- 25 oct 2010
Israeli settlers are raping our land and will never leave
Remains of olive trees burnt down by Israeli settlers
Olive groves which have been cultivated in the hills of the West Bank for thousands of years are under systematic attack by Israeli settlers who burn and cut down the trees, or strip them of their fruit. Palestinian farmers, who depend on these harvests to survive, are too frightened to stop them.
Eighty-year-old Rasmia Awase had left the best olive trees until last. She and her family had already harvested most of their crop when they went to a small plot near their home in Luban a-Sharqiya on Saturday morning.
Here were 40 trees that Awase had planted and tended herself, and they were now, two decades later, at their peak %u2013 the most productive of all the trees, which support 37 members of the extended family.
But Awase found that someone had got there before them and had chopped down the trees, leaving stumps in the ground and branches scattered about the plot. The family blame hardline Jewish settlers from the nearby Eli settlement.
"I was in shock, I lost my mind," she said. "I planted these trees with my bare hands, I gave them 20 years of hard work %u2013 and they are all gone." Each day of her long life was worse than the one before, she said with her eyes watering.
The Awase family are not alone in their experience. Among the tactics used by Jewish settlers this harvesting season are cutting down and torching trees, stealing fruit and attacking farmers trying to pick their crops, according to human rights organisations.
"It has reached a crescendo," said a spokeswoman for Yesh Din, one Israeli group monitoring incidents in the West Bank. "What might look like ad hoc violence is actually a tool the settlers are using to push back Palestinian farmers from their own land."
The upsurge in violence this year is attributed to a rise in settler militancy following the 10-month moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank and uncertainty about the outcome of the current, although stalled, peace negotiations.
According to Oxfam, which is trying to help Palestinian olive farmers realise the economic potential of their crops, some families are too frightened to pick the fruit. "We have seen a lot of olive groves burning and trees which have been chopped down," said the charity's Catherine Weibel. "People are clearly very stressed and worried, always afraid the settlers are coming."
Olives have been cultivated in the rocky hills of what is now the West Bank for thousands of years. Around 95% of the harvest is used to make olive oil, worth up to 364m shekels (£64m) a year to the Palestinian economy. Most farmers are small scale, growing trees on land that has been in the families for generations.
In recent weeks, there have been numerous reports of trees being stripped of their fruit overnight. Rabbis for Human Rights claimed that the olives from about 600 trees near the settlement of Havat Gilad were stolen before their Palestinian owners could harvest them. Police confirmed they were investigating the alleged theft.
The police had received 27 official complaints about sabotage since the beginning of this year's harvest, said a spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld. Sixteen Israelis had been questioned. "There are a number of ongoing investigations into damage caused in the past few weeks," he said. "We are working to prevent incidents on the ground. This is an ongoing problem that we have to deal with."
Damage had also been caused to Israeli property, added Rosenfeld.
Akram Awase, Rasmia's son, was sceptical about the protection offered by the Israeli police and military. "In the old days the resistance used to stop them [settlers]," he said. "Now there is no resistance, all of them are in jail. You can't do anything. Who do you complain to? The soldiers protect the settlers. They have raped our land and they will never leave it."
http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/2125/1/ 14 jan 2012, 14:44 , Respect -
Maria 25 oct 2010
Israeli authorities deny Salfit farmers access to olive crops
SALFIT, (PIC)-- Israeli authorities continue to deny farmers in the west Salfit town of Masha access to their land located behind the separation wall to harvest their olives, as the farmers concern rises over settlers taking or damaging their crops, local sources reported Monday.
The sources said Israeli authorities claim computer failures have impaired their ability to issue necessary permits for farmers to pass through the wall's gates west of the town.
In the same context, several Israelis residing in the Tafuh settlement in east Salfit attacked farmers in the town of Yasuf, taking their olives, and insulting and unleashing dogs against their women.
Witnesses said settlers came from the Tafuh settlement near the Za'tara checkpoint carrying firearms, and threatened the farmers and demanded that they leave the fields amid claims that the land was part of the settlement. The assailants attempted to take by force of arms a horse belonging to one of the farmers.
http://bit.ly/aXFtbQ 14 jan 2012, 14:45 , Respect -
Maria 26 oct 2010
Village says settlement runoff destroyed olive grove
NABLUS (Ma’an) -- Israeli settlers denied allegations Tuesday that they flooded a Palestinian olive grove with sewage from an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank.
Residents of Deir Al-Hatab, a Palestinian village in the Nablus district, said some 660 olive trees were destroyed by runoff from factories connected to the Elon Moreh settlement.
Abdul Kareem Hussein, the village mayor, told Ma’an that villagers found wide-scale destruction at the olive grove when they were granted permission to visit the lands. Some 220 olive trees were burned, Hussein said, and about 400 were soaked in sewage.
Gershon Mesika, director of the Shomron Regional Council and resident of Elon Moreh, said: "The true culprits of this environmental vandalism, spilling raw sewage into the environment in the area, are the residents of neighboring Arab villages who lack purifying systems.
"In an effort to enhance local cooperation, we have offered the Arab villages to connect to our system. The villagers have not accepted our offer due to their fear of threat and retaliation from the Palestinian Authority for cooperating with the neighboring Jewish communities."
Hussein, the mayor, said the 2,500 residents in Deir Al-Hatab are only allowed to visit confiscated lands three or four times each year. He said 60 percent of villagers rely almost entirely on income from the olive harvests. He condemned the "continuous aggression of the settlers, especially in the olive harvest season."
Hussein called on the PA to step in and protect this season's harvest or compensate for losses.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=327860 14 jan 2012, 16:53 , Respect -
Maria 26 oct 2010
UN envoy demands Israel act against settler attacks
While olive-picking with Palestinian PM Fayyad, Robert Serry says Israel must combat settler 'violence and terror.' Foreign Ministry: When he speaks of terror by Israelis, does he mean Israeli suicide bombers on Palestinian buses?
A senior UN official condemned attacks by Jewish "settler extremists" on Palestinians' olive trees in the West Bank and called on Israel to "combat violence and terror by Israelis." Robert Serry, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, also said he was alarmed that work had started on hundreds of new homes for settlers in the occupied territory since the end of Israel's settlement freeze last month.
Serry was speaking to journalists on Tuesday while olive-picking with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the village of Tormos Ayya north of Ramallah. He said settlers had destroyed hundreds of trees in the village in recent weeks.
Palestinians began harvesting olives across the West Bank this month.
"I am appalled at acts of destruction of olive trees and farmlands, desecration of mosques and violence against civilians," Serry said.
"Israel states its condemnation of attacks, which I welcome, but its record in imposing the rule of law on settlers is lamentable," he said.
"Israel must combat violence and terror by Israelis, as is expected of the Palestinian Authority in the case of violence and terror by Palestinians," he said.
'This is their obligation'
An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman rejected Serry's use of the term "terror" in reference to Israelis and said he should have chosen his words more carefully.
"We understand that he decries acts of violence by certain settlers, but the Israeli government has been the first to condemn them and to instruct law enforcement agencies to crack down on the perpetrators -- but when he speaks of terror by Israelis, does he mean Israeli suicide bombers on Palestinian buses?" spokesman Yigal Palmor said.
Palestinian terrorists launched waves of suicide attacks against Israelis during the second intifada, or uprising, against Israel earlier this decade.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. The Palestinians want the territory to become part of a Palestinian state, together with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Today, close to 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the lands where Palestinians want to found their state next to Israel.
The Palestinians have said they will not resume peace negotiations, which began at the start of September with US backing, until Israel agrees to halt building on the occupied territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resisted pressure from the United States and the European Union to extend a freeze he had imposed on new home building in settlements in the West Bank. His government is dominated by parties which support the settlers, including his own Likud.
Serry said new building was illegal under international law "and will only serve to undermine our efforts for a negotiated solution".
The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem has recorded almost one incident a day and in some cases more against Palestinians and their olive trees since the start of the harvest, spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli said. The Israeli army had provided better access to groves near settlements, she added.
"But this is their obligation ... the Israeli authorities have failed miserably in enforcing law on settlers attacking Palestinians and their property," she said.
http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3975396,00.html 14 jan 2012, 16:56 , Respect -
Maria 26 oct 2010
Jewish settlers destroy 200 olive trees in Nablus
NABLUS, (PIC)-- Citizens in Deir Al-Hatab village, Nablus district, were stunned at the sight of 200 of their olive trees damaged in the fields after Jewish settlers poured sewage water from the nearby Allon Moreh settlement into their land.
The citizens said on Tuesday that the settlers usually discharge polluted water from factories of canned meat and spices into their land, which had already destroyed 500 dunums of their cultivated land lots.
They said that the Israeli occupation authority had told them a long time ago that no more sewage water would be allowed to flow into their land but the contrary was happening. They charged the settlers with intentionally planning such aggressive acts to drive the citizens out of their land and annex them to the settlement.
http://bit.ly/aStgh 14 jan 2012, 16:56 , Respect -
Maria 27 oct 2010
Village says settlement runoff destroyed olive grove
NABLUS (Ma%u2019an) -- Israeli settlers denied allegations Tuesday that they flooded a Palestinian olive grove with sewage from an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank.
Residents of Deir Al-Hatab, a Palestinian village in the Nablus district, said some 660 olive trees were destroyed by runoff from factories connected to the Elon Moreh settlement.
Abdul Kareem Hussein, the village mayor, told Ma%u2019an that villagers found wide-scale destruction at the olive grove when they were granted permission to visit the lands. Some 220 olive trees were burned, Hussein said, and about 400 were soaked in sewage.
Gershon Mesika, director of the Shomron Regional Council and resident of Elon Moreh, said: "The true culprits of this environmental vandalism, spilling raw sewage into the environment in the area, are the residents of neighboring Arab villages who lack purifying systems.
"In an effort to enhance local cooperation, we have offered the Arab villages to connect to our system. The villagers have not accepted our offer due to their fear of threat and retaliation from the Palestinian Authority for cooperating with the neighboring Jewish communities."
Hussein, the mayor, said the 2,500 residents in Deir Al-Hatab are only allowed to visit confiscated lands three or four times each year. He said 60 percent of villagers rely almost entirely on income from the olive harvests. He condemned the "continuous aggression of the settlers, especially in the olive harvest season."
Hussein called on the PA to step in and protect this season's harvest or compensate for losses.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=327860
14 jan 2012, 16:57 , Respect -
Maria 27 oct 2010
Erekat: Settlers have Israeli authorities' full cooperation
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat "strongly condemned" on Wednesday a flood of raw sewage that destroyed a Palestinian olive grove in the near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, which Israeli settlers are suspected of perpetrating.
Residents in the village of Deir Al-Hatab said 660 olive trees were poisoned by the sewage by runoff from a factory in the illegal Elon Moreh settlement on Tuesday.
"This is yet another example of the nonchalance of and full cooperation of Israeli authorities in the face of violence by settlers and extremists against Palestinian civilians," Erekat, calling on the international community to immediately intervene and stop the daily aggressions by Israeli soldiers and settlers.
Settlers denied involvement in the incident and blamed poor local sewage systems in nearby Palestinian villages.
Gershon Mesika, director of the settlers' Shomron Regional Council and resident of Elon Moreh settlement, said: "The true culprits of this environmental vandalism, spilling raw sewage into the environment in the area, are the residents of neighboring Arab villages who lack purifying systems."
Erekat added: "Settler attacks against Palestinian civilians show the real face of the Israeli colonization process. With more settlement construction the Israeli government is rewarding the most extremist segments of their society.’’
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=328053 14 jan 2012, 16:59 , Respect -
Maria 29 oct 2010
Picking olives under occupation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6wE0i7dpCI
Families in the village of Qusin with properties close to the illegal settlements Shave Shomeron and Shave Shomron, make an attempt to harvest their olives but soldiers forced them to leave.
One of these families has been unable to access their land for the last nine years due to settler attacks and pressure from Israeli soldiers. Another family tried to pick olives about ten days ago but soldiers arrived and stopped them.
According to the Israeli High Court of Justice decision, Palestinian farmers have the right to access their land and soldiers must protect them. Immediately upon the families' arrival at their land, however, soldiers confronted them and argued that for the protection of them from settler violence, it was necessary for the farmers to leave. 14 jan 2012, 17:00 , Respect -
Maria 29 oct 2010
Israeli rights orgs demand action over settler vandalism
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Four human rights organizations collaborated on a project documenting settler vandalism during the 2010 olive harvest, reporting a total of 35 incidents of tree vandalism during the six-week season.
The organizations, all based in Israel, included The Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), B'Tselem, Rabbis for Human Rights and Yesh Din. Following the documentation effort the group sent an urgent letter to senior Israeli military commanders, calling on the commanders to take all necessary steps to ensure that Palestinians and their properties were protected from violence and damage during the remainder of the season.
Signed by high-profile rights lawyers from each of the organizations and addressed to Israeli Central Command Chief, General Avi Mizrahi and commander of Israeli military forces in the West Bank Brigadier Nitzan Alon, the letter details the settler assaults of Palestinians harvesting olives, and outlines expectations for halting the abuses.
Most of the cases outlined in the letter, a statement from the group said, had been reported to Israeli authorities as official complaints, with little resulting from the initial documentation.
Nablus area settler violence hotspot
According to the groups, 83 percent of the incidents took place near the villages of Burin and Hawara. The vandalism in those cases was believed to have been perpetrated by settlers from the nearby Yitzhar colony, while other villages where vandalism was reported bordered the Havat Giladn settlement.
The most destructive act of vandalism the report cataloged occurred on 15 October, when hundreds of olive trees were set ablaze near Havat Giladn. Eyewitnesses were quoted in the letter to Israeli officials, saying the arson occurred in the presence of Israeli soldiers, who did nothing to prevent it.
The letter also notes the increasing prevalence of settler assaults and vandalism targeting Palestinians and their olive crops. A statement from the rights groups said organizations have called on the Israeli authorities many times before to take all necessary steps to "fulfill duties and obligations and protect the rights of residents who live in the occupied region," and adds that "the regrettable outcome of the incidents described herein proves once and again that the steps taken by the defense forces are insufficient, and the result is a blow to the livelihood of many Palestinian residents."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=328692 14 jan 2012, 17:01 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2010
Fayyad inaugurates olive harvest festival in Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Saturday condemned an arson attack on a Jerusalem church a day earlier, but said Israelis could not be held responsible for settler terrorism.
Extremist settlers were suspected of starting a fire at the Jerusalem Alliance Church by throwing fire bombs through a window, church guardian Zakariyya Al-Mashriq said. However, witnesses at a nearby hospital said the fire may have been an accident. An investigation would not begin until after the Jewish sabbath, a church official said, adding that evidence pointed to arson.
Speaking at an inauguration of the olive harvest festival in Bethlehem, Fayyad condemned all "terrorist attacks" against holy places, noting that there has been a wave of arson attacks by settlers on mosques across the West Bank since December 2009.
However, Palestinians must not hold all Israelis responsible for attacks committed by settlers, Fayyad said.
"Our people will not make generalizations about Israelis based on such terrorist activities by occupation settlers, because there are Israelis who show solidarity with our people and partake in rallies against the wall, occupation and settlements.
"Some Israeli solidarity activists help our farmers harvest their olives and we applaud that," the prime minister said, adding that it was time for more Israelis to oppose settler violence and terrorism.
"Our people are adamant to stay despite occupation, despite settlements, and despite the wall because our people are just as deep-rooted as their blessed olive trees," he concluded.
A number of officials from the Bethlehem district attended the ceremony, including PA Tourism Minister Khloud Daibes and Governor Abdel Fattah Hamiyel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=329073 14 jan 2012, 17:03 , Respect -
Maria 31 oct 2010
Settlers dispute vandalism allegations
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- After four Israeli rights groups submitted a letter to the country's army documenting attacks on Palestinians, settlers denied the allegations and said locals were more likely to blame.
"Every year as the olive harvest season comes around so do various groups of provocateurs," settler leader David Ha'ivri said. They "pose as rights groups but in fact thrive to incite tensions between local Jewish and Arab farmers and residents."
Ha'ivri said these organizations "derive their existence from continued conflict. If the conflict were to end, they would lose their raison d'etre. Therefore, if there is no conflict to report on or save 'oppressed' peoples from, it must be artificially created."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=329304 14 jan 2012, 17:06 , Respect -
Maria 31 oct 2010
Israeli rights groups document vandalism
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Four Israeli human rights groups sent a letter Saturday to Israeli military commanders calling on them to take steps to ensure that Palestinians are protected from violence and damage.
The letter contains a list of 35 incidents in which damage was caused to Palestinian olive trees or property. The incidents occurred between early September and mid-October %u2013 at the start of the olive harvest season.
Signed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Yesh Din, B'Tselem, and Rabbis for Human Rights, the letter was sent to Gen. Avi Mizrahi and West Bank army chief Brig. Nitzan Alon, the groups said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=329298 14 jan 2012, 17:07 , Respect -
Maria 31 oct 2010
Jewish settlers on the rampage in Salfit
SALFIT, (PIC)-- Extremist Jewish settlers on Sunday attacked Palestinian citizens while harvesting their olive crops west of Salfit and tried to rob their harvest, local sources reported.
Eyewitnesses said that two Jewish settlers with firearms and wearing clothes of fanatic Jews tried to steal olive groves near Ein Adas area.
Jewish settlers had previously stolen olive harvests in the Yasuf and Masaha villages in Salfit while Palestinian farmers were blocked form reaping their yields.
Jewish settlers also assaulted Palestinian farmers and foreign solidarity activists in the Jordan Valley, locals reported, adding that the settlers insulted and threatened the farmers in an attempt to drive them away from their land.
Farmers appealed to human rights groups to swiftly pressure the Israeli occupation authority to curb the settlers' wild practices.
http://bit.ly/cdZBNv 14 jan 2012, 17:11 , Respect -
Maria 2 nov 2011
Bitter olive harvest adds to animosity
By Crispian Balmer
AWARTA (Reuters) -- A potent symbol of peace and harmony, the olive has become a source of confrontation and violence in the decades-old conflict that pits Israel against Palestinians.
Once a time of happy industry, the autumn harvest season in particular has degenerated into antagonism, with farmers accusing extremist Jewish settlers of destroying their crops and trying to seize their land.
Nawaf Thawabteh said he had barely started picking his oil-rich fruit in early October on a rocky hilltop near the Elon Moreh settlement when three masked men brandishing clubs charged through his orchard and grabbed his half-filled sacks.
"The army was meant to be here to protect us, but there was no one around. It is just getting worse and worse," said Thawabteh, sitting beneath one of his trees, with the West Bank city of Nablus shimmering in the distance.
An estimated 10 million olive trees dot the Israeli-occupied West Bank, thriving in the arid climate and covering 45 percent of all agricultural land in the region.
But settler attacks are taking their toll, says the United Nations, which has recorded a surge in general violence this year. Vandals have not only snatched harvested olives, but also destroyed thousands of trees.
The UN body for humanitarian affairs, OCHA, says 7,500 trees were uprooted, burnt or chopped down in the first nine months of 2011. The Palestinian Authority says 800,000 trees have been destroyed since the 1967 war, when Israel seized the territory.
The Israeli army, which controls security in most of the West Bank, says it takes farmer protection seriously and plans for the harvest as though it were a military operation.
One of the top commanders in the territory agrees that settler violence poses a real problem, but says it is tough to eradicate what he believes to be random acts of criminality.
"It is very hard to catch the vandals. We have 10 million trees here and can't defend all 10 million. It is not our only problem," said the commander, who declined to be named.
"Ninety nine percent of settlers maintain law and order. ... Unfortunately one percent, or maybe less, support these people," he added, speaking from his West Bank headquarters.
Settlement killings
Palestinians question the army's commitment to defending their farmers, pointing to the fact that few vandals are ever caught. The Israeli NGO Yesh Din says that of 127 cases of tree destruction it has followed since 2005, only one ended in court.
Some 350,000 Israeli settlers live in the territory, claiming a biblical birthright to the Palestinian land.
Peace talks aimed at ending the conflict broke down last year following a dispute over Jewish settlement building and repeated attempts to revive the negotiations have failed. In the meantime, the construction work continues.
OCHA says there are some 135 settlements. They are deemed illegal by the World Court, something Israel disputes, and often abut agricultural land farmed by Palestinians for generations.
The communities are ringed with security fences and the army has set up wide buffer zones, giving farmers a limited time frame to enter the fields and take care of the crops under their supervision.
Even within those set periods, violence can flare.
When Nizam Qawarek, 37, was told by commanders that he could go and collect olives near the Itamar settlement, close to Nablus, he immediately rushed to his silvery green trees.
He and his wife had barely begun work before they were confronted by dozens of angry residents from Itamar. "They were waving Israeli flags and shouting there shouldn't be any Arabs here. They threw stones at us. It was terrifying," he said.
Itamar residents justified their actions, saying they didn't want Palestinians near their property following the murder in March of five members of one family, including two children and a baby, who were stabbed to death in their house.
Two local Palestinian youths have admitted to the killings.
"Only six months after the murder, while our blood is still boiling and the residents are still caring for their bleeding wounds, allowing anyone from the Awarta village, where the murderers ... came from, is outrageous and negligent," Itamar rabbi, Avichai Rozenki, said in a statement.
The settlers say the killers used last year's harvest to spy on Itamar from up close and find a way to break in.
Settler leaders say talk of widespread destruction is wildly exaggerated.
"The announcements that are going out almost daily about damage caused to Arab land and olive groves is totally incredible. If true, it would be visible, everywhere. But it is not," said settler spokesman David Haivri.
"Most of people here, Jews and non-Jews, are interested in living out their lives and raising their families peacefully," added Haivri, who has been in the West Bank for over 20 years.
Counting the cost
British charity Oxfam estimates that olive output accounts for 15-19 percent of agricultural production in the territory, generating revenues of $160-190 million and guaranteeing livelihoods for the families of some 100,000 farmers.
The farmers maintain that the aggression is all part of a concerted effort to sweep them from the sun-soaked land.
Maazoza Zaben says settlers torched 270 of her trees in Burin in September, leaving an ugly black smear across the hill.
"They want us to leave the land. It will be easier to chase us away if we don't have our trees. But even if they kill me, I won't leave this place," said the 58-year-old widow.
Farmers who have land near settlements and the West Bank separation wall say they have to count the cost not just of trashed trees, but also of restrictions on access rights.
Outside the harvesting season, the army says it does not have the resources to oversee the pruning and plowing that is vital to keep the groves healthy and prevent thick thorn bushes from taking root between the gnarled, squat trees.
The day he was chased from his land, Qawarek also lost 30 trees near the Itamar settlement fence in an unexplained blaze.
Having been prevented from plowing, Qawarek stood helplessly by as the flames lept from tree to tree, roaring along the parched thorns like electricity surging through wires.
The army says limited manpower also means it cannot provide security to everyone at the height of the autumn harvest. As a result, it opens the season early and offers villagers far less time than they would like to collect the green and black olives.
"The trees would be perfect in two or three weeks time," said Mohamed Shamih, 47, who had been given the all-clear to go to his trees near Elon Moreh in early October.
"I will get 50 percent less oil by harvesting now, but that is better than losing the lot," he added.
Local children take time off school and much of the village turns out to help pluck the olives from the trees, some of which date back 2,000 years to the Roman era, but even the mass mobilization won't be enough to bring home all the fruit.
"I will have to return to my own land like a thief to try and get the rest," Shamih said, sitting atop his tractor.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=434630 14 jan 2012, 17:15 , Respect -
Maria 30 nov 2011
More Israeli Raids and Arrests near Hebron, Farmers Given 45 Days to Uproot Own Trees
On Wednesday, Israeli forces raided Beit Omar village, northwest of Hebron, and arrested three citizens. Israel has increased its encroachments into Beit Omar, often targeting children. Out of the 16 people arrested in the village, 13 were children.
Eyewitnesses told the official Palestinian news wire Wafa that Israeli forces raided and searched houses in the al-Bayadeh and Wadi al-Sheikh neighborhoods. The houses belonged to
--17-year-old Rashid Mohamad Issa Awad,
--22-year-old Mahamad Mahmoud Mahamad Ikhlil, and
--17-year old Yasser Faiz Mohamad Abu Fanous.
The three individuals were detained and taken to Etzion military detention center.
The soldiers arrested Rafeq Abdul Razaq Jaradat and Umar al-Sheikh Bhis from the villages of Sa'eer and Yatta, respectively.
Israeli forces also arrested 32-year-old Marwan Ahmed Sakharneh from Beit Ola village west of Hebron. The soldiers confiscated his tractor while he was plowing the lands in the Enjasat area, near the Israeli separation wall.
The towns and villages of Arabeh, Kufur Ra’e, al-Zawyeh, Anzeh, and Fahmeh were also raided but no arrests were recorded.
Israeli forces handed out demolition notices to the residents of Sourif, a village near Hebron. Activist Yousef Abu Maria told Wafa that the Israelis gave notices to Jamal Mohamad al-Qadi and Ibrahim Abdul Hadi Hamedat, informing them that their irrigation well and dozens of olive and almond trees would be destroyed. The well and trees are located in a 12-dunum (3 acre) plot of land near the separation wall. The soldiers gave al-Qadi and Hamedat 45 days to uproot their trees before bulldozers demolish them.
http://fwd4.me/0hm0