Tag: Settler violence

Burin: Zionist soldiers and colonists collaborate against harvesting

by Alistair George

17 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The Israeli military conducted arrests, mistreated detainees and continued to prevent villagers from picking olives in certain areas of Burin, near Nablus, yesterday on October 16 2011.  International activists have been prevented by the military from attending olive harvests during the past two days in some areas and settlers harassed and threw stones at villagers picking olives in Burin today.

Two villagers from Burin were detained yesterday whilst picking olives.  Hussain Hamed Najjar, 21, was arrested yesterday morning by the Israeli military and is currently being held in Ariel, an Israeli settlement.  His family claim that he has been accused of throwing a stone at an Israeli settler around three years ago – a charge that Najjar strongly denies.

A group of around 10 settlers from the nearby settlement of Bracha entered the Palestinian land yesterday morning and attempted to harass olive harvesters, under the watch of the Israeli military, by taking photographs of them.   Najjar was reportedly arrested for pushing a settler’s camera away, causing it to fall on the ground.

Najjar’s uncle, Akram Ibrahim Ali Imran, expressed concern for his nephew and insisted that he was innocent of any wrongdoing; “I can’t describe how worried I am, particularly about his family.”  Najjar dropped out of university in order to earn money to support his family after his father was imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority and is financially responsible for 9 people.

Bashir Imran, also 21, was detained by the Israeli military in the same area at the same time for unknown reasons.  He was handcuffed, hooded and left in the sun for at least six hours before being released.  He was only allowed water during this time and was intermittently kicked, punched and slapped by Israeli soldiers.

The arrests occurred after the Israeli military had ordered international activists to leave the area yesterday.  ‘Maggie,’ a volunteer with the Friends of Madama and Burin group, said that the Israeli military had threatened to prevent villagers from harvesting olives in that area unless the international volunteers left.   She also reported that the military allowed around 10 Israeli settlers to remain in the area.  The international group was prevented from being present in the same area again today.

According to Mahmoud, a farmer from Burin, around 20 settlers arrived in the area again today and took pictures of olive farmers, although the Israeli military did instruct them to return to their settlement.

However, a group of around seven settlers from Bracha settlement hid amongst the trees and threw stones at villagers picking olives in an area further down the mountain at around 10am this morning.  No one was injured and no further attacks were reported today.

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

Israeli military “superiors” interfere in Burin’s olive harvest

by Alistair George

12 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The Israeli military ordered villagers to stop picking olives on their own land in Burin, near Nablus, today. The soldiers refused to give a reason for suspending the harvest.

“It is nothing to do with us, we just get orders from our superiors,” they said.

Villagers from Burin were picking olives on their land high up in the hills, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar. At around 8 AM Palestinian farmers and ISM activists entered the land closest to the settlement, and after just a few minutes an Israeli security truck was visible on the hilltop next to the land.  Four soldiers arrived in an armoured vehicle at around 8:30 AM and instructed villagers to immediately stop picking olives in the area. They stated that villagers must ask for permission and would only be given three days to finish picking all the olives on their land.  The farmers continued the harvest further away from the settlement.

At around midday, a military vehicle was again seen driving through the olive groves further down the hill, closer to the main road. At one point the vehicle left the track, breaking branches as it maneuvered through the densely planted olive grove.

Ghassan Najjar, 21, is the Director of the Community Centre in Burin.  His father owns the land nearest the settlement. He said that it was common for the Israeli military to interfere with Burin’s olive harvest.

“I was extremely uncomfortable today – I controlled my emotions for my father’s sake and to avoid escalating the situation, otherwise nothing would make me leave my land.”

Settler attacks have been escalating in recent years. This year settlers have already attacked locals four times since April and more than 4,000 trees have been burnt down. Gangs of settlers have fired live ammunition and thrown stones at villagers during olive harvests in previous years.

 

 

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

In Photos: Ad Dhahariya and Shuwika plant resistance

11 October 2011  | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

At 1 PM a demonstration went from the solidarity tent assembled for the prisoners strike in Ad Dhahariya to the nearby village of Shuwika to plant trees. The demonstration was a solidarity action with the prisoners and also a protest against recent settler assaults in Shuweika where 120 olive trees were cut down.

While the demonstrators were planting olive and eucalyptus trees, soldiers and settlers came down from the nearby outpost of Shima’a and threw sound bombs, firing tear gas at the demonstrators.

A few demonstrators went to the valley dividing Shuwika from the outpost to try to remove stones placed by settlers which formed a star of David as a symbol of conquering Palestinian land. They were shot at directly withtear gas from the Israeli Occupation Forces.

Two soldiers descended from the hill and stole the Palestinian flags placed in the valley, burning one flag while confiscating the other.

After an hour of protesting suddenly the soldiers ran towards the demonstrators, pointing their guns while running and chasing the them for one kilometer back to the Shuweika village.

While leaving the protest, a demonstrator said, “This was the first time in Shuweika [where we had] a protest like this, but hopefully it will be an ongoing event like Ni’lin and Nabi Saleh.”

In the past month there has been an increase of settler violence towards the Shuweika villagers. Not only did the settlers from the Shima’a outpost destroy olive trees from the village, but they also threatened and harassed shepherds herding sheep near the valley.

Demonstration in Ad Dhaharriya - Click here for more images

Extremist settler attacks shepherd and brutally abuses flock

28 September 2011  | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On the 17th of September Israeli colonists attacked a shepherd near Sha’ab el-Butom, resulting in several sheep injured and the arrest of the young shepherd.

Sha’ab el-Butom is a small Bedouin village in South Hebron Hills not even mentioned in most maps, a village that faces daily harassment from the surrounding illegal settlements and outposts composed by the most ideological settlers in the West Bank. On Saturday September 17th of September, Nahel Ahmed Mousa Aburem, a 23 year old shepherd, went as usual down the road with his sheep when one settler accompanied by a soldier from the illegal Abigail settlement approached him, shouting for him to come towards them.

“Why are you here?” they asked, and Ahmed simply answered “This is my land.”

“No! It’s a closed military area!”

Aburem then tried to explain to them that he had permission from the military and the police to stay there and go around with his sheep. It was not a good answer for the settler. With ideology based on extreme interpretation of Judaic law, his reaction was to start beating Ahmad’s sheep with stones and sticks.

3 sheep lost their eyes, one died, another one was pregnant but lost her kid, and four others tried desperately to escape. The soldier was just 10 metres away, and Ahmed asked him help to stop the settler but he didn’t react so he tried to reach the sheep and the settler threw stones at him too and tried to grab his head while Ahmed tried defend himself pushed the settler away.

This was enough to make an Israeli army jeep arrive and bring Aburem to a military base near Susiya and then to the police station in Kiryat Arba where they told him that he wanted to shoot the settler. He had to spend 2 nights in the police station in Kiryat Arba, 2 nights in the detention centre in Jerusalem, referred to as The Russian Compound, 2 other nights in Ramla prison, and then finally one day in Ofer for the supposed court hearing where they actually just gave him conditions and a bill of 5000 shekels needed to be paid for his release. His family paid, while he must meet the condition of signing his name every Tuesday in the Kiryat Arba police station.

Aburem said that he is supposed to have a court hearing by the end of October, but speculated that precarious and manipulative court procedures would play with time and be at the whim of the court.

“In any case” he said “we want to make actions in cooperation with Israeli and International activists in order to resist and keep going back to our land.”

Israeli military conceals information about possible nerve agent used by illegal, violent settlers

26 September 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Sunday, September 25th, Riyadh Abu Armile was assaulted by settlers and the army in Hebron,causing for an open investigation by human rights groups as evidence suggests that settlers may have used an unidentified nerve agent during the assault.

On the night of the attack hundreds of settlers from around  Al Khalil (Hebron) arrived in the H2 area, in the centre of the city for the funeral of Asher Palmer and his son from Kiryat Arba who died in a car crash on Friday. Despite the fact that an investigation into the deaths is yet to reach a conclusion about the cause of the crash, soldiers on the scene echoed the proclamations of Israeli media sources, which labeled the incident as a “terrorist attack” because of speculation that the crash was caused by Palestinians throwing stones. A dangerously volatile situation was then created by the decision to hold the funeral in a Palestinian area of Hebron rather than the Kiryat Arba settlement where the deceased lived.

Armile was walking near the Ibrahimi Mosque with his uncle and 7 year old son at about 8pm on Sunday, when  he was met by around 30 settlers who began throwing rocks at the family. More settlers joined the violent assault, and within a few minutes he estimated there were as many as 200 settlers surrounding him. After the family attempted to take refuge in a nearby house, settlers broke the windows and continued the attack.

Armile told us that the attackers used some kind of chemical weapon that emitted a gas, causing symptoms very similar to those of a nerve agent.

Armile said, “‘I couldn’t see and went into convulsions, saliva was coming out of my mouth and afterwards I couldn’t move my muscles for one hour.”

When soldiers arrived at the scene they beat Armile as he tried to protect himself from the settlers. After the attack they detained him for over an hour and refused access for the ambulance that came to treat him. At 9:30PM he had to be carried to the ambulance, which took him immediately to the hospital in Hebron.

The Israeli army confiscated the gas canister used by the settlers and refused to give the doctors information about the chemical agent used. He had to stay overnight in a hospital and required 13 injections. Doctors were unsure how to treat him due to the unknown nature of the chemical and warned him that he may suffer long-term health problems. During the attack his son sustained head injuries from rocks thrown by the settlers, and Armile’s uncle’s hand was also broken.

Red Cross and other human rights organizations are currently investigating the incident as they suspect that the chemical may be some form of nerve gas, which is illegal under international law. The attack comes just weeks after leaked documents from the Israeli military revealed plans to train and arm settlers against Palestinians.