Tag: Salfit

In Photos: The devastation of the Price Tag campaign in Bruqin

by Amal

8 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The smell of fire and sorrow was evident in Bruqin today, which is located to the west of Salfit in the northern area of the West Bank.  Even eight hours later  the feeling of loss populated the air. At approximately 2:30 AM a group of settlers entered the village and set fire to a mosque, a bulldozer, and a car.

The toll on Bruqin – Click here for more images

Israeli police and soldiers documented the attack, but claimed that they did not know who committed it. Many people are skeptical due to the fact that the roads coming into Bruqin are secured and monitored by soldiers and cameras. This was another attack to make life miserable for the Bruqin people. It has been targeted by settlers and Israeli soldiers many times, so the people are certain that this attack will not be the last.

The mosque was saved by the villagers. They came out in time to stop the fire as it reached the front door. The settlers did not leave the mosque in flames, but also marked it with words in Hebrew showing their loyalty to the illegal Ariel settlement. Unfortunately, Bruqin is surrounded by four major illegal settlements.

The criminals managed to completely destroy a brand new bulldozer. The owner, Ali Sabar, purchased the bulldozer last week with a down payment of 19,000 NIS.  Ali will spend the next 12 months trying to pay the remaining balance of 60,000 NIS. This violent act not only violated the Sabar family’s human rights, but has devastated any hope of prosperity for them. Ali stated that insurance will not cover the damages because “this is an attack and not an accident.”

The state of the Samara family’s car is immobile just like Ali’s bulldozer. The car is totally useless, just another casualty of the Israeli Occupation. The only thing that was not ruined in the car was a copy of the Quran.

Bruqin is in Israeli controlled Area C. Israeli Apartheid laws allow for any construction in Area C to be demolished if the Israeli Army orders it. The odds are against the people of Bruqin, yet hope was still present today.  The Mosque still continued the call for prayer, and although they could not pray inside they still gathered together with hope.

Many commented that the Quran was only spared due to the binding of it, while others will credit their faith. Nonetheless, the Bruqin people are using this to increase their hope and strengthen their resilience.

Amal is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Father of 5 run over and killed by settler

by Thom Andrews

9 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

This afternoon, 45 year old Abdullah Mutaled Al-Mashni, father of 5, was run over and killed by an illegal settler.

Whilst returning from collecting his olives, Abdullah was last seen riding his donkey back towards his village of Deir Istia – 7km northwest of Salfit.

Soon after the killing, Israeli Occupation Forces arrived to shield the scene from photographers and journalists gathered to report on the crime.

It is believed the settler was a resident in the nearby illegal colony of Revava – established on occupied Palestinian land in 1991.

This attack comes just as a relatively peaceful olive harvest draws to an end.  Tomorrow there will be a funeral for the martyr in Deir Istia.

 

Thom Andrews is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.

Demolitions: Israel annexing more land in Kufr ad-Dik and Salfit

4 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Homes destroyed in Kufr ad-Dik and Salfit - Click here for more pictures
Homes destroyed in Kufr ad-Dik and Salfit - Click here for more pictures

On Tuesday around 11am the Israeli army carried out demolitions in the West Bank towns of Beit Ula and Kufr ad-Dik, destroying homes, animal pens, wells and hundreds of trees.

Yousef Muhammed Turshan sat amongst the rubble that used to be the home for him, his wife, and 5 children.

“This is our only home, I don’t know where we will sleep tonight. They destroyed the building that held the sheep and now they have gone missing. This is my children’s future they are destroying.”

The Tursham family lost the tent they lived in as well as 2 brick rooms, an animal pen, and a water cistern. Their land was one of 3 sites demolished in Beit Ula. In total the Israeli army destroyed 1 residential tent, 4 brick rooms, 4 animal barracks , 4 wells, 2 irrigation systems, 150 olive trees and 400 other trees and vines. In Kufr ad-Dik, west of Saflit at least 2 animal barracks and a water well were also destroyed.

Another farmer from a site in Beit Ula showed the wasteland that had just a few hours ago, been full of hundreds of olive and fruit trees.

“I have cared for this land where they destroyed for years, checking every plant everyday. We pay 40 shekels per cubic metre of water from Israeli companies just to water them. I used to go out every night with a torch to check that the irrigation system was working correctly, now they are all destroyed and all our efforts were for nothing.”

After the bulldozers uprooted the 150 olive trees they also confiscated them from the land so that nothing could be salvaged. The farmers told us that they managed to save one home from demolition by sitting in front of it and refusing to move. However the house still has a demolition order on it, and they know that the army will return eventually to destroy it.

All of the farmers told us that they had documents proving that they owned the land, the sites destroyed were all at least 1 kilometre from the Israeli apartheid wall and there are no settlements in close proximity.

One of the farmers explained that the demolitions could not have been for security reasons because pine trees much closer to the wall were not destroyed. He believes they want to drive the farmers out from the land so that it can be claimed as state property after 3 years of not being used.

There are a further 11 demolition orders around Beit Ula, which means many families have to live with the fear that their homes, buildings or crops may be destroyed at any time.

Settlers destroy natural spring used by Palestinians for farming near Salfit

International Solidarity Movement
8 March 2010

A group of Israeli settlers today destroyed a spring by the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan in the Salfit district. The settlers poured sand and cement into the spring, guarded by five armed members of the Israeli military.

Palestinians from the village were forced to watch helplessly as events unfolded, prevented by the soldiers from moving close to the spring or from filming what was happening. International Solidarity Movement volunteers were able to secretly film for a short time before the soldiers noticed, and made both Palestinians and Internationals leave, saying that the area was now designated as a Closed Military Zone.

Last Friday, a group of Palestinians and internationals spent the day clearing the area around the spring to make it more accessible from the village. This followed previous attacks from settlers on nearby springs and farmland, during which a child suffered serious head wounds, from which he is still recovering in hospital, and an elderly man had his arm and leg broken.

Locals intend to continue their attempts to keep the spring open, and to turn the area around it into a park for the use of the village.

Under international law, the settlement next to Qarawat Bani Hassan is illegal, as are all other settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Settlers illegal attempt to occupy land owned by Qarawat Bani Hasan and Dier Istiya

International Women’s Peace Service

1 January 2010

On 31 December 2009 IWPS received a call from the Mayor of Qarawat Bani Hasan to participate in a demonstration in solidarity with the residents of their village. The non-violent, peaceful demonstration organized by the Municipality took place on January 1 2009, and was in response to increase settler activity in the area.

The Mayor of Qarawat Bani Hasan reported that over the period of the last month armed Israeli Settlers and Israeli military from the illegal outpost of Havot Yair had been harassing and attacking farmers and shepherds who work regularly on land approximately a kilometer from the village centre. The land in the region in question is jointly owned by the villages of Qarawat Bani Hasan and Deir Istyia and hosts an ancient fresh water spring which is regularly utilised by farmers and shepherds from both villages. The Mayor also informed IWPS volunteers that the area is often visited by children from Qarawat Bani Hasan, who have also faced physical abuse by armed settlers from Havot Yair.

The illegal settler outpost of Havot Yair is an off shoot of the illegal Israeli colony of Yaqir and was first established in 1999, only to be later evacuated and re-established in 2001. The illegal outpost is located on a hill top, which is one – two kilometres from the valley in which the ancient spring is located.

Seven days ago, villagers notified the Mayor of Qarawat Bani Hasan that the illegal settlers had begun carrying out significant construction work in the spring area. This included the construction of a road and the digging of additional wells and cisterns (all of which were visible when IWPS visited the area). Villagers reported that the work carried out by the illegal settlers had taken place during the night.

The Mayor informed IWPS volunteers that on December 31 he visited the spring area in order to ascertain what settler activity was taking place, and to peacefully ask the settlers to cease illegal construction on his village’s land. According to the Mayor, the illegal settler he spoke to refused to cease construction and stated that the land was supposedly not being used by the village of Qarawat Bani Hasan and that he (the settler) was entitled to act on the Ottoman Law, utilized by the Israeli state, to claim ‘unused’ Palestinian land as ‘state land’.

In response to the illegal settler activity of their land, the residents of Qarawat Bani Hasan, decided to hold a demonstration in order to re-assert their ownership of the land. Approximately 100 residents of Qarawat Bani Hasan including children, were joined at the rally by the Assistant District Governor of the Salfit region; the Mayor of Deir Istyia; village activists from Deir Istyia, Hares and Marda; and volunteers from the International Women’s Peace Service.

The strong rally marched from the village centre to the spring valley region. The rally was accompanied by a ‘bagger’ (bulldozer/excavator machinery) organised by the Municipality, with the aim of reclaiming and rehabilitating the land in response to the settler construction activity. Upon reaching the valley and spring area, a noisy but peaceful demonstration ensued, with the bagger clearing a roadblock erected by the illegal settlers and refilling the large cistern/well chamber dug up by the settlers.

Over the coming weeks, the residents of Qarawat Bani Hasan hope to continue work on the rehabilitation of spring valley area and to carry out of range of non-violent peace programs to re-assert their ownership of the land.