Settler Violence and Occupation Watch: Report V
November 13th - November 15th, 2000
On November 13: Hafeeza Zaben (aged 75) from the village of Boreen was
injured in her head by a group of settlers from Yitzhar settlement. The
settlers attacked her and other farmers with stones and sticks while
they were working in their fields near the settlement. She was taken to
Rafidya hospital. According to medical sources her head bone was broken
in two places, and her case is serious. Three more women were injured
at the same time, including Fatima Zaben (aged 70) who was also taken
to hospital with back injuries. Imad Zaben who was present during the
incident said: "We knew that there may be problems, but we were
encouraged to go to the field because the Israeli Army in DCO told the
Palestinian side that the farmers may gather their olives in this area
and there will be no problems. So we were surprised when the soldiers
not only came and did nothing to stop the settlers but in fact helped them by forcing us to leave our fields ". In the evening settlers from Halameesh settlement north
of Ramallah opened fire on a Palestinian bus driving on the main road
on it's way to the village of Dair Abu-Mesha'l. Several bullets entered
the bus but no one was injured. Three Palestinian journalists were injured by stones
and glass after settlers attacked their car on the za'tera junction
while they were returning home after a days' work in Jerusalem. The
injured journalists are Naser Ishteyya- an Associated Press reporter,
Abed-Raheem Goseeni - a Reuters reporter and journalist Sameer Bazbaz.
All three were taken to Rafidya Hospital in Nablus. Parts of the Stones Factories in Mesiha village were
destroyed by settlers from Qana settlement. These factories have not
been functioning since the beginning of the current events because they
are located in a closed area according to Army orders. On November 14: Settlers, escorted by several army jeeps, attacked the
village of Kharis near the Ariel settlement. They threw stones on the
eastern houses and when the villagers called them to leave, they
responded by opening fire on the village. The settlers later moved on
to attack and terrorize the adjacent village of Dir Astia. Settlers have descended from the Giv'at Harsina area of
Qiryat-Arba four times during the night between November 14 and 15 and
attacked the property of Abdul Jawad Jabbar, an elderly man, destroying
thousands of Shekels' worth of irrigation pipes, and terrorizing at the
same time families living in the area. Mustafa E'layyan (aged 50) from Askar (Nablus) was
killed when a stone was thrown at him by settlers while he was
returning home in his car. Four of his sons were injured. More olive trees have been uprooted in Kofur Kallel (Nablus) by settlers from the settlement of Brakha. On November 15: At 3AM Settlers threw a Molotov cocktail at Daoud
'Alayyan's house in Beit Safafa (Jerusalem area). The bottle entered a
room in house, causing a fire and destroying furniture. This is not the
first time that the house has been under settler attacks; last week
three settlers stopped their car outside the house and threw two
Molotov cocktails at it. About one hundred olive trees were uprooted in the
village of Dair Netham (Ramallah area) by settlers from Halameesh
settlement. During an attack by settlers, Ya'qoub Abed-Allateef
Arabasi from the village of Jamma'een (Nablus) was injured in his head
when a stone was thrown at him. He was taken to Rafeedya Hospital in
Nablus. Settlers from Shekadeem settlement in the north of the
West Bank opened fire on Palestinians from the village of Toura. One
villager was injured in his shoulder. Fawzee Abed-al'Azeez (aged 40) was injured when a stone
hit his face and was taken to hospital, after eight settlers attacked
him and his wife Muyassar while they were working on their land.
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