25 August 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Thursday August 23, Mumen Mahmoud Raja, 18, was arrested at his home by Israeli occupation forces at 2:30 a.m.
Around 2 a.m., some 60 Israeli forces invaded the Palestinian village of Burin, located south-west of Nablus. They arrived in 6 military jeeps, a truck, and 16 individuals by foot from the illegal colony of Givat Arosha, located atop a hill near the village, Mumen’s father estimates. 20 soldiers entered Mumen’s house, waking his family, including his 8 year old brother.
“We thought they wanted to arrest our other son, Montser, 19, who was arrested three months ago for 10 days. But then the soldiers began to demand Mumen, and took him away,” Mumens father recounts.
Mumen Mahmoud Raja
This family, like most families in Burin, endures the arrests of their children without being given a reason for their detention. At 3 a.m., the soldiers left the house after checking the identity of the remaining family members.
“It is the first arrest now that Ramadan is over, and we believe there will be more in the coming weeks,” says Ghassan Najjar, resident of Burin.
Since January 2012, Israeli forces have arrested 35 young men in Burin in night raids. Currently 16 of them are still imprisoned, aged between 15 and 32 years. Three of the current prisoners are minors; Walid Eid, 16, Eid Maomen, 16, and Qais Omran, 17.
Burin has been subject to many arrests on a daily basis for the past several years. The village is surrounded from all directions by three illegal Israeli settlements: Yitzhar, Bracha, and Givat Arosha. The Israeli military often patrols through the village at night raiding homes, and arresting members of Palestinian families without indicating a reason. The harassment and arrest of Burin’s youth, particularly those with a connection to the youth community centre in the village, is common.
Alma Reventos is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
20 August 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Monday, August 6, Mershid (19), son of Muhamad Abdalah Dawabsheh, checked for oncoming cars and started to cross the road between Nablus and Ramallah with his herd of goats. The time was approximately 5 p.m., and he was leading the herd towards the small village of Duma after a day of grazing. An Israeli car appeared as he was walking down the road but instead of slowing down it picked up speed and drove through the herd, killing 12 goats.
Driving through the herd, the front bumper including registration plate was ripped from the car. The Israeli settler stopped his car to retrieve his plate from the ground. As Mershid saw the armed settler he got scared and ran away.
The whole incident was witnessed by Muhamad’s nephew, who was standing some 50 metres from the scene. As he started for the herd, the settler saw him, got in his car, and hit another three goats including the leader of the herd (the only male) as he drove off, leaving registration plate and bumper behind. In all, 15 goats were killed and 2 mortally injured, now hovering between life and death.
As Muhamad arrived on the scene, he called the Israeli police. When no help was offered, he turned to the Palestinian Authority (PA) police. They asked him to come to the police station with pictures of the dead goats and car plate. He refused, arguing it is their job to go to the crime scene to gather evidence.
In the meantime, the Israeli Military arrived at the scene about one and a half hour after the incident. According to Muhamad, the commanding officer seemed uninterested, asking only if it was his goats killed and if it was his son herding them. When demanding a copy of the report, Muhamad was told to keep quiet and stop asking questions.
An officer from District Coordination Office (DCO) arrived with the purpose of notifying Muhamad that he could not help him. For reasons unknown to Muhamad, the DCO officer refused to help find the guilty settler. Muhamad was informed that he had to go to an office in the illegal settlement of Bet El if he wanted to pursue the case.
This might seem like an easy venture, but Palestinians are forbidden access to the Israeli settlements built illegally on Palestinian-owned land.
A PA officer arrived to the scene in a private car, but stopped in proper distance when he recognized the Israeli forces presence. He asked Muhamad to go and take pictures with a PA phone as evidence for the police report.
Yet, with experience from similar incidents in mind, Muhamad seriously doubts the results of any such PA report.
The family of Muhamad has been living and farming on the land of Duma for countless generations. One of their main products is goats’ milk and cheese. The goats are like family to Muhamad and he clarified to International Solidarity Movement volunteers that the loss is just as painful.
Muhamad Abdalah Rashid Dawabsheh. Photo by Markus Fizgerald. Click for more pictures
His herd consists of some 100 goats. Males are sold and females are kept to produce dairy products and offspring. The death of the male means a huge economic loss for the family of 8. The goats have undergone selective breeding for many generations and are considered some of the finest. For Muhamad, it is impossible to put a price on the lost goats. They provide a living for the family and, for him, the mere question of pricing and money is an insult to the importance of the animals.
Duma is a little farming village 21 km southeast of Nablus. Muhamad is head of one of two big families in the villages. Until the PA, subsequently to the Oslo-accords in 1994, appointed their own regional strong man, Muhamad was considered the unofficial head of the village.
Duma is surrounded by 3 settlements: Shilo, Ma’ale Efrayim and Migdalim, and Muhamad believes the guilty settler is from one of these settlements. For the last 2 years, the villagers have experienced countless settler attacks. Not a single one has been solved, and Muhamad has little faith that the PA or DCO will act differently in this case.
The village of Duma is considered Area B (Palestinian civil control, Israeli military control), but the enclosing Area C (full Israeli control) makes it a problematic task to farm on considerable parts of the land, belonging to the village.
Yet Muhamad states that he will stay on his land and his sons will farm it when he is gone.
“I was born on this land and have been working with olives and goats here for 40 years. I have other places I could go, but I want to stay here. This is my place, this is where I belong.”
18 August | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Saturday August 11, 2012 the same events of three days earlier repeated themselves in Khan Al Luban. A group of 4 illegal Israeli settlers, from Ma’ale Levona, armed with guns and wooden sticks, came into Khan al Luban at 10:30 p.m. The settlers yet again broke into the house owned by Khalid al-Hamed Daraghmah where international activists and the 2 sons of Khalid were staying.
When the settlers arrived, Khalid’s sons and the international activists asked them to leave the property, but they refused and instead sat down near the spring on the Daraghmah land. After about half an hour, 2 Israeli police cars arrived along with 2 military jeeps after having received a call from the settlers. A few minutes later, 2 more military jeeps arrived at the scene. By then, the Daraghmah land was full of Israeli police, soldiers, and security guards from the illegal settlement. The soldiers entered the house searching for weapons, but as usual they did not find anything.
Click for more pictures. Photo by Marcus Fitzgerald.
Around midnight, the soldiers, police, security personnel, and settlers left the area while Jamal, the oldest son of Khalid, and the international activists remained in the house. Throughout the night settlers stayed on patrol in the street near the Daraghmah house, shouting and honking the horns of their cars.
At 7:30 a.m. the following morning, a border police car stopped near the Daraghmah house on the road leading up to the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Levona. The border policemen then proceeded to break into the house, aggressively asking for passports and other documents. Like the night before, the house was searched and no bag, cigarette package, or piece of clothing went unturned.
Jamal was brutally pushed into one of the rooms by the police officers where he received several blows to the face before he was handcuffed and taken away. Jamal was taken to the Israeli police station of Binyamin, wrongly accused of having hit a soldier. He was released on bail the day after.
The continued pressure of the Israeli occupation forces and illegal settlers remain a a constant threat during both days and nights in Khan al Luban.
Alex Marley is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
17 August 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
At around 10:30 p.m., a group of Israeli settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Ma’ale Levona arrived in Khan Al Luban, a Palestinian hamlet located in the vicinity of Al Luban village. Armed with guns and wooden sticks, the settlers broke into a house owned by Khalid al-Hamed Daraghmah.
Israeli settlers armed with guns and sticks on the land of Khalid al-Hamed Daraghmah.
The owner Khalid Daraghmah was alerted by his dogs when the 6 armed settlers arrived by car. Khalid went out and asked the intruders to leave his property. The settlers refused claiming that, “this is not private property, but property of the state of Israel.” The settlers forcefully entered his house, going into every room, shouting and kicking household objects.
The settlers then headed towards the water spring that is next to the house. International activists that Khalid called for support also tried to stop the settlers and explain that they are intruding on private property, but again the settlers refused to leave. On this occasion they argued that it is their right to be there, because “the prophet Abraham was here 2000 years ago. “
About half an hour after the settlers’ arrival, a white jeep arrived at full speed. Two Israeli soldiers ran out of the car and headed aggressively towards Khalid. The soldiers grabbed Khalid, shouting, and pushed him violently into a room of the house. The international activists tried to enter the room but were prevented by the soldiers.
Some 20 minutes later, another car arrived carrying 4 soldiers as well as 2 Israeli police cars carrying 4 policemen. The soldiers interrogated Khalid and the police spoke to the settlers who claimed to have been attacked by Khalid.
The soldiers scoured the house, ‘looking for weapons’. They entered all the rooms of Khalid’s house which have been emptied since a previous settler attack. After finding nothing at about 1:00 a.m., the police, soldiers, and settlers left.
Khalid says, “they are gone now but unfortunately, they will be back.”
Alex Marley is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
15 August 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
For the past four years, Khalid al-Sanih Daraghmah and his family have faced regular attacks by Israeli settlers at their home in Khan, 2 kilometers south of the West Bank village al-Luban. When Khalid bought the two homes on the road to the illegal Ma’ale Levona settlement 5 years ago, he imagined restoring them and planting the 20 dunums of land that they sit on.
Khaled Daraghmah sits in his house, originally a police station from the Ottoman era – click to see more photos
Today, the two houses sit with the insides burned and gutted, without doors or windows, and under constant threat of further attacks. Only Khalid is left to protect them, as he has moved his family to another home for their safety. The move was especially motivated to protest his two eldest sons, who have been unjustly arrested several times, simply for being present on their own property.
Five years ago, Khalid purchased the two buildings from his cousin believing that he could restore them and turn the property into a paradise.
“I sold everything to buy this property,” says Khalid, “including my family gold.”
The first six months were strange, admits Khalid. Israeli real estate agents constantly inquired if he would sell.
“Everyone came saying, ‘Habibi (my dear), how much will it take for you to sell.’”
Over time, the voices became less friendly, and when it became clear he would not sell, the attacks began. The settlers began coming on to his property several times each week to cut trees, steal food, and use the natural spring that flows under his property.
One year after moving to the building that rests on the west side of the road, it was set on fire while he and his family were away visiting friends. The family then decided to live in the second home, which sits next to the coveted spring.
“We lived in the first house for one year, and this house for two, but after that I could not keep my family here, they were in too much danger,” says Khalid.
After several arson attacks on the home, and an incident where settlers swam naked in front of his wife and children, he decided that only he and his two eldest sons would stay in Khan to cultivate the land. The settler attacks continued and after his sons were arrested several times, he was the only one left to work and defend the land.
In April 2012, Khalid was arrested by Israeli forces and accused of attacking settlers. Three members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), as well as four from the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) were present and filmed the incident that led to his arrest.
He spent three months in jail, and was forced to pay 20,000 shekels to Israeli authorities to secure his release. His release came with the condition that he was not allowed on his land, except on Saturday, until his court date on October 28.
While Khalid was in prison, settlers removed all of the doors and windows to his homes, destroyed the irrigation lines that fed his crops, and destroyed a section of wall in one house.
A section of Khaled’s house desetroyed by Israeli settlers. Khaled has temporarily rebuilt part of it, but lacks money for concrete – click to see more photos
“They feel that I am weak now, as I do not have the money to continue replacing everything they destroy. So they come every day, watching me die slowly with no one to help.”
Illegal Israeli settlements
According to the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem, Israel has taken control of 50% of the land
of the West Bank by legalizing Settlements as Israeli territory. 500,000 Israeli settlers are living in the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Although all settlements are illegal according to international law, Israel officially recognizes 121 settlements in the Occupied West Bank. Another 100 settlements in the Occupied West Bank are smaller ‘outposts’, which are established with government assistance and are not even recognized as legal by the state of Israel. Nonetheless, most of them still stand.
Marshall Pinkerton is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
