’t speak Hebrew here, we speak Arabic – or maybe English.”

The captain became enraged, but switched to English and informed Rayed that he and the villagers must return to their homes within 5 minutes, before the soldiers “started their work.”

“I said to him, what work?” recounts Rayed. “What is your work? To kill us? Well, he became very angry at that. But I told him that we will keep planting our trees, this is all we came here to do. The security of Israel will not be compromised by us planting some trees.”

By this time 11 more military jeeps had arrived, comprising a force of some 50 soldiers in total who quickly surrounded the farmland where the villagers continued to work. The trees planted successfully in the ground, the villagers prepared to leave as once again the soldiers became aggressive.

“They started shouting at us for leave, to go home,” says Rayed. “We were already on our way, but we didn’t need them to yell at us. They looked like they were about to attack. The captain approached me and demanded that we not intefere with the roadblock. I told him that the roadblock prevents tractors from accessing the crops, and that it is obvious the purpose of the roadblocks’ location is to make it easier for the settlers to conquest the land. If it was anything else, they’d put it directly at Road 60.”

The roadblock has been an ongoing impediment to Qaryut’s residents freedom of movement, and preventing farmers from accessing their lands. Several successful demonstrations were held last year when international solidarity activists joined hundreds of local protesters in removing the roadblock by hand, only for military bulldozers to rebuild it the following day.

“As we were leaving, I told the captain – OK, we are going now. But we’re coming tomorrow. And he asked me, what time are you coming? I’ll be here waiting for you. And I asked him if he why he was coming, to protect us? He said yes, to protect you – I’ll bring a tank of water for you,” laughs Rayed. “So I said to him in Hebrew, you will do us a favour if you bring us the water. But I don’t think he will.”

Qaryut residents successfully remove a roadblock

5 November 2009

The villagers of Qaryut are facing a new weekend tradition: the Friday removing of a roadblock, repeatedly re-instated by the Israeli army upon every attempt to clear the road connecting the village with Ramallah and Nablus.

The morning of Friday, 5 November, saw approximately 200 villagers join forces in clearing a large earth mound that blocks Qaryut’s passage to Road 60, the route for travelling between Ramallah and Nablus. Although 15 soldiers, 2 Israeli police vehicles and one car of settlers (who halted to observe from Road 60) were awaiting the villagers’ arrival when they marched down to the roadblock, the action remained peaceful to the end. The soldiers and border guards had initially taken up position to defend the block, however they had no choice but to move back in the face of the large and determined crowd.

While a group of mostly adult males remained at the road block, clearing it with spades, pick-axes and other basic tools, the rest converged between the roadblock and route 60 where a collective prayer was held, in which some 100 participated. Following this, the boys of the village played music and danced the Dabke, a traditional Palestinian dance.

The road block had been created 2 days earlier, by Israeli forces armed with heavy machinery, after the village had already removed it once. It was about 4 meters tall and consisted of mammoth amounts of earth in addition to several huge boulders, strategically placed on a small dirt road where the mountains that frame Qaryut come to their nearest.

Blocking off the direct access to route 60 meant that travel times were increased by approximately 30 minutes going to or from Ramallah or Nablus, heavily infringing on the daily lives of commuting workers and students attending schools and universities in either of those cities. Despite the lack of proper equipment, the villagers of Qaryut managed to overcome this monumental task by coming together as a community and using their collective strength.

After some four hours of hard work, the first car passed through the narrow gap to wild cheers and applause from villagers and internationals alike. Fridays successful protest in Qaryut demonstrates once more that despite the overwhelming might of the illegal Israeli occupation, the people of Palestine can stand up to their oppressors when they take collective action against the injustices bestowed upon them.

The action was accompanied by members of ISM, CPT, IWPS and Project Hope as well as Israeli anti-apartheid activists. Unsurprisingly, the Israeli Occupation Force returned later the same day to re-establish the roadblock, but the village of Qaryut is determined to stand up for its rights and plans to return next Friday to once again take down this illegal structure.

Settlers and army attack farmers in Qaryut, leaving five wounded

27 October 2009

At around 8am, on Tuesday 27 October, olive farmers from the village of Qaryut, south of Nablus, were physically assaulted by settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Shilo. At least two Palestinian children were injured by the settlers, one sustaining an injury to his arm and the second one to his foot. When the Israeli forces arrived, they allowed the settlers to leave the scene, as the soldiers started attacking the Palestinians. One man was hit in the back of his head by a soldier’s rifle, only to find himself detained. The Palestinian farmers were ordered to stop picking and return to Qaryut.

Shortly afterwards, however, the village was raided by the army. Fearing that their fathers, husbands and sons would be arrested, the local women formed a human chain around them. The Israeli army responded to this non-violent act of resistance by showering the women with pepper-spray and hiting them with their rifles. It was at this time that Wegdan Mohammad Khalid, a 42 year old woman from Quryat was hit in the back with a rifle butt by an IDF soldier. She was taken to the emergency room at the Rafidiya Hospital in Nablus, suffering from great pains in her back. According to Red Crescent medics, at least five Palestinians were treated for injuries during the morning.

In spite of the heroic, non-violent resistance by the women of Quryat, the army managed to arrest one Palestinian and detained him at the police station in Shilo. Following the arrest, a large congregation of Palestinian men and women assembled near the settlement, demanding his release. For several hours, the villagers stood in solidarity with the detained man and were repeatedly pushed around by the Border Police, who prevented them from getting closer to Shilo.

The attack occured on one of the limited dates the District Coordination Committee (DCO) has allocated to Qaryut for picking olives. Today’s events will thereofre have a significant economic impact on the village, as they have been left with a very little time to pick the remaining olives. The DCO dates in theory allow Palestinians to pick their olives in a safe environment, as the army is obliged to protect them from violent settlers on days that have been allocated to them. It is very unlikely that a new date will be given to the village.

Tragic and pointless as this incident was, Palestinian farmers are regularly subjected to such harassment. In April of this year, 900 dunums of land were stolen from the village for the construction of roads solely for the benefit of the army and illegal settlers. While this is defended as ‘necessary for logistics’, there are already reports of the land being used for agriculture by the settlers. Qaryut is surrounded on three sides by these illegal settlements and as such finds itself in a very difficult situation.

Settler attacks farmers during Qaryut olive harvest

15 October 2009

Three farmers were attacked by a settler outside the village of Qaryut Wednesday, October 15^th as they collected their olives for the yearly harvest. A struggle followed and the farmers managed to detain the settler until the military arrived. The settler was subsequently released without charge.

At around midday, while the Palestinian farmers worked their lands close to the illegal settlement of Eli, a lone Israeli settler approached the three carrying a large stick and began threatening the farmers. Though the village of Qaryut has been coordinating with the District Coordination Office the military was nowhere to be seen. The settler began arguing with the farmers, ordering them to leave their own land. The argument escalated, the settler punched one of the farmers with one of his friends leaping to his defense and a struggle occurred, the third Palestinian man managing to call the DCO to alert the military, and take photos on his mobile phone.

The men managed to subdue the settler and detain him briefly until the military arrived shortly thereafter. They ordered the farmer who came under attack to accompany them to the police station of the Bet El settlement. Upon arrival, the farmer was accused of initiating the attack and wielding the stick the settler had threatened him with. Now sustaining minor injuries and faced with the possibility of the settler pressing charges on the victim, the farmer was forced to drop the charges and find his own transportation home to Qaryut from Ramallah. The settler was released without retribution.

This is the first incident of settler violence during the olive harvest this year in the village of Qaryut, closely located to the illegal settlements of Eli and Shilo.

900 dunums of Palestinian land confiscated in Qaryut village

7 April 2009

Israeli forces have started the construction of three new roads around the village of Qaryut, located in the Nablus district of the northern West Bank. Qaryut is already surrounded on three sides by illegal Israeli settlements, and the new roads are being built to connect these settlements together and to nearby road 60. Road 60 has been closed to Palestinians since 2000, but has remained open to settlers and the army. The closure of this road has prevented access by farmers to a large amount of agricultural land which, according to Qaryut’s mayor, is now being used by Israeli settlers. Israeli authorities have recently confiscated an additional 900 dunums of agricultural land to build the three new roads. This land belongs to around 150 Palestinian families in Qaryut.

The mayor of Qaryut speaks about the recent confiscation of village lands:

Qaryut village is surrounded by Israeli settlements, and unfortunately as much as 60% of our village is categorized as Area C, while the rest of the village is Area B. During the last two years, eviction orders have already been given for several village houses in Area C. Now that the IDF is working on the construction of the new roads, we are deeply concerned that this is part of a new plan to push the villagers living in Area C into Area B, in order to expand the Israeli settlements.