Alternative Information Center - Settler Violence Report 69

- On 1st July, settlers from the Ramat Yishai outpost in down town Hebron renewed their attacks on Palestinian houses near the outpost. Mohaamed Hamed Abu Eisha reports that "five of settlers stoned our houses; three windows in my houses were damaged. We informed the soldiers who were stationed in the nearby checkpoint, but they did nothing to stop the settlers. The attacks continue for three hours during the night. No one in my house could sleep.

- On 1st July some 20 settlers threatened and chased after Palestinian children near the Al-Haram and attacked Shawket Zaro. Shawkat said that it seemed that the young settlers were in the midst of a school trip since he saw them gathering in groups while other older settlers were guiding and briefing them.

- On 2nd July, many groups of settlers from various outposts in Hebron attacked Palestinians in many parts of the city while throwing stones on Palestinian pedestrians El-Shuhada street. Tayseer Abu Eisha reports: "while I was walking in the street with my father Mohammad, 70, three settlers stoned us and prevented us from reaching the El-Haram for the Friday pray." Um Ribhi Beid reports that the settlers stooped her in the street and chased her with two dogs. She adds: ?I approached the soldiers in the checkpoint near Beit Hadsa but they didn't stop the settlers who continued their actions uninterrupted."

- On 4 July, settlers from the Ramat Yishai outpost renewed their attacks on Palestinian houses during the night. The brothers Ashraf, 10, and Shareef, 6, were injured in their heads and backs. They were both taken to the 'Alya Hospital for treatment.

- On the noon of 4 July settlers from the Ma'on settlement, 20 km south east of Hebron, killed 4 goats that belong to Omar Abu Jundyya from the Om Tooba village. He reports that ?four armed settlers came to the field and slathered the goats with knifes. They then forced me and my friends to leave the area. We know that such aggression are meant to force us to leave the area for good so that settlements in south of Hebron could be further expanded.?

- On 6 July, settlers from Kiryat Arba' attacked residents west of the settlement by using stones. Mohammad Ali Kaimari, 45, and Abe Hafiz Jaber, 16, were injured when settlers attacked them while the worked in their land. Both were taken to the 'Alya Hospital. Settlers set-up a tent in this land already last week and the army removed it. However, the settlers brought another tent and reset it again. Mohammad Ali says that ?the settlers come to my land in order to take it over and incorporate it as part of their settlement.?

- On 8 July, settlers sprayed racist anti-Arab signs on the wall of many houses in Wadi Nasara in downtown of Hebron. Ahmad Jaber reports that ?during the night I saw some ten settlers arriving from the neighboring settlement of Kiryat Arba' and sprayed our houses. In the following morning we saw Hebrew phrases such as ?Death to the Arabs" or ?Go away if you wish to Leave.?

- On 9 July, settlers from Kiryat Arba' renewed attacks on resident houses in Wad Nasara south of the settlement. During two days the settlers threw stones on houses that belong to the Da'na and Jaber families and broke some windows. The settler's started building a wall of stones on land that belongs to the Jaber family, south of the current fence of the settlement. The army closed the entrance to the street in Wad Nasara and in doing so isolated 25 families. The army instructed the residents to find alternative roads; they are now forced to take a 5km path in order to reach the city center.

- On the afternoon of 10 July a group of settlers, one of them the wife of Baruch Marzel of the Kahanah gang, stoned the house of Radi Hasan Abu Eisha in Tel Romaida. Three windows were damaged.

- On 11 July, four settlers from Ma'on, southeast of Hebron, placed chemical substances and in a wail and killed chickens in the Letwani village. Saber Huraini, the village Council, reports that ?the settlers came at noon in front of the village residents and did their actionl. Many families use the water that is now contaminated. Early investigations prove that the chickens died of the chemicals. We will attempt to take a legal action against the agresors.?

On 12 July, Ibraheem Ghuniam, 67, died after a settler ran him over with a car on bypass road 60, west of El-Khader. According to local sources, the settler drove away without giving aid to Ibraheem. Soldiers who arrived at the scene delayed the ambulance that came from Bethlehem for a critical half an hour.

On 27 June, Jaber Musa Dar Khaleel, 20, from village of Senjel north of Ramallah, was seriously injured in his back when a settler fired him while he was on the main road between Ramallah and his village. The soldiers who came to the scene took him to the Hadassa Hospital in Jerusalem.

Nablus and North of West Bank

- On 13 July, settlers from the Tapuah settlement, 20km south of Nablus, burned 150 olive trees in Wadi Gasem that belong to many families from the Marda village. Watiq Suleyman reports that ?the settlers burned the trees in the evening and the residents could not go out to extinguish the fire since many armed settlers were in the place.

- On 11 July, settlers from the Dair Aban outpost, northeast of Tulkarem, burned 140 olive trees that belong to the Bargawi family of the village of Shufa. Subhi Bargawi reports that "the settlers burned the trees in Wadi Nemer near the outpost and we were unable to go and extinguish the fire because tens of settlers gathered in the place. This is the second time this year that settlers from the outpost burn our trees.?

- On 3 July, bulldozers started to level and damage the land southeast of Qarars village in the Khan Younes district. At the same time a small Mosque and a house that belong to the Farra family were demolished. 18 dunams of planted trees were leveled altogether.

- On 5 July, some 20 dunams of land that belong to families from Anata, north of Jerusalem, were leveled. The land is located in a place called Wa'ar Deek. The action is part of the work pf the Apartheid Wall in the area.

- Between 4 and 6 July, 30 dunams planted with olive trees were damaged in the Ya'bud town south of Jenin. 70 trees were uprooted. Mohammed Abu Baker from the town reports that "the purpose of the work is to expand the Mevo Dotan settlement. During the work tens of armed settlers gathered in the area and opened fire on residents who tried to reach the place to protest the actions.?

- On 7 July, the Israeli army started the work for building a new outpost west of the Negohot settlement, west of Hebron. At the same time settlers brought some mobile houses to the place. The new outpost is located between Negohot and the Mitspeh Lahav outpost. This means that the attempt is to make a geographical linkage between them. Hundreds of dumans are bound to be confiscated if this illegal activity continues. The land belongs to the Suwayti and Abu Sharar families from the town of Dora.

- On 7 July, the army started opening a new settlement road next to the Kissufim road in the Wad Salqa village in Gaza. The road is 200 meters long and 30 meters wide and is supposed to reach Gush Katif. At the same place work continues to establish a Separation Fence near the old road. This fence will separate tens of families from their villages -- Wad Salqa in the north and Qarara in the south. During the work the house of Fawzi Abu Sha'eera was demolished. Additional 15 houses will be destroyed by the end of work on this fence.

- On 11 July, 30 grape vines that belong to Imad Abu Ayyash from Beit Ommar were uprooted. The land is located near the main street in the village. The army claims that this land is a ?state land? despite the fact that the family possesses all the documentation of ownership.