Tag: Settler violence - Page 70 - International Solidarity Movement

As settlers disrupt olive harvest, Israeli officer declares: “I am the law, I am God.”

by Alistair George

22 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Intimidation of Palestinians in the Israeli-controlled H2 section of Hebron continued today as the Israeli military and settlers harassed Palestinians and international observers as they attempted to pick olives on their land in Tel Rumeida.

Around 40 students from different Palestinian universities marched onto the land at 11AM Saturday morning and began to pick olives along with local families, activists from Youth Against Settlements (YAS) and international observers.

At 12:30 PM the Israeli police confiscated identity passes for 20 Palestinians and, whilst checking their details, forced the group to stand together and individually filmed their faces.

The police declined to justify their actions, only insisting that they had a right to check the details of those present. The Israeli military became increasingly belligerent as protesters challenged the legality of the actions and began to push and shove Palestinians and international observers. After around 20 minutes the police returned the passes and allowed the detained Palestinians to leave. They then ordered international observers to leave the olive groves or be arrested, claiming that the Palestinian-owned olive grove is “Israeli land” and that it was illegal to be on the land and “illegal to be in a group.”

Rafi Dagan, an Israeli commanding officer, stated “I am the law. I am God” when asked to explain why he was flouting Israeli law by forcing people to leave Palestinian land under threat of arrest, without any paperwork to show that it was a closed military zone.

Earlier in the day, Israeli soldiers had pushed photographers attempting to document the olive harvest and confiscated an international observer’s passport for several minutes. Under Israeli law, passports may be shown to the Israeli military but it is illegal for them to be taken away. The Israeli military also briefly detained a young Palestinian man, apparently for running through the olive groves with a Palestinian flag, although he was released after around 10 minutes.

When the Palestinian flag is criminalized by Zionists – Click here for more images

In addition to intimidation by the military, Israeli settlers arrived on the Palestinian land within minutes of the olive harvest beginning and began to harass people picking olives. A group of around 10 settlers gathered in the lower olive groves in Tel Rumeida at 11:55am where Palestinians were busy picking olives. Baruch Marzel, a prominent extremist settler, stood on a Palestinian flag in an obvious attempt to provoke olive harvesters. The military intervened as anger flared between the two groups and sent settlers back to their settlement.

Badia Dwaik, 38, is the Deputy Coordinator of Youth Against Settlements, a nonviolent Palestinian group campaigning against Israeli settlements. He stressed that olive harvesting in Tel Rumeida is not just about economic necessity; it is a form of political defiance and a way to “confirm our existence and to encourage the people to resist”.

The Palestinian land in Tel Rumeida is surrounded by four illegal Israeli settlements. A Palestinian educational centre overlooks steep, dusty terraces to the south which contain around 200 olive trees. The centre, established in 2006 after the building was reclaimed from Israeli military control, and the olive groves below have been subject to repeated attacks and incursions by settlers in recent years. Anti-Palestinian graffiti and the Star of David is clearly visible under fresh coats of paint on the walls at the back of the building, only metres away from a settlement.

The olive groves contain around 200 olives trees and olives were picked on around 70 trees today. Badia Dwaik lamented the poor quality of the olives and the sparse fruit on many of the trees, saying that Palestinians are often unable to tend the land for fear of settler attacks. There is also a chronic shortage of water in Hebron and the owners of the trees are denied permits to dig the land. For example, the YAS reported having problems with water circulation for three days and discovered today that the water lines had been deliberately cut.

According to Badia Dwaik, the YAS intend to continue picking the olives in the coming weeks as “people are scared to come and pick olives alone. And it gives a message: we will continue and never give up.”

Alistair George is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Israeli military and Zionists ambush olive harvest in Beit Furik

21 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The Palestinian family El Jobor was unsuccessful in their attempt to harvest olives today as they met resistance from Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers originating out of the Itamar settlement. Accompanied by ISM volunteers the family climbed the hillside above Beit Furik and marched through the olive groves to within roughly 400 meters of the Jewish settlement, which sits atop the hill’s mount, before being confronted and forced back down towards their home.

International observers and volunteers met with the father of the El Jobor family, in Nablus at 7:30 this morning, and rode with him to his home in Beit Furik where they met his wife, children, and neighbors. Carrying the usual tools of olive harvest, the buckets and small hand saw, the group began climbing the hillside towards the olive trees on the ridge, passing another Palestinian family about halfway up. Once the lookout towers and settlement buildings became visible, the group advanced in short segments, pausing for a few seconds each time, checking for movements out of the settlement, and measuring the risk of continuing on. The settlers were visible, but seemed to be going about their daily lives without paying much notice to the volunteers, until they came to about 400 meters of the nearest building. Everyone halted and began to watch as soldiers amassed in a group of about five or six.

: Zionists attack Beit Furik – For more images click here

“We all stood our ground as they approached but began to take a few steps back when we saw how aggressive they were, and realized they were not about to negotiate or explain themselves,” said an ISM volunteer from France.

“Among the soldiers were two settlers who seemed to have some understanding with the army and managed to reach William and I even before the soldiers did. They were both furious, began shouting as they approached, and then when they came up to us began physically pushing us across the chest and shoulders,” said the French national.

The Palestinian family was already turning around and climbing back down the hillside as the two internationals asked the soldiers for some explanation, but realizing it was no use, they too began their descent.

“At this point we heard a shift in the soldier’s yelling and turned to see an additional group of Itamar settlers racing through the army rank towards us, brandishing stones and beginning to hurl them at us. At this point I turned tail and ran,” described another ISM volunteer.

The volunteers shouted to the settlers and soldiers “shame on you” and that they we were being peaceful. The soldiers were trying to head off the settlers and prevent them from throwing the stones but without much luck.

About two thirds of the way back down the hill they were clear of the settlers and slowed up. A new detachment of three soldiers appeared and stopped one of the older Palestinian men, asking for his papers. Two of the soldiers broke off and headed down the hillside asking the other men to come back, but without luck.

An officer arrived shortly, along with two attending soldiers and spoke to the Palestinian man, as well as to the volunteers. He explained that the farmers had been given a two week window in which to harvest but that this window had expired. He mentioned that hundreds of IDF soldiers had been present during that time to protect the harvest but no picking seemed to have taken place. He added that he will book and arrest any Palestinians who, after today, cross the road at the base of the hill and enter into what is considered IDF security-controlled territory.

“After this we reconvened with the rest of our party which was waiting for us a little further down the ridge and returned to the El Jobor home in Beit Furik, before returning to Nablus at about 10 AM. It’s likely that the family will continue trying to harvest the trees,” said the volunteer.

Itamar was founded in 1984 and has grown in that time from just over 300 settlers to now more than 1,000. It is situated on the hill mount above Beit Furik, southeast of Nablus, and occupies roughly 7,000 dunams of land, much of it believed to be land privately owned by Palestinians. Tensions are high right now after the Fogel family murders in Itamar last March for which two Palestinian teenagers from Awarta were arrested in April. The Itamar settlers have become very critical of the IDF, demanding that they stop providing protection to Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest, and that they prevent any further Palestinian incursion into the area surrounding the settlement. Threats have been leveled and the risk of violence seems to be very high.

Woman flees harvest to escape violent settlers and wild boars

20 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Early Thursday morning, a Palestinian woman in Beit Furik was picking olives when a settler began to chase her and set loose wild hogs to chase after her, causing her to fall and suffer broken bones in both her legs.

Muhaya Khatatba resting following injuries sustained as she fled from violent settlers

Muhaya Khatatba was in her olive groves with her two sons, aged 14 and 17 years old, when a settler descended from above the hill and began to chase her.

“I was with my kids picking olives, when a settler saw us, and took advantage of the fact that we were all alone,” said Khatatba.

Then the settler released wild boars after her. She beckoned to her boys to run ahead of her, and as she ran, she tripped on some rocks and broke her leg. She struggled to begin running again, using one leg, and fell again, breaking the other leg. Unable to stand, her boys ran back to pick her up and ran with her to meet other villagers. She broke one leg in three places, and the other leg at the ankle.

Khatatba says that when she saw the settlers she was very frightened because of the violent attacks on residents of Beit Furik in the past few years.

“But the fear I felt for myself is nothing compared to the fear I felt for my sons,” she says. “And I’m not concerned only for myself, but for all the people of Beit Furiq. They can’t go to their olives. We want a permanent solution. We want someone to stand by us.”

Khatatba is only thirty-five years old. Her husband cannot join them in the harvest because he is obliged to a full time job. She has never gone into her trees without permission from the Israeli authorities, and Thursday was one of the four days she was permitted.

Now her permission time has run out despite the many olive trees that are left.

Beit Furik is very close to the Itamar settlement, considered illegal by international law. Itamar has a wide history of brutal attacks and harassment of the native Palestinian population around them. The settlement was formed in 1984 and has grown from 300 residents to over 1000.

In the past, illegal, Zionist settlers have reportedly damaged Palestinian property, obstructed access to their farm land, stolen olives, attacked, and even shot at local Palestinians. In 2004 illegal settlers murdered a Palestinian taxi driver who was shot and killed. In 2007 three Palestinians were killed in their home, including a 10-week old infant.

In both cases, the settlers who committed the crimes did not serve time in prison.

In Photos: The survival of olives

16 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The olive harvest started in theWest Bankin early October and will continue in some villages until mid-November. Olives have been cultivated in Palestinian land for thousands of years. Around 95% of the harvest is used to make olive oil, with the remainder for pickles, table olives, and soap. The harvest is worth around 364m shekels (£64m) a year to the fragile Palestinian economy, struggling under the burden of occupation. Up to 100,000 families depend upon the olive harvest for their livelihoods to some extent, according to the UN.

Olives are also symbol of Palestinian culture and a connection to the land. Olive picking contains a strong political dimension; particularly in villages which are vulnerable to settler attacks and interference from the Israeli military.

Olive Harvest 2011 - Click here for more images

Settler attacks on olive groves have escalated in recent years. In previous harvests settlers have fired live ammunition at olive farmers and have burnt and uprooted thousands of trees. Israeli security forces are often unwilling to intervene during settler attacks and they regularly interfere with olive harvests, forcing farmers to seek permission to pick olives on their own land and only granting short periods to complete picking over large areas. Even when permission is granted, the Israeli military may still arbitrarily force olive farmers to cease picking; often offering no reason or falsely declaring ‘closed military zones’.

The presence of international volunteers to document and use non-violent action to intervene can reduce the threat of violence from settlers and the Israeli military. It is also a vital expression of solidarity with beleaguered Palestinian farmers.

Whilst the heavily armed settlers often attack olive farmers with impunity, the Palestinian farmers have limited means to protect themselves. As Ibrahim El-Buriny, a 27 year old olive farmer from Burin, says “We don’t have anything to protect ourselves except a rock, our heart and God.” El-Buriny remains defiant in spite of the mounting pressure he faces, “The land is like our mother and father. We can’t leave our land and who would?”

While village attended funeral, Zionists stole

18 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Tuesday, a family in Kufr Qalil cancelled all olive harvest because of the death of a family member.

While the people in the household were at the cemetery to attend the funeral, settlers from the adjacent Berakha settlement took the opportunity to visit the household’s farmland. A shepherd witnessed how the settlers stole the furniture, equipment and tools (including a chain saw) that were used by the farmers during the olive harvest.

The farmer family in Kafr Qalil has been harassed by settlers earlier. Five years ago, settlers cut down all almond trees in the yard.

The olive harvest is traditionally a joyful time in Palestine, and the oil produced from the olives is the main income for many families. Israeli occupation has however had huge impact on this practice. Many farmers nowadays have to seek special permission from Israeli authorities to harvest their trees.

Harassment by settlers and ignorance from the Israeli military make the harvest time uncertain and stressful.