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Settlers Attacks

Hebron Region

1 On March 18, scores of armed settlers from the settlement Susya, east of Yatta and south of Hebron, burned around 40 olive trees that belong to Omar Awad Nawaj?a from Yatta. The land that the settlers attacked is 300 meters north of the Susya. At the same time, a settler from Susya called Gabi, who is known to the residents at the area, sent his livestock to the land that belongs to Ahamd Ali Nawaj?a and Nasri Nawaj?a where the animals subsequently consumed 10 Dunams of cultivated wheat harvest.

Naif Mahayna, the Chairman of the Regional Planning Committee in the area reports, "In addition to the routine aggression that the settlers used to conduct against the residents in the area, this year we face new kinds of aggression like using their live stock to damaged our plants and the settlers themselves prevent us [from entering] our land, claiming that the land is a closed military zone?.

The farmers face daily difficulties inflicted on them by soldiers and settlers. The army closes the land and settlers use it while Palestinians just watch what is going on and can?t do anything about it. Furthermore Mahyna said, "We gave tens of complaints to the police but no positive response was given. The Israeli authorities want us to lose our income sources from the land as a part of a deportation policy that the army began more than three years ago?.

2 On March 18, settlers from the Ma?on settlement south of Yatta took over 20 Dunams and fenced it into the village Twani. This happened within the line of sight of soldiers who were in the area at the time.

The owner of the land Saber Hurani reports: ?The land that was taken over is located 200 meters west of the old fence around the settlement?. Saber added, ?This happened three days after an army officer visited us and promised that the army will prevent any actions against us from the settlers. The land that was taken over is only 150 meters away from my house. On the same day the army officer in the region gave an order to demolish a small room that had an electric generator supplying 200 people in the village. The order was given 20 days after we got the electricity. The order claimed that the room was built illegally?.

3 On March 27, settlers form Givat Harsina, east of Hebron, uprooted 300 grape vines that belong to Abed Rahman Sultan who reports ?Tens of settlers, some of whom were armed, expanded the fence of the settlement east toward Buara, taking over 4 Dunams. This is the second time that the settlers from the same settlement uprooted trees that belong to my family, the first time was three months ago when they took over 8 Dunams and uprooted 100 grape vines. Through these policies of land confiscation, our family will loose an important source of income and experience more suffering from the settlers?.

Bethlehem Region

4 On March 17, about 15 settlers came to the main junction east of the village of Al-Walaja, west of Bethlehem and distributed a statement written in Arabic advising Arabs to leave the area because the land is just for the Jews according to the Bible,and therefore all Arabs should leave Palestine.

Nablus and north of West Bank Region

5 On March 15, a group of settlers from Qedumim, west of Nablus, prevented many farmers from the village Jit from working in their land that is located near the settlement. Omar Yamin. One of the farmers reports ?While we were working on our land near the settlement, seven armed settlers came and opened fire in the air above our heads, then they told us to leave or they will shoot us?.

6 On March 17, three armed settlers attacked the restaurant Zaman in the village of Sabastiya, north of Nablus. They caused damage to many of its? contents such as tables and chairs. The residents believe that the settlers are from the settlement Shave Shomron because they came from its? direction and left on the access road leading to it.

7 On the evening of March 18, settlers attacked the residents in the village Huwwara, south of Nablus. Ahmad Oda, mayor of Huwwara, reported, ?At 9 pm, nine armed settlers arrived in two cars, they stopped on the main road and then exited the cars and opened fire on the houses near the road. They also threw stones. After ten minutes they went to the mosque and threw Molotov cocktail on it. Hundreds of residents came and stopped the fire near the mosque. Some clashes took place until the soldiers came and then the settlers went away. It is important to mention that this is not the first time that settlers attacked the village and especially the mosque. This happened about five times during the current Intifada?.

8 On the afternoon of March 22, two armed settlers picked up and kidnapped Palestinian farmer Yaseen Daraghma while he was returning from his farmland to his village. Yassen said: ?While I was on my way back to my home in Bardala village south-east of Jenin after a day of work on my land, a settler?s car stopped near me on the main road, an armed settler exited the car while the driver stayed in the car. They physically forced me to enter the car, then they drove quickly to the north, near the ?Green Line?. The settler pointed the gun to my head all the way. There they took me out of the car and began beating me with hand guns, at this point I saw group of farmers in the nearbye field, I began shouting for rescue, at which time the farmers walked to where we were. Then the settler left me and went away?. I was hurt in my back, chest and head. I was treated in local clinic in my village?.

9 On March 23 at 2 pm, armed settlers opened fire on Bashar Ali Dauod, 22, from the village Haris, east of Qalqiliya. Palestinian resources reports, ?While Bashar was at the main entrance to his village, a small white car came through the settlement road called ?Cross Samaria?. Three settlers were in the car, when they reached the entrance of the village they fired on Bashar. He was injured in his right shoulder and was taken to Rafidya Hospital in Nablus. During and before the incident the situation there was very quiet.

Land confiscation

10 On March 27, the Israeli Army distributed an order in Husan village west of Bethlehem. The order announced that the army decided to confiscate 40 Dunams that belong to many families from the village. The land is located to the south of the village and is very close to the houses. The aim of the takeover is to build a section of the new separation wall in order to enclose the settlement Bietar Illit.

In the meeting held between the local council of the village and the Civil Administration in Kfar Etzyon the next day, the mayor, Mustafa Abu Teen, was informed that the owners of the land have the right to contest the order through the Israeli courts. Abu Teen reports that, ?We will go to the court and we have hired a lawyer (Mohammed Dahleh) to handle the case. However our experience is that we have no chance. If [the Israeli authorities] intend to build the wall they will. This wall means a real siege on my village, tens of houses will be very close to the wall, some will be only few meters away from it, and it will cause real separation between the villages in the area like Nahhalin, Wadi Fukin and Battir. Hundreds of trees will be uprooted?.

11 On March 27, an order was issued to confiscate 40 Dunams that belong to many families from Khallet Al Nu?man, east of Bethlehem. The aim of the confiscation is to continue building the wall and to open a new bypass road and fences near the settlement Har Homa. Currently, Israel is working on the road link between the settlement and the settlements east of Bethlehem. According to this order more land will be taken over from the same village that lost hundreds of Dunams months ago.

12 In the last few weeks the army issued 4 orders to confiscate hundreds of Dunams in the Hebron district. Their aim is to build tunnels and to open new roads to make a separation between the road leading to settlements and those going to Palestinians villages.

According to the order, the first one will be east of the town of Halhul, where they are going to build a bridge over the junction called Nabi Younis. The second one is on the Beit Anon junction south of the town Sa?ir which links many villages in the east with the city of Hebron. The third one is on the Alfawwar Junction south of Hebron. The fourth one is on the Alfahs junction east of the city of Hebron and it is very close to the houses. According to the municipalities and The Land Defense Committees in Hebron resources, ?The maps and orders were given to the people, and they were told that one thousand Dunams will be taken over in theses places. Thousands of trees will be uprooted.?

These cases are now tried in the court through many lawyers and human rights organizations. The lawyer Mosa Makhamra reported, ?In such cases we know that the court will eventually ratify the orders but we will try?. This project is a clear part of the apartheid system; they want to impose separation, apartheid roads for settlers only and other roads for Palestinians, all on Palestinian lands. Many families will lose their income from their land. Shafeeg Mohammed, engineer of the Sa?ir municipality, said that there is a relation between this project and the wall in Hebron, particularly with regard to sites such as Beit Anon where the wall will be built according to Israeli specifications detailed last November?.