Aqraba residents and internationals gather to plant the olive trees
Residents of the village of Aqraba, near Nablus, planted forty young olive trees on their land on Thursday (29 July 2010) to send a message to settlers who have been plowing the area in an attempted land-grab.
The Palestinian villagers were accompanied by many international volunteers – around thirty people from an American group called the Holy Land Trust and about eight ISM activists.
The group gathered at ten in the morning and the forty olive trees were planted by soon after midday.
Three Israeli army jeeps drove down to observe what the large group of people were doing. They then entered the village for some time.
Aqraba is surrounded on all sides by illegal Israeli settlements, including Jaffa An Nun, Yanun, Migdalim and Itamar. To the east it is bordered by the illegal Israeli settlement of Gittit and an area which Israel designates a ‘closed military zone’.
Planting the olive trees was intended to assert the Palestinians' rightful ownership of the land in defiance of colonising settlers
In recent weeks settlers from Itamar had begun plowing the land belonging to Palestinians, prompting fears that they were trying to steal the land for their on use.
31 July 2010 | ISM and IWPS (International Women’s Peace Service)
Wadi Qana is a valley south west of Nablus where numerous springs supply water to the surrounding Palestinian villages. Approximately 60 people live in the valley itself, and many more own land in the area in which they farm animals and cultivate both citrus and olive trees.
The valley and its springs have been suffering from the effects of raw sewage, which has been leaking into the valley from the illegally built Yaqir settlement since 1994. In 2005, the Israeli Authorities finally built underground sewage pipes after numerous attempts by Palestinians to make them deal with the sewage problems created by Yaqir and other surrounding settlements.
However, the pipes have now broken and so sewage flows out of them and into the nearby springs.
Sewage from Yaqir settlement contaminates arable land and may soon affect water sources
The Mayor of Deir Istiya has notified the Israeli Authorities about the leakage – through the Palestinian District Coordination Liaison Office – several times since the beginning of July. Despite this, Israeli Authorities deny any knowledge of the problem and continue to ignore requests to address the issue.
On July 24th, the Mayor accompanied villagers and volunteers from ISM and IWPS to the site in order to see if the problem had been dealt with.
One volunteer from ISM stated: “As we neared the leakage site, we could smell the sewage. The Israeli Authorities have done nothing to stop the problem so the sewage was still overflowing.” The Mayor added that “There is a high risk of sewage contaminating the potable water source if the leakage is not stopped soon.”
In response to the Israeli Authorities’ inaction to this recurring problem, farmers have been forced to build aqueducts on their (privately owned) land in order to obtain clean water for irrigation. Some of these were built with assistance from the Palestinian Authority. Farmers have also built fences around their land in order to protect their products from wild pigs and other animals, which have been released from the settlements and threaten to destroy the farmers’ crops.
Surveying the damage caused by leakages from sewage pipes which the authorities have failed to address
Israel’s confiscation of the land was followed by its assertion of Wadi Qana’s status as a nature reserve, with reference to a law created under the British Mandate. No evidence has been presented to Palestinians regarding the existence of this law and the subsequent status of the land. Despite this, on July 21st, the Mayor of Deir Istiya received an official visit from Israeli nature reserve officers. They informed the Mayor once again that the area is classified as a nature reserve, and that it is therefore illegal to build any structures within the area. As a consequence, the aforementioned farmers have been threatened with the demolition of the aqueducts and fences which they now depend upon for their livelihood.
Regardless of the demolition orders’ roots apparently being in Wadi Qana’s status as a nature reserve, Israeli Authorities continue to refuse to take action in order to render such structures unnecessary, or indeed to avoid a potential environmental disaster in the valley.
At-Tuwani – South Hebron Hills: Yesterday, on Wednesday, 21st of July 2010, three settlers, one of them armed, stole a sheep from a young Palestinian shepherd, a resident of the village of Tuba, while he was watering the flocks at a well situated in Umm Zeitouna valley, which is located between the Israeli settlements of Ma’on and Karmel.
According to the shepherd, at around 8 am two Israeli settler vehicles pulled over on the roadside. A settler exited from one of the two cars, walked to the shepherd’s flock, and after grabbing a sheep by the ear, dragged the animal a few yards before loading it on his shoulders. He then walked away towards the road, where two other settlers, one of them armed, were waiting for him. The animal was loaded into one of the vehicles with the help of two other settlers, while the shepherd remained at a distance filming the theft with a camera from the Israeli association B’Tselem, given to Palestinians in the area to document attacks by settlers.
The young Palestinian pointed out that during the theft, on the road not far from the settlers cars, there was an IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) military jeep. Although the soldiers were present during the incident, after a nod by the settlers they left the scene without intervening.
The shepherd then reported the theft of the sheep to Israeli police, who arrived on the scene with Ma’on settlement’s Security Guard and two other settlers identified as Havat Ma’on residents and responsible of previous attacks against Palestinians. The police refused to talk to the shepherd who wanted to make a complaint, saying they did not know Arabic or English and insisting on speaking with the boy’s father, although he was not present at the time of the robbery. A few minutes later the police went to the village of Tuba to pick the parent and bring him to the police station in Kiryat Arba. Then the young shepherd, accompanied by international volunteers, followed his father to the Israeli police station to make a complaint and bring the video of the incident.
Episodes like this are frequent in the South Hebron Hills, where the national-religious settlers from the settlements and the outposts attack Palestinian shepherds and farmers to intimidate and force them to leave their lands. These kinds of illegal actions are usually left unpunished and many of them occur with army and police complicity. The Palestinian community of this area have chosen nonviolence to resist to the continuous abuses of the Israeli settlers and military.
A Palestinian property in Tel Rumedia where windows have been smashed by Israeli settlers.
Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians have increased over the past few days in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in Al Khalil.
On Sat. July 17, Mohammed, a shopkeeper, was approached by twelve Israeli settlers near his shop by the Tomb of the Patriarchs. Without provocation, two of the settlers grabbed Mohammed and a third punched him in the face, forcing him to the ground, according to Mohammed. When the ambulance arrived to take Mohammed to the hospital, the military refused. After some discussions between the soldiers and the border police, who witnessed the event, a military ambulance arrived, checked Mohammed’s medical status, and transported him to the waiting Palestinian ambulance. Although he was not in need for further hospitalization, Mohammed’s left chin and the area around his left eye were black and blue and swollen.
Two days after the attack, Mohammad visited the hospital for a second time. The doctor told him that there was bleeding in his left eye, which may need surgery, according to Mohammed.
The Israeli settler violence continued on the evening of Sun. July 18, when Abdullah, an 11-year-old Palestinian boy, was hit by an Israeli motorcyclist, driving “at full speed,” according to an eyewitness. Abdullah was riding his bike at the time of the incident, close to a school near the Tomb of the Patriarchs. Abdullah was taken to hospital for intensive care, and was treated for critical injuries throughout the night.
On Mon. morning, Abdullah’s condition was stabilized and he was removed from the Intensive Care Unit. He spent one more night at the hospital in order to receive further testing because the doctors feared that Abdullah may have internal bleedings.
The settler that hit Abdullah was taken to the Police station, but was soon released. He was seen riding his motorbike on Mon. afternoon in the same area.
In the same area, near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a Palestinian family suffered a settler attack on Sun. night. Several windows were smashed with stones.
Christian Peacemakers Team has also reported escalating settler violence in the area around Hebron. Settlers have recently tried to burn Palestinian farmers’ crops and have smashed two car windows in the village of Boere.
Photos of Mohammed’s injuries and the broken windows to be published soon
Over 100 Palestinians together with international solidarity activists gathered in Hebron this Saturday to protest against the closure of Shuhada street. As a response to the infamous YouTube video of soldiers dancing near the illegal settlement of Tel-Rumeida, some protesters staged a dance protest: three dancers took the role of soldiers and searched and “arrested” three Palestinians.
They performed in front of the gate that closes off Shuhada street and prohibits all Palestinians from using it. The demonstrators called for justice and the opening of Shuhada street, and for the inhabitants of illegal Israeli settlements to leave the city and take the soldiers with them.
A message to the Israeli army
The demonstration, held weekly on a Saturday afternoon, then turned and paraded through the town. As they approached the market the peaceful protesters’ path was blocked by a line of soldiers armed with M-16 rifles – some of whom were seen kicking and hitting protesters. After a short sit-in the protest continued by turning around and heading towards the Old City.
Israeli activists gave speeches in Hebrew aimed at soldiers and settlers, calling for an end to the Apartheid situation in Hebron. One settler living in a house from which Palestinians were evicted threw water down on protesters but this did not dampen their spirits. Palestinians and international activists chanted together: “One two three four, occupation no more, five six seven eight, stop the killing, stop the hate.”
There are 18 check points that severely limit the movement of Palestinians in the Israeli military controlled area of Hebron (known as ‘H2’). Palestinian residents face daily attacks and harassment from soldiers and extremist, fanatical settlers who are often armed and violate the rights of Palestinians with impunity.
