Alternative Information Center - Settler Violence Report 64

? On April 16, ten settlers from Qiryat Arba? attacked the child Murad Yusri Idrees, 14. Murad was beaten in many parts of the body; policemen who were present in the site took Murad to the nearbye clinic for treatment. Settlers also stoned the ?Aisha house on April 24 and broke two windows. At the same place, Khalawee Ja?baree was attacked by five settlers while working in his land. Khalawee was forced to run ran away when the settlers started to stone him. Khalawee explains: ?this is a part of the settlers? aggressions here for the purpose of taking over from us more land and force us, the residents, to leave our land.?

? On April 16, three settlers from the outpost Admot Yishai (Tel Romeyda) in Hebron?s old city stoned Hamed Abu ?Aisha Abu ?Aisha. He reports: ?while I was walking in Al-Shohadaa? Street to my home, three armed settlers threw stones at me. I left the place quickly. The soldiers stationed there in the nearby checkpoint saw everything that happened but did nothing to stop the settlers aggression.?

? on April 21, the child Shareef Tayseer Abu ?Aisha was injured in his right arm when four settlers from the Admot Yshai outpost attacked him with stones near the house of his family. The house is located very close to the outpost. The family reports that ten minutes later the same groups of settlers stoned their house.

? On April 22, at 5pm, the child Rana Sulaiman Jaber, 10, was taken to ?Alya Hospital after she was injured in the face when group of settlers from Qiryat Arba? attacked her while she was walking with her family to the house near the settlement?s western entrance. Jaber says: ?settlers threw stones at me while the place was very quite. When my daughter Rana was injured and the settlers saw her bleeding face they ran away into the settlement. Our life becomes more and more hellish as a direct result of settlers? violence. We did go to the police station in the city several times but nothing changes. The only thing we get are (empty) promises that next time they will intervene.?

? On April 24, soldiers took-over a roof of a house in Wadi El-Nasara, south of the Qiryat Arba? settlement. The house belongs to Husam Jaber. The soldiers erected a military point on the roof of the house and informed the family that the reason for this action is to protect the settlers who use the main street near the houses. Jaber says that life became unbearable inside the houses due to the soldiers movement and activities, especially during the night time.

Nablus and North of West Bank

? On April 17, at 5pm, around 400 settlers and 100 soldiers came to the village Kifl Haris, southwest of Nablus. The settlers come to the village annually claiming that the holy tomb of Yehoshua Bin-Nun (a biblical figure) is located in the village and therefore it belongs to the Jews. The soldiers imposed curfew on the village, closed all entrances leading to it and seized control over many roofs. Israeli sources stated that those settlers belong to Hasidey Breslev (the Jewish Braslav sect). The settlers in the place untill the morning. During the night the residents in the village were unable to sleep because of the constant noise of the settlers that used loudspeakers while they were praying.

Fathi Bozeyya, mayor of the village, explains: ?the soldiers prevented everyone from going to our homes during the night. In the morning we found out that they left a lot of trash around. The settlers also claim that there is another tomb in the village -- of ?Kalev Ben Yefuneh ? that belongs to the Jews as well. They occasionally visit the site.?

? On April 21, tens of settlers from Yizhar stoned several houses in the village Burin, south of Nablus. The settlers gathered 70 meter eastern of the village and put a tent. Baker Ghaleb Gasem reports ?the settlers stoned the residents? houses that caused shattered many windows and they took two donkeys belong to Jebreel Abu Ali from the village. 20 soldiers came to the place and the army officer informed the Palestinians that this is a protest activity against the Army decision to remove the outpost ?Mitzpeh Yitzhar?.

? On April 23, at 5pm, around 20 settlers from Yizhar attacked some Palestinian houses in the village ?Urif, south of Nablus. Fawzee Shehada, a local council member, reports: ?around 20 settlers, some of them masked, attacked many houses in the village and opened fire inside Isam Safadi house which damaged many items. They also burned the house of Samir Sawalma. After half hour the army came and the settlers left.?

? On April 24, settlers from Qedumim east, of Qalqiliya, prevented farmers from reaching their fields near the settlement. The farmer Abd-El Raheem Ali reports: ?I went in the morning with other farmers to work in our land near Qedumim settlement. Yet, we were unable to reach our land because some ten armed settlers fired in our direction. We obviously had no choice other than to go back. This is not the first time that the settlers attack us in this site. If these assaults continue and the army will continue to do nothing to stop them -- as it is happening right now ? we are certain to lose our income from our land.?

? On April 15 in the evening, settlers from many settlements in Gaza Strip attacked the port. They fired inside the port and damaged equipment that belong to the fishermen. They also took some of the equipment to the Neve Dkalim settlement. After some inquiries were made, the Israeli police informed the Palestinians that the fishermen can take back their equipment from the settlement through the Israeli police. According to Gaza?s Labor Union, this is not the first time that the settlers and army attacke the port and prevent fishermen from working. On April 5, the army entered the port and damaged equipment used for fishing. Around 550 fishermen face considerable difficulties in doing their work since the beginning of the Intifada.

? On April 27, hundreds of settlers gathered in Gush Katif settlements in the southern Gaza Strip to form a huge convoy of cars in order to call the Israeli Government, in both Hebrew and English, to refuse Sharon?s disengagement plan. Many racist slogans against Arabs were visible and heard during the convoy. During the march, the Israeli army closed the streets between north and south of the Gaza Strip in order that they will be used by the settlers.

? On April 16, the settlers and army continued to work in the land near the village At-Twani, south of Yatta (and Hebron). Saber Hurani, one of the land owners, reports: ?during the last three days the army-settlers leveled 15 Dunams of my land and of that that belongs to the Abu Qubaita family. (AIC previous reports deal with the issue in greater detail).

? On April 19, the settlers and the army began opening a new settlement road in Wadi Ghuros east of Hebron. The road is meant to reach Qiryat Arba? south east of the Military base. Amer Jowailes, one of the land owners, reports: ?by now 23 Dunams were damaged and leveled; 100 olive trees and grape vines were uprooted.? The land belongs to the Jowailes, Ashhab and Qafisha families. The army arrested Khaled Mosa Jowailes, 21, Mohammed khaled Jowailes 31, and Ayman Sha?lan, 17, when they come to the land to protest these activities.

? On April 20, the West Bank Army Commander issued an order to confiscate 176 Dunams that belong to many families from Beit Jalah and Al-Walaja, west of Bethlehem. The orders were put in the fields that is meant to be confiscated. They state that the aim of the confiscation is to build the Wall between Jerusalem and the Bethlehem area. The length of According to the order, the wall is 3,451 meters and 68 meters wide. Many parts of the two towns will be isolated while thousands of trees will be uprooted if the Wall is to be built as detailed in the order.

? On April 21, the army demolished five shacks in the Imraiha village west of Jenin, because these shacks is ?too close? to the new settlement bypass road on which the work is presently done. The shacks belong to Khali haider Amara and they are roughly 30 square meters. Similarly, the size of shacks of Khalid Naif Hamdoni are about 80 square meters; of Nawwaf hamdini about 30 square meters; of Ali Atiyya about 20 square meters and of Ali Salem Amarneh about 20 square meters. During the same day the army gave ten additional demolishing orders for other shacks and houses in the site.