1 nov 2018
Israeli bulldozers razed lands and uprooted olive trees in Palestinian lands adjacent to the Israeli illegal settlement of Avnei Hefetz, in the northern occupied West Bank district of Tulkarem, on Thursday morning.
The Avnei Hefetz settlement was built on Palestinian-owned lands of the villages and towns of Shufa, Kafr al-Labad and Kafa.
Activist Tahsin Hamed reported, acording to Ma’an, that Israeli bulldozers razed Palestinian-owned lands in the Shufa village of southeastern Tulkarem, in preparation for settlement expansion.
Hamed pointed out that the village is currently wall-to-wall with the settlement, and is continuously facing land-razing for the expansion of the Avnei Hefetz settlement.
Israel’s policy of expanding settlements and outposts has been escalating recently, due to the United States President Donald Trump approving three times more the amount of settlement units than that which was approved in the year and half before his inauguration.
Since the occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 1967, between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis have moved into Israeli settlements located in occupied Palestinian territory, in violation of international law.
The estimated 196 governments recognized Israeli settlements scattered across the Palestinian territory are all considered illegal under international law.
The Avnei Hefetz settlement was built on Palestinian-owned lands of the villages and towns of Shufa, Kafr al-Labad and Kafa.
Activist Tahsin Hamed reported, acording to Ma’an, that Israeli bulldozers razed Palestinian-owned lands in the Shufa village of southeastern Tulkarem, in preparation for settlement expansion.
Hamed pointed out that the village is currently wall-to-wall with the settlement, and is continuously facing land-razing for the expansion of the Avnei Hefetz settlement.
Israel’s policy of expanding settlements and outposts has been escalating recently, due to the United States President Donald Trump approving three times more the amount of settlement units than that which was approved in the year and half before his inauguration.
Since the occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 1967, between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis have moved into Israeli settlements located in occupied Palestinian territory, in violation of international law.
The estimated 196 governments recognized Israeli settlements scattered across the Palestinian territory are all considered illegal under international law.
31 oct 2018
Abu Basem stands hopelessly rubbing his hands, as he touches the rest of his olive trees in a valley north of Salfit, looking right and left, and recalling memories when joy was all over his house with the start of the olive harvest, which now turned into tears and pain.
This is the story of farmer Ahmad Eshtayeh, 80 years old from the city of Salfit, who inspects the rest of his olive field north of Salfit behind the apartheid wall, which swallowed 90% of Salfit’s land, leaving too little for him to cultivate.
Killing the joy
Abu Basem says: “We used to get ready for the olive season with joy and happiness, picking fruits while chanting Palestinian folkloric songs, while today we hear songs in Hebrew coming from the settlement of Ariel, which robbed our lands north of Salfit.”
He adds, “The Israeli occupation is killing our joy as we cross the gates of the wall to harvest olives in the fields that lie behind. The settlements stole my land twice; the first was in Wadi Abdul Rahman and the second was in Ezbet Abu al-Basal to build more factories for settlers.”
The journey of torment
Regarding the timing of the olive harvest, he adds that with the Dawn Prayer, farmers prepare themselves to cross the gate which opens from the northern side of the city of Salfit. “I prepared the equipment used in the olive harvest, and offered the Dawn Prayer, and then I went out around 4:30 A.M. and waited until a soldier opened the gate.”
He continued: “The soldier ordered the farmers to show their identities, amid some insults, and then kept our IDs with him, and inspected the equipment we brought along, and then allowed us to enter until 4:00 P.M., threatening those who will be late with punishment.”
“We used to enter and leave our fields whenever we wanted, and we would sleep in our land, and we would care for it whenever we liked,” said Abu Basem. “Now it takes a permit or a humiliating search and a deliberate humiliation to get in and collect the olives, and if one fell and broke his hand, he would have to wait for the gate to open on time,” he continued.
He noted: “Israeli soldiers put us in prison, and they kill the joy of picking up the fruits during the harvest season, where farmers are not allowed to leave even if they had an accident like a snake bite on the grounds that the time of opening the gates is a military order and cannot be changed.”
Researcher Khalid Maali confirms that the olive season behind the wall and near the settlements is very dangerous, and that short periods of olive picking make farmers in constant anxiety and confusion for fear over their olive fields.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Agriculture set the date of 12 October 2018 as the most proper date to harvest olives, but many farmers, especially in the areas near the coast, west of Salfit, Tulkarem and Qalqilya and in lands behind the wall do not adhere to the deadline because of the exceptional situation they live in, as the areas near the coast have a warm atmosphere which makes olives ripen early.
He added that the occupation, by its restrictions on farmers, contribute to reducing the produce due to the lack of care for the land and bulldozing and uprooting olive trees by Israeli forces.
This is the story of farmer Ahmad Eshtayeh, 80 years old from the city of Salfit, who inspects the rest of his olive field north of Salfit behind the apartheid wall, which swallowed 90% of Salfit’s land, leaving too little for him to cultivate.
Killing the joy
Abu Basem says: “We used to get ready for the olive season with joy and happiness, picking fruits while chanting Palestinian folkloric songs, while today we hear songs in Hebrew coming from the settlement of Ariel, which robbed our lands north of Salfit.”
He adds, “The Israeli occupation is killing our joy as we cross the gates of the wall to harvest olives in the fields that lie behind. The settlements stole my land twice; the first was in Wadi Abdul Rahman and the second was in Ezbet Abu al-Basal to build more factories for settlers.”
The journey of torment
Regarding the timing of the olive harvest, he adds that with the Dawn Prayer, farmers prepare themselves to cross the gate which opens from the northern side of the city of Salfit. “I prepared the equipment used in the olive harvest, and offered the Dawn Prayer, and then I went out around 4:30 A.M. and waited until a soldier opened the gate.”
He continued: “The soldier ordered the farmers to show their identities, amid some insults, and then kept our IDs with him, and inspected the equipment we brought along, and then allowed us to enter until 4:00 P.M., threatening those who will be late with punishment.”
“We used to enter and leave our fields whenever we wanted, and we would sleep in our land, and we would care for it whenever we liked,” said Abu Basem. “Now it takes a permit or a humiliating search and a deliberate humiliation to get in and collect the olives, and if one fell and broke his hand, he would have to wait for the gate to open on time,” he continued.
He noted: “Israeli soldiers put us in prison, and they kill the joy of picking up the fruits during the harvest season, where farmers are not allowed to leave even if they had an accident like a snake bite on the grounds that the time of opening the gates is a military order and cannot be changed.”
Researcher Khalid Maali confirms that the olive season behind the wall and near the settlements is very dangerous, and that short periods of olive picking make farmers in constant anxiety and confusion for fear over their olive fields.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Agriculture set the date of 12 October 2018 as the most proper date to harvest olives, but many farmers, especially in the areas near the coast, west of Salfit, Tulkarem and Qalqilya and in lands behind the wall do not adhere to the deadline because of the exceptional situation they live in, as the areas near the coast have a warm atmosphere which makes olives ripen early.
He added that the occupation, by its restrictions on farmers, contribute to reducing the produce due to the lack of care for the land and bulldozing and uprooting olive trees by Israeli forces.
A group of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian olive-pickers in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron City, in the southern occupied West Bank, on Tuesday, and attempted to prevent them from picking olives in their lands, adjacent to the illegal Israeli settlement of Ramat Yishai.
The lands belong to local Muhammad Abu Haikal’s family; the land owner, along with local and international activists, entered the land despite Israeli military procedures, according to Ma’an.
Olive-pickers continued despite attacks by Israeli settlers, as they insist on being in their lands and not leaving them unprotected.
An olive-picking campaign was launched by the Youth against Settlement group, in Tel Rumeida, last week, with the participation of international institutions working for peace and justice.
Coordinator of the campaign, Izzat al-Karaki, said, “We are working to support the steadfastness of Palestinian families suffering from attacks by Israeli settlers and army in closed areas of Hebron City.”
Al-Karaki pointed out that dozens of international activist and locals took part in olive-picking.
Agricultural engineer Murad Amr, coordinator of the Youth against Settlement group, said that the campaign continues in high-tension areas of Tel Rumeida and areas adjacent to the Kiryat Arba settlement, in Hebron.
Amr added that his group also formed a night watch committee to guard the olive harvest from being stolen by Israeli settlers.
The area of Tel Rumeida has long been a flashpoint for tensions between Palestinians and Israeli settlers and military, as it is located near illegal Israeli settlements whose residents are notoriously aggressive toward Palestinians.
Tel Rumeida is located within the area of the city designated as H2, an area taking over the bulk of Hebron’s Old City that is under full Israeli military control, and the site of five illegal Israeli settlements which continually expand into surrounding Palestinian neighborhoods.
The Israeli-controlled H2 area is home to 30,000 Palestinians and around 800 Israeli settlers who live under the protection of Israeli forces.
Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.
The Palestinian government has no jurisdiction over Israelis in the West Bank, and acts carried out by Israeli settlers often occur in the presence of Israeli military forces who rarely act to protect Palestinian residents.
The majority of settler thefts committed against Palestinians are met with impunity, with Israelis rarely facing consequences for such thefts.
Only 1.9 percent of complaints submitted by Palestinians against Israeli settler attacks or theft result in a conviction, while 95.6 percent of investigations of damage to olive trees are closed due to failures of Israeli police, according to the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din.
According to Palestinians and rights groups, Israel’s main goal, both in its policies in Area C, in which more than 60% of Palestinian land is under full Israeli control, and Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise, is to depopulate the land of its Palestinian residents and to replace them with Jewish Israeli communities, in order to manipulate population demographics in all of historic Palestine.
The movement of Israeli settlers taking over Palestinian land, and further displacing the local Palestinian population has been a “stable” Israeli policy since the takeover of the West Bank and Jerusalem in 1967, B’Tselem said, underscoring that all “Israeli legislative, legal, planning, funding, and defense bodies” have played an active role in the dispossession of Palestinians from their lands.
B’Tselem also argued that under the guise of a “temporary military occupation,” Israel has been “using the land as its own: robbing land, exploiting the area’s natural resources for its own benefit and establishing permanent settlements,” estimating that Israel had dispossessed Palestinians from some 200,000 hectares (494,211 acres) of lands in the occupied Palestinian territory over the years.
The lands belong to local Muhammad Abu Haikal’s family; the land owner, along with local and international activists, entered the land despite Israeli military procedures, according to Ma’an.
Olive-pickers continued despite attacks by Israeli settlers, as they insist on being in their lands and not leaving them unprotected.
An olive-picking campaign was launched by the Youth against Settlement group, in Tel Rumeida, last week, with the participation of international institutions working for peace and justice.
Coordinator of the campaign, Izzat al-Karaki, said, “We are working to support the steadfastness of Palestinian families suffering from attacks by Israeli settlers and army in closed areas of Hebron City.”
Al-Karaki pointed out that dozens of international activist and locals took part in olive-picking.
Agricultural engineer Murad Amr, coordinator of the Youth against Settlement group, said that the campaign continues in high-tension areas of Tel Rumeida and areas adjacent to the Kiryat Arba settlement, in Hebron.
Amr added that his group also formed a night watch committee to guard the olive harvest from being stolen by Israeli settlers.
The area of Tel Rumeida has long been a flashpoint for tensions between Palestinians and Israeli settlers and military, as it is located near illegal Israeli settlements whose residents are notoriously aggressive toward Palestinians.
Tel Rumeida is located within the area of the city designated as H2, an area taking over the bulk of Hebron’s Old City that is under full Israeli military control, and the site of five illegal Israeli settlements which continually expand into surrounding Palestinian neighborhoods.
The Israeli-controlled H2 area is home to 30,000 Palestinians and around 800 Israeli settlers who live under the protection of Israeli forces.
Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.
The Palestinian government has no jurisdiction over Israelis in the West Bank, and acts carried out by Israeli settlers often occur in the presence of Israeli military forces who rarely act to protect Palestinian residents.
The majority of settler thefts committed against Palestinians are met with impunity, with Israelis rarely facing consequences for such thefts.
Only 1.9 percent of complaints submitted by Palestinians against Israeli settler attacks or theft result in a conviction, while 95.6 percent of investigations of damage to olive trees are closed due to failures of Israeli police, according to the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din.
According to Palestinians and rights groups, Israel’s main goal, both in its policies in Area C, in which more than 60% of Palestinian land is under full Israeli control, and Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise, is to depopulate the land of its Palestinian residents and to replace them with Jewish Israeli communities, in order to manipulate population demographics in all of historic Palestine.
The movement of Israeli settlers taking over Palestinian land, and further displacing the local Palestinian population has been a “stable” Israeli policy since the takeover of the West Bank and Jerusalem in 1967, B’Tselem said, underscoring that all “Israeli legislative, legal, planning, funding, and defense bodies” have played an active role in the dispossession of Palestinians from their lands.
B’Tselem also argued that under the guise of a “temporary military occupation,” Israel has been “using the land as its own: robbing land, exploiting the area’s natural resources for its own benefit and establishing permanent settlements,” estimating that Israel had dispossessed Palestinians from some 200,000 hectares (494,211 acres) of lands in the occupied Palestinian territory over the years.
29 oct 2018
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Monday uprooted 200 olive trees and bulldozed 13 dunums of Palestinian-owned land in Beit Ula town, west of al-Khalil.
Hashem Badarin, who is in charge of the farmers' affairs in al-Khalil, said that the IOF stormed Khirbet Kharouf area, uprooted 200 olive trees planted ten years ago, and destroyed the fence surrounding them.
Hejazi al-Tarshan, the land's owner, said that the Israeli forces have recently stepped up their attacks on Palestinian famers and their lands in preparation for new settlement expansion projects.
The IOF, for the second time, bulldozed 13 dunums of land owned by the Palestinian citizen Mahmoud al-Adam, and removed the barbed wire surrounding a neighboring land owned by Hazem al-Umla.
Hashem Badarin, who is in charge of the farmers' affairs in al-Khalil, said that the IOF stormed Khirbet Kharouf area, uprooted 200 olive trees planted ten years ago, and destroyed the fence surrounding them.
Hejazi al-Tarshan, the land's owner, said that the Israeli forces have recently stepped up their attacks on Palestinian famers and their lands in preparation for new settlement expansion projects.
The IOF, for the second time, bulldozed 13 dunums of land owned by the Palestinian citizen Mahmoud al-Adam, and removed the barbed wire surrounding a neighboring land owned by Hazem al-Umla.
26 oct 2018
Dozens of Israeli settlers on Friday evening, under the protection of the Israeli army, stormed al-Khirba archaeological area in Tuqu' town, south of Bethlehem.
The PIC reporter said that the settlers stormed the area and performed Talmudic rituals, while the Israeli army threw a cordon around the place and prevented Palestinian citizens from leaving their houses or approaching the neighboring olive fields.
The settlers cut down some olive trees, and when they left the place, limited clashes broke out between the Israeli soldiers and Palestinian youths.
The PIC reporter said that the settlers stormed the area and performed Talmudic rituals, while the Israeli army threw a cordon around the place and prevented Palestinian citizens from leaving their houses or approaching the neighboring olive fields.
The settlers cut down some olive trees, and when they left the place, limited clashes broke out between the Israeli soldiers and Palestinian youths.
25 oct 2018
ISM volunteers spent the day harvesting olives with farmers in Bruqin village, a day that began with Israeli soldiers confronting the farmer and his family and ordering them to leave their land no later than 5 p.m.
Since the harvest workday typically concludes around 4 p.m., this did not prove an obstacle for the harvesters. But it was a potent reminder that the residents of Bruqin, a primarily agrarian village located in the fertile Salfit governorate area, continue to lose control over and access to their land due to ongoing Israeli military occupation.
In the last few decades, Israel has expropriated hundreds of dunams of land from Bruqin in order to build Israeli settlements, settlement “outposts,” military checkpoints, and Israeli-only settler by-pass roads. Bruqin village has existed since Roman times. Yet Israel’s historically recent military occupation is swiftly eroding this village’s existence.
Despite the vastness of the olive groves in which they were working, the buildings and vast structures of the hilltop settlements of Bruchin and Barkan Industrial Zone proved impossible for volunteers to overlook. These settlements are connected by settlement highway roads 5 and 446, which were both audible and visible from the land where volunteers were working. The sound of cars zooming by on the settler roads was ever-present.
Since its creation, Barkan Industrial Zone has pumped its wastewater into Bruqin’s agricultural land, causing pollution and the spread of disease in both humans and animals. As volunteers walked through the groves of olive trees, the stench of human waste was palpable, even in the middle of wide-open farmland. This “policy” is a continuation of past practice when Ariel, another nearby settlement, began channeling its sewage into the northeast side of the village more than twenty years ago.
Palestinians and ISM volunteers were able to harvest the rest of the day without further Zionist interference. In conversation with the farmer, however, ISMers asked the name of the settlement looming over them as they worked. They were initially confused by his answer, because it sounded as though he were simply saying the name of his own village.
Carefully re-iterating and exaggerating the slight difference in pronunciation between “Bruqin” and “Bruchin” for his international listeners, the farmer explained, “They take everything. They take our land, they take our freedom. Then they take our names.”
Since the harvest workday typically concludes around 4 p.m., this did not prove an obstacle for the harvesters. But it was a potent reminder that the residents of Bruqin, a primarily agrarian village located in the fertile Salfit governorate area, continue to lose control over and access to their land due to ongoing Israeli military occupation.
In the last few decades, Israel has expropriated hundreds of dunams of land from Bruqin in order to build Israeli settlements, settlement “outposts,” military checkpoints, and Israeli-only settler by-pass roads. Bruqin village has existed since Roman times. Yet Israel’s historically recent military occupation is swiftly eroding this village’s existence.
Despite the vastness of the olive groves in which they were working, the buildings and vast structures of the hilltop settlements of Bruchin and Barkan Industrial Zone proved impossible for volunteers to overlook. These settlements are connected by settlement highway roads 5 and 446, which were both audible and visible from the land where volunteers were working. The sound of cars zooming by on the settler roads was ever-present.
Since its creation, Barkan Industrial Zone has pumped its wastewater into Bruqin’s agricultural land, causing pollution and the spread of disease in both humans and animals. As volunteers walked through the groves of olive trees, the stench of human waste was palpable, even in the middle of wide-open farmland. This “policy” is a continuation of past practice when Ariel, another nearby settlement, began channeling its sewage into the northeast side of the village more than twenty years ago.
Palestinians and ISM volunteers were able to harvest the rest of the day without further Zionist interference. In conversation with the farmer, however, ISMers asked the name of the settlement looming over them as they worked. They were initially confused by his answer, because it sounded as though he were simply saying the name of his own village.
Carefully re-iterating and exaggerating the slight difference in pronunciation between “Bruqin” and “Bruchin” for his international listeners, the farmer explained, “They take everything. They take our land, they take our freedom. Then they take our names.”
22 oct 2018
The Israeli military razed on Monday 16 dunums of privately-owned Palestinian land in Tarqoumia town, in the southern occupied West Bank, and uprooted dozens of olive trees.
According to local sources, Israeli forces raided Tarqoumia, leveled Palestinian lands, and chopped 260 olive trees.
At the same time, the occupation army further destroyed three water wells owned by the Palestinian citizens Mohamed Jaafra and Awad Fatafta.
According to local sources, Israeli forces raided Tarqoumia, leveled Palestinian lands, and chopped 260 olive trees.
At the same time, the occupation army further destroyed three water wells owned by the Palestinian citizens Mohamed Jaafra and Awad Fatafta.
21 oct 2018
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Several illegal Israeli settlers were videotaped, Saturday, throwing rocks at Palestinians in the village of Burin, southwest of the northern West Bank of Nablus.
They were seen throwing rocks at residences in the Nablus Governorate under the cover of Israeli forces whom stood guard for the colonizers. Quds News Network said the Palestinians were harvesting their olives when the settlers attacked. Yahia Qadous, the head of the Local Village Council in Burin, said the assailants came from Yitzhar colony, which was built on private Palestinian lands, in the southeastern area of the village. |
Qadous added that the Palestinians tried to remove the invading colonists, while the soldiers attacked them with gas bombs.
20 oct 2018
Israeli settlers on Saturday morning attacked Palestinian farmers who were harvesting olives in Burin town, south of Nablus city in the northern West Bank.
Head of Burin's village council Yahya Qadous told the PIC reporter that a group of Israeli settlers coming from Yitzhar settlement attacked Palestinian farmers under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces.
Qadous said that confrontations broke out between the settlers and the Palestinian farmers during which the Israeli forces fired teargas canisters at the farmers.
Meanwhile in the same town, another group of settlers attacked the house of the Palestinian citizen Basheer al-Zaben and uprooted the fence installed around the house to protect it.
An Israeli military patrol later raided the area, provided protection to the settlers who were clashing with Palestinian citizens, and heavily fired teargas canisters at the Palestinians.
Head of Burin's village council Yahya Qadous told the PIC reporter that a group of Israeli settlers coming from Yitzhar settlement attacked Palestinian farmers under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces.
Qadous said that confrontations broke out between the settlers and the Palestinian farmers during which the Israeli forces fired teargas canisters at the farmers.
Meanwhile in the same town, another group of settlers attacked the house of the Palestinian citizen Basheer al-Zaben and uprooted the fence installed around the house to protect it.
An Israeli military patrol later raided the area, provided protection to the settlers who were clashing with Palestinian citizens, and heavily fired teargas canisters at the Palestinians.
17 oct 2018
A Palestinian young man was injured Wednesday after being attacked by a group of settlers in Barqa town west of Nablus, northern West Bank.
Head of the village council Jihad Salah affirmed that dozens of settlers violently attacked the young man Mahmoud Sa'id Hussein, 20, while picking olives in his agricultural land near the evacuated settlement of Homesh.
The injured youth was taken to hospital for treatment, suffering different bruises and injuries in his hand and face.
A Palestinian mother of eight was killed last week when settlers threw stones at a car she was in.
Head of the village council Jihad Salah affirmed that dozens of settlers violently attacked the young man Mahmoud Sa'id Hussein, 20, while picking olives in his agricultural land near the evacuated settlement of Homesh.
The injured youth was taken to hospital for treatment, suffering different bruises and injuries in his hand and face.
A Palestinian mother of eight was killed last week when settlers threw stones at a car she was in.