Far'ata: Attack by 50 Settlers

This roof of a home in Far'ata is a fairly typical one.
Families build up rather than out to save land.

After passing through a flying checkpoint [The Israeli occupation army stops and checks IDS at random.] on the road leading to the village of Far'ata, the MPTer and Zakiraya, MPT Palestinian contact, were warmly welcomed by a Far'ata village family. The family served them several rounds of drinks and snacks. The cool drinks were much appreciated on this very hot May day. The Palestinian village of Far’ata, population 700, is located about six miles south of the village of Jit.

The village has a grade school. The older students go to high school in the nearby village of Immatin. Far’ata village lost land in 2002 to the Israeli outpost of Havat Gil’ad, which lies to its north. The villagers are now under constant attack by the settlers of the outpost.

[To see the Havat Gil’ad home page go to http://havatgilad.rjews.net/index.html ]

[To view a propaganda video on Havat Gil’ad click on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDNs-wgIUeQ ]
[For a Guardian article on the outpost read
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/oct/17/israel ]

This is part of the illegal [illegal even under Israeli law] outpost of Havat Gil'ad. Additional caravans [simple housing] were added to this in the last 2 months.
Only six or seven families live here now. Outposts eventually become settlements.
Credit for photo http://www.pbase.com/rdavid/image/64609379

Two years ago, some Far’ata villagers were beginning early in the day to harvest olives not far from Havat Gil’ad. Zakiraya, a Jit villager who works with Rabbis for Human Rights, had been called to accompany the Far’ata villagers. An Israeli army jeep came to a group of villagers, questioned what they were doing and when the villagers responded that they were harvesting olives, the army jeep left. A few minutes later an Israeli settler rode in on horseback, then left. Then 50 settlers from Havat Gil'ad and other West Bank settlements came to attack this group of Far’ata villagers. Five villagers were seriously injured, one suffered a head injury after being beaten by a metal pipe. He was taken to an Israeli hospital for a mandatory ten days of treatment. He went home after two days, but rested in his home without working for one month.

This man suffered a head injured when hit by a settler with a metal pipe. He was hospitalized and then spent one month in bed rest.

Palestinian newspaper photo of the stone throwing between settlers and villagers.

Palestinian newspaper photo of the man injured
when hit by a settler with a metal pipe. His mother is beside him.

This past week, when Palestinians farmers from Far’ata were plowing their land, Israeli settlers from Havat Gil’ad came to stop them. The Israeli occupation army arrived and ordered the villagers to stop plowing or they would shoot them. The villagers had plowed only a few minutes before the incident occurred and could do no more that day and perhaps none in the future. The Israeli District Coordinating Office [DCO] has not allowed these Palestinians to plow their fields in the rainy season [December - April], which is the best time to plow. The DCO continues to allow little or no plowing.

The Israeli settlers added new trailers or caravans to the outposts in the last two months. These caravans are roughly constructed houses whose purpose is to claim the land for a new settlement, hence the word outpost.

Every week ten or more Israeli settlers, many of them armed, from Havat Gil’ad come on horseback or walk into the village at any time of the day or night. They harass villagers and often steal or shoot goats. The people of Far’ata try to confront the settlers. Groups of villagers try to move the settlers out of the village. However, what can a few villagers do against armed settlers?

The lighting is terrible in this photo, but ...
in the lower half of the photo shows the illegal outpost of Havat Gil'ad.

Looking out from the hilltop village of Far'ata, the illegal Israeli settlement
of Qedumin lies to the north and west.

Downhill from Far'ata to the west is the village of Immatin.
Far'ata youth attend high school in Immatin.

For information on a January 2008 attack on an elderly shepherd by settlers from Havat Gil’ad and more details on the outpost, click on http://imeu.net/news/article007498.shtml

Jit, A Village under Siege

The village of Jit, under a setting sun.

Jit made Israeli Channel 2 news this past week. Jit is a Palestinian hilltop village of about 3000 people, located six miles west of Nablus. While Israeli Prime Minister Bejanmin Netanyahu was in Washington DC, being requested by President Barak Obama to stop settlements, the settlers from the illegal outpost [pre-settlement, “illegal” under Israeli law] Havat Gil’ad were in Jit causing serious problems for the villagers.

The TV station commentator pointed out the contradiction of the Washington meeting and the reality in Palestine. The Israeli occupation army was present in Jit for the altercation. The video shows the Israeli settlers pushing the Israeli soldiers, but does not show the army abusing the Palestinian villagers, which happens frequently. Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights speaks of being hit in the face by a stone thrown by an Israeli settler.

Briefly, this is what happened. After many months delay, a Jit villager finally received permission from the Israeli army’s District Coordinating Office [DCO] to plow his fields in an area between the Havat Gil’ad outpost and Jit. When the villager started to plow, the Israeli settlers from Havat Gil’ad outpost brought a settler tractor in to plow in the same field claiming it was Israeli settler land and not Jit village land. Although the Jit villager had DCO permission to plow, the Israeli settlers repeatedly told him that the land was not his land, but Israeli land. The Israeli settlers told the villager he had to show the title for his land in order to plow there. When villagers tried to prevent the Israeli settlers from plowing, the settlers called the Israeli occupation army. Ultimately the Israeli soldiers did not give allow the villager to finish and they sent the Palestinian farmers home. The Israeli settlers left also, probably to return another day
Below are 5 pictures chronically last week’s incident.

Israeli settlers from the Havat Gil'ad outpost bring their tractors to plow Palestinian land in Jit. The villagers with Israeli DCO permission have already begun to plow this same land, their village land.

The Palestinian villagers protest to the Israeli soldiers.

The soldiers try to keep the Israeli settlers back.

People from Rabbis for Human Rights are taking pictures.

The Israeli settlers refuse to leave the Jit village land. At first the settlers attacked the villagers in the presence of the army, later both the Israeli settlers and the Israeli army attacked the villagers.

The Israeli settlers negotiate with the Israeli army.

The Israeli occupation army continues talking to the Israeli settlers. The Palestinians wait. Both settlers and villagers are sent home. The Palestinians have not yet plowed their fields and may or may not get a renewed permission. The settlers will return another day to harass the villagers on Palestinian land because there are no penalties for their actions.

The above-mentioned TV video of this same incident is in Hebrew, but it is not difficult to identify the Israeli settlers who are wearing side curls and kippahs or yamulkes, the Israeli occupying army in uniform and the Palestinians in regular dress.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8s3B8jbMXE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxR9Trt-2_M

After this plowing incident last week, Israeli settlers invaded the village, entered homes and shot holes in walls and windows. In one home, the shards of window glass fell on a ten-year-old girl who was sleeping in the bed below the window.

The village of Jit has also had ongoing difficulties with the Israeli settlers of Qedumin, an illegal Israeli settlement to the west of them. Qedumin was established in 1975, taking 90% of the land of the Palestine village Kafr Qaddum. The rest of the land came from nearby villages including Jit. Qedumin has continued to expand its borders mainly by destroying olive groves. It now has a population of over 3000. [For more information on illegal Israeli settlements click on http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article7

Qedumin, one of the largest Israeli settlement in West Bank,

is built over the Western mountain aquifer in the middle of a Palestinian agricultural district. Thus Israel controls this water source.

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/water.html

The livelihood of the Jit villagers mainly comes from agriculture. In 2004, they had 50,000 olive trees, but they only have access to 10,000 trees or about 20 % of these trees. For the other 80% there are tight restrictions - authorization from the Israeli District Coordination Office [DCO] must be given for access to the trees for plowing, trimming, planting and harvesting. The permission to work on their own land is often given late in the season and for a very short period. [For more information on the olive harvest situation see: http://www.palestine-pmc.com/pdf/1-12-04.pdf ]

In April 2008, gangs of Qedumin Israeli settlers uprooted and destroyed more than 1000 mature olive trees belonging to the villagers of Jit. Some of these belonged to the family of Zakiraya, our MPT Palestinian contact. The raid was part of a series of mob-type attacks by Qedumin settlers on Palestine villages in the area. One Palestinian was beaten with stones, tractors were damaged and sheep were killed. [For more details see: http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/event.php?eid=2528 ]

An MPTer visited Jit to obtain information about the village from Zakiraya, MPT Palestinian contact and a Jit villager. According to Zakiraya, Havat Gil’ad, established in 2002, is the most dangerous outpost in the West Bank. Every week Havat Gil’ad settlers attack different villages, beating people and stealing whatever they can find: sheep, goats, and olives. Settlers break olive trees branches to feed their horses.

Three weeks ago, this Israeli settler carrying two firearms arrived in Jit by motorcycle. He and other settlers harassed the people of the village.

The villagers of Jit are under constant siege from settlers from the illegal outpost of Havat Gil’ad and the illegal settlement of Qedumin, but they are united in protecting the land that their ancestors have tilled for hundreds of years. One Jit villager has replanted 100s of olive tree plants, three times. With patience and persistence, the villagers of this Palestinian village struggle for a future for themselves and their children.

This man has planted many olive trees

to replace those burned or uprooted by Israeli settlers.

Palestinians have a special love for the hardy olive tree that lives hundreds of years with little care.

**********************
Under international law, Israeli settlements are illegal.
http://middleeast.about.com/od/israelandpalestine/a/me080826.htm
· United Nations Security Council Resolution 446, on March 22, 1979, determined “that the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”
· An advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice in 2004, addressing the West Bank barrier in particular and the West Bank itself in general, concluded “that the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (including East Jerusalem) have been established in breach of international law.”

[photos were taken by Zakiraya, some with an MPT camera.]

Chronicle of a Bil'in Demonstration

Friday May 15th an MPTer went to Bil’in to meet Brenna, MPTer fall 2008. Brenna came with a one-week Catholic Worker Peace Team – mostly people from the eastern USA. This team had tried unsuccessfully to bring badly needed medical supplies into Gaza. They were given the runaround by Egyptian border guards. The US Consulate in Cairo was also not helpful.

Every Friday for four years, Bil’in has demonstrated against the illegal apartheid wall that separates them from sixty-five percent of their land, which was confiscated for several illegal Israeli settlements. In the fall of 2007, the Israel High Court ordered that part of the confiscated land be returned to the village. To date, none has been returned.

It is important that Palestinians protest, that they continue to say no to the illegal Israeli occupation of more than forty years. The courage of the villagers of Bil’in is remarkable. Despite arrests, injuries, deaths and ongoing nightly home invasions and harassment in the village, this village has faithfully protested every Friday. Because of Bil’in, other villages in the north and south of Palestine protest against the illegal oppressive occupation. They are given confidence by the faithfulness of the small village of Bil’in.

The demonstration usually begins near the mosque after mid-day prayer. A crowd of Bil’in men and boys join the Israeli peace activists and the internationals who have been waiting for them. About 25 internationals and Israelis were part of this demonstration. The Nakba [the 1948 ethnic cleansing of the part of Palestine that is now the land of Israel – the catastrophe] is remembered this week in Palestine. Many Palestinians who were forced out of their homes then, still have the keys to these homes that are now occupied by Israelis.

Since there is a creative theme each week, this week it was the keys of the Nakba. A huge key was carried to the gate of the illegal apartheid wall [3 rows of electric fence]. The crowd usually moves toward the gate. The Israeli occupation army is on the hill beyond the electric fences. Volleys of tear gas and sound bombs are fired to disperse the crowd. The crowd moves back and then again assembles. The gathering and dispersing go on for about half an hour to an hour. Most of the action is near the gate, but Israeli soldiers are positioned along the road on the other side of the apartheid fence. At the western apartheid fence, a soldier on top of a jeep fires tear gas canisters at the people in the olive grove a distance down the hill from the gate. People suffered minor injuries and from the tear gas inhalation.

One thinks of the young Israeli soldiers who know that a Palestinian man was killed by a tear gas canister a month ago and an American man severely brain damaged a few weeks before that. What is in their hearts and minds of soldiers as week after week they shoot these canisters into a crowd?

Traveling to Bil’in the MPTer shared a van with a young man from Hong Kong and shared the return with a man from Oregon. The world is continuing to learn of the illegal apartheid occupation in Palestine. At the recent America-Israel Public Affairs Committee AIPAC [powerful US-Israeli lobby group] meeting in the USA, the director of AIPAC warned the conference of the danger of the worldwide boycott and divestment movement against Israel. http://aipac.org/about_AIPAC/Learn_About_AIPAC/2841_24635.asp

Following are several pictures, which chronicle the demonstration.

This week in Palestine is a remembrance of the 1948 Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of what is now Israel. Iyad, one of the demonstration organizers, wears a key, a symbol of the Palestinian homes that were emptied out for their Israeli occupants.

This sign is a symbol of the keys to Palestinian homes [still kept by the owners] taken by Israelis in 1948. These Palestinians went to refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan and Lebanon, and then scattered across the world.

Israelis and international peace activists wait for the Palestinians to begin the demonstration against the illegal Israeli annexation of Palestinian land.

Catholic Worker Peace Team lines up to walk to the illegal apartheid wall.

The Wagie [Palestinian white beard] easily acquiesces to the request of the Israeli peace activist [white bag] to chant in Hebrew. The two of them belt out a few chants in Hebrew.
Strange to say there is much about a picnic in walking in this demonstration. There is a liberating feeling.

Brenna, MPTer fall 08, today with Catholic Workers, was MPTer's buddy [affinity teams] for the demonstration.

The demonstrators move up the hill toward the gate.

With tear gas at the top of the hill, demonstrators move downhill and try to breathe again.

Volleys of tear gas are sent to the left of the demonstrators.

The gas fills the air and when the wind moves the gas eastward, everyone moves downhill.

The Catholic Worker Peace Team tries to recup from the tear gas.

Demonstrators move up away from the tear gas on the lower hill.

Tear gas makes one feel that breathing is impossible. Lemons, onions and alcohol on a piece of gauze eventually help restore a sense of being able to breathe and stop the eyes from watering.

Tear gas is everywhere at the top and sides of the hill.

A cloud of tear gas fills the air.


The Israeli occupation army is to the left of the gate on the road behind the 3 rows of electric fence. All soldiers shoot tear gas, but the most comes from those at the top of the hill in the distance behind cement slabs.

These soldiers are on the top hill behind the 3 rows of electric fence. Gauze dipped in alcohol can save one from the worse immediate effects of the tear gas.

Israeli soldiers are present on the road that leads up to the gate. Note the soldier on the jeep who is firing tear gas canasters and sound bombs in the olive groves.

The press tries to protect itself as much as possible.

Reuters Press was present at this demonstration.

Iyad may have scrapnel in his eye.

Einabus: Loss of Land and Livelihood

The visit of the MPTer and Zakiraya, MPT’s Palestinian contact, to the village of Einabus was brief. This village of between two and 3 thousand people is about 8 miles south of Nablus. Einabus lies to the west of Huwwara, but it is difficult to know when one begins and one ends. This is a farming community whose main crops are olives and figs.

Einabus lies just west of Huwwara and south and east of Urif. [It is not labled on this map.

http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/burin-v-burin.JPG

Fauzi Abu Eyad is a member of the Einabus Village Council. His family has lost land to Yitzhar, the illegal Israeli settlement.

Fauzi Abu Eyad, a member of the Einabus Village Council, invited the MPTer and Zakiraya into his home with a refreshing glass of soda. Fauzi briefly explained the situation of Einabus. The illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzar [established in 1984] began once again to extend its area in 2000, taking more land from the farmers of Einabus. The land that was taken became an extension of the settlement, “idle land” which would be “security zone” around the hilltop settlement. In 2003 and 2004, the settlers burned and cut olives trees in this extension. This was a means of further declaring the land theirs or further appropriating it. The settlement increased and the land and livelihood of the village decreased.

The Israeli Court has stated that Palestinian farmers can work these lands, but the Israeli occupying army’s District Coordinating Office [DCO] will not allow the villagers to work these lands. The plowing season extends from after the harvest in October into April, the rainy season. The Palestinian District Liaison Office [DCL] has worked with the DCO since November to get the permission for the villagers of Einabus to plow their lands. The last decision is that after mid-May the plowing can be done. This is very late in the season.

The villagers experience settler attacks. Then the Israel army enters the scene to “protect” the settlers. Olive groves and wheat fields have been burned. The olive tree has always been a target of Israeli aggression on Palestinian land. Destruction of the olive groves is a means of land expropriation and destruction of the livelihood of the Palestinian farmer. Fauzi said his family has land taken by the settlement that he has never been able to go to or to farm. The settlement recently has been bulldozing some of the land in the extension for housing construction. On some of the land, settlers are planting olive trees. There are Israeli occupation army jeeps driving in and out of the village at least fifteen times daily.

Einabus farmer looks at his burned olive grove.[2003]


Rabbis for Human Rights, one of the peace activist groups with whom MPT coordinates, has worked in Einabus. For a vivid account by John Ross, a British journalist, of his experience during the olive harvest in 2003 go to www.theava.com/03/1203-children.html This incident in which both he and Rabbi Arik Ascherman were injured was included in The London International Model United Nations 2009 Human Right Council report. www.limun.org.uk/HRC.pdf

Fauzi said that MPT presence is needed during the olive harvest and during plowing times when attacks by settlers are particularly fierce.

Urif: Live Ammunition

The Palestinian village of Urif.
The school is a three-story structure located on the top of the hill.

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For this picture and more of the village of Urif go to:

http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/_Urif_6075/Picture_18405.html

Leaving Burin, an MPTer and Zakirayia, Palestinian contact, drove to the village of Urif, perhaps a distance of 15 miles. Urif is located south of Burin on the other side of the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar. The United Nations map demonstrates much better the land sizes of the Israeli settlements and the Palestinian villages than the map located below, but it was impossible to copy to the blog. [For the UN map of the same area see:

http://www.ochaopt.org/?module=displaysection&section_id=108&static=0&edition_id=&format=html

-->

http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=1917

Fauzi, the head of the Village Council of Urif, warmly welcomed MPT.

Fauzi, the head of the Urif Village Council, welcomed the MPTer and Zakirayia into his office saying that he welcomed all human rights and peace groups who could witness the attacks the villagers of Urif suffer at the hands of the Israelis. Deployed Israeli ammunition was displayed on a table. This had been collected after an attack two weeks ago by Israeli settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzar. Sixteen villagers were injured in this attack. [Notice that live bullets were used, in the midst of a civilian population, including women and children.]

An array of ammunition, clearly marked in Hebrew as Israeli. Several of these are tear gas canisters which have killed on impact. Others are sound bombs. There is also live ammunition.

A close up of bullet shells and live bullets found after the attack.
Not included here are the bullets left in doors and walls inside homes and elsewhere in the village.

-->An office assistant showed the visitors a CD of the attack of April 24^th. About thirty settlers came into the edge of the village where the school is located. Fauzi was particularly concerned that settlers attacked near a school. The settlers appeared to be youth, some of whom were armed. The council head said that the village was united in standing against the settlers. The Israeli occupation army was called in to stop the incursion of the settlers, but instead protected the settlers. The array of used ammunition was from the Israeli army. In an attack that lasted about three hours, widows, walls and doors were broken or damaged in homes. One could view bullet holes in the interior walls of homes. Olive trees branches were broken. Sixteen villagers were injured.

The village of Urif has had more than 420 acres of land stolen by the illegal Israeli settlement, Yitzar. Some of the confiscated land is used for settlement housing, but the extension of land outside the actual settlement is left “idle,” for the sake of settler “security.” This “idle land” between the settlement and the village is village land, as is the settlement, but villages are not allowed to farm this “idle land.” The Israeli Court has stated that the Palestinians have a right to work these lands, but the Israeli settlers will not allow Palestinians on the land and do so with impunity.

Fauzi stated that Yitzar was established in 1984. but has now grown to a population of 600. Yitzar has no wall or fence around it since it intends to expand, according to Fauzi. [The UN map indicates that there are outposts – extensions of the original settlement.]

In the past settlers have attacked Urif villagers in their fields, stolen their goats and sheep, broken into their homes, stopped them from harvesting their olives and destroyed their olive trees. Settlers have burned about 300 acres of crops and olive groves and stolen farm equipment, According to Fauzi, two hundred and fifty Urif villagers have been injured by settlers - beaten and shot at - since 2002.

Farmers must work in the fields at given times. If villagers are not allowed in their fields to harvest or to pick their olives when they are ripe, the harvest is lost. Settlers stop Urif villagers from planting, plowing and harvesting on their lands. The village of Urif, as well as the village of Burin would welcome MPTers to be present during the olive harvest.

Burin: A Beleaguered Village

A task of the MPT spring team was to gather information about the areas where the future teams will be working. This week an MPTer and Zakiraya, our Palestinian contact here, visited three villages near Huwwara that have ongoing problems from the illegal Israeli settlements and consequently the Israeli occupation army.

The map below is helpful in understanding the situation. The map covers a small area, e.g. from Huwwara to Nablus is about 5 miles. Although there is no scale, the map appears to cover an area of 15 -30 miles. The illegal Israeli settlement of Barakha, (UN map Barcha) (established in 1987) is southwest of Nablus and northwest of Huwwara. A bit south of Barakha is Yitzhar settlement (established in 1984). The Palestinian village of Burin, sandwiched between these two settlements, has suffered numerous attacks by residents of the settlements. Villagers have been shot at by settlers, been beaten, had their animals stolen, had olive groves and wheat crops burned.

http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=1917

Israeli peace activists and internationals came to assist the Burin villagers in the fall 2008 during the olive harvest. Yet, in October 2008, acres of olive groves were burned in what appeared to be arson by Israeli settlers. In one case, tarps, buckets, and ladders were burned. In the past eight months, thousands of olive and citrus trees have been burned in Burin. The Israeli army blocked the Palestinians fire trucks, supporting the settlement actions. [For further detail on settler attacks visit:
http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=1442http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=1917

Ali Eid - Head of the Burin Village Council

The head of the Burin Village Council Ali Eid told the MPTer of the past problems with settlers. He said that the village had demonstrations every Friday during April 2009 to protest the settlers plowing on land confiscated from the village and ongoing attacks by Israeli settlers and soldiers in their village. Ali Eid stated that the head of the DCO (Israeli army District Coordinating Office] threatened to arrest and kill him. The Israeli army has thrown gas bombs behind Ali Eid’s home.

Ali Eid stated that although the Burin villagers have documents dating back to the Ottoman Empire – more than 117 years old - the confiscation and destruction of village land by Israeli settlers, and the terrorizing of villagers continues. The DCO and the Israeli court have told settlers to stop construction on the settlement. As of now, no construction has stopped.

A Burin land document dating from the Ottoman Empire

Looking south from Burin

Ali Eid mentioned that someone from the American Consulate visited Burin in 2008 after Israeli settlers burned ancient olive trees and stoned villagers. The Consulate also sent someone in April 2009 when there were further problems with settlers. This seems to indicate that the US State Department does know what is going on in settlements and does nothing.

This village council head closed his remarks about Burin and then said clearly in English, “Gaza. No one helped with Gaza. No one said anything.”