Alternative Information Center - Settler Violence Report 48

In the beginning of this month, settlers from Pni Hever set fire to the agricultural lands of the Bani Na?eem village, which belonged to Ibrahim A?li Hasan AL-Hajoj and others from his family. About 300 Dunams were burnt east of the village. The settlers also destroyed the fences surrounding the agricultural lands. The settlers have attacked the village many times in the past and have burnt their fields during the harvest. Although the residents of the village have contacted the Israeli authorities numerous times about the issue, the harassment continues. The area that was attacked is the only range of expansion after the village was cut off by the by-pass settlers? road, road number 60. Residents say that this continuous harassment means the lost of a main source of income for hundreds of families.

Maher Shalaldeh, an agricultural engineer in the Palestinian Authority, say that the lands east of the villages in the area (like Yatta and Bani Na?eem) are a very important economic factor of the region as there are tens of thousands of dunams of very fertile land meant to be the main food supplier in the Hebron region. The settlers? repetitive attacks on the area are intended to prevent the Palestinians from using their lands and to halt the Palestinian development projects in the area.

The family of Ashraf Seder has been constantly harassed by settlers from Beit Hadassah and Tel-Romeida, settlements in the old city of Hebron. The house of the family is located near the Al-Shohadaa? road, (the road that links the two settlements) and is very close to Beit Hadassah. Near the house there is a permanent military presence to protect the settlers and prevent the Palestinians from using the road.

A few weeks ago, Asmaa? Seder was hanging laundry in her yard when a number of armed settlers attacked threw rocks at her. She was injured in the back and taken to the hospital by the Israeli police who were called to the scene. Despite the family?s repeated demands from the police to press charges the police refused, arguing that the attackers were minors who can?t be charged, an argument that is not accepted by the family as the 'minors' were armed.

Samira Seder, 50, was also attacked by rocks and injured in the head while in her yard.

Ashraf Seder says that settlers have been harassing them for weeks, especially at night when they gather around Palestinian houses in the neighborhood, threw rocks and shout racist calls. The settlers are always accompanied by soldiers who come to protect them - while the Palestinian community has been under curfew for months.

Since the beginning of the current Intifada, settlers from Ali Zahav and Pedual have been cutting off the electricity from the villages of Kufr El-Deek and Broqin, and in the past few days have been increasing their assaults.

On September 5, the settlers disconnected the main electricity supplier for the villages, which is located near the settlement Ali Zahav. The electricity was cut from the village until September 7, until it was fixed, but settlers cut it again later the same day. The settlers cut it for the third time the next day after it was fixed. In the same day, settlers burned twenty olive trees located close to the electricity supplier and which belong to families from Kufr El-Deek.

The mayor of Kufr El-Deek says that the settlers have cut off the electricity many times from the village, thus costing the residents and the local council. The local council has turned to the police and DCO but never received any help; they were rather asked to give details that they couldn?t give about the settlers as they couldn?t get close to the settlement to be able to recognize any of the assaulters, particularly since the assaults usually happen at night.

Huseen Al-Deek, a resident, says that the repeated electricity outages have caused great damage as they destroyed many electrical devices, as well as a lot of food in the freezers of the residents.

~ Land confiscation and the Separation Wall ~

On September 4, Israeli bulldozers started working on wide sections of agricultural lands of the villages Beit A?wa and Karma, west of Hebron, working on the building of a new road to the Israeli town of Shigit (within the Green Line). Other lands of the village were destroyed while working on pipe lines.

Rezeq Al-Sweety, Mayor of Beit A?wa, says that 75 dunams of agricultural lands cultivated with olives have been destroyed already, and the pipe line goes through a 1.5 kilometer length and 50 meter wide area through the lands of Beit A?wa. This new line will also allow for control of a few hundred kilometers between it and the Green Line.

Abd-El-Hadi Hantash, from the Land Defense Committee in the West Bank, says that the passing pipe lines that serve settlements from Palestinian agricultural lands damage a main livelihood source for the Palestinian community in the area and also enable Israel to to control the lands that are close to the Green Line under the false claim of public benefit, while the only beneficiaries are the settlers.