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Settlers' Attacks

Hebron Region

- On 1 September, Samira Salhab, 41, was taken to Hebron's 'Alya Hospital for treatment because of the attacks that settlers from Abraham Avino and soldiers conducted against the Salhab family in Bab el-Khan, in the down town of the city. Another three members from the family were attacked at the same time. Samira reports that "in the afternoon, 6 soldiers and 7 settlers from the outpost of Abraham Avino, 200 meters from my house, entered the house and attacked me with their fists. In the evening the soldiers came again to the house and they attacked me, my son Mohammed, 16, my neighbors Shadi Nabeel Salhab, 16, and Ishak Bu Sabha, 15. I think these attacks are meant to force us to leave our houses in Bab Khan to open the way for continued building of the new road between the Mosque and Kiryat Arba in the east."

At the same time group of settlers attacked some shops in the downtown. Shawkat Fakhori reports that "the settlers attacked my shop, which is located near Al Haram, and forced the buyers to leave it.

- On 1 September, around 20 settlers from Kiryat Arba attacked with stones the residents houses in Beyar Mahawer and Kassara areas to the south of the settlement. The houses of Abed el- Kareem Razem, Shukri Jaber, Fareed Jaber and No'man Da'na were attacked. These places and Wadi Nasara have become daily targets for the settlers attacks.

- On 2 September, settlers from the Nagahout outpost in the west of Dora started to prevent the residents from the nearby village of Ifgaigees from working their land, located near the outpost and outside of the settlement fence. Daily the settlers, sometimes in cooperation with the soldiers, force the farmers from entering the land for work. Moreover, they also prevent them from reaching the water well, which is the main source for watering the goats and sheep. The Local Council of the village distributed an urgent statement to human rights and international organizations to make an intervention to stop the settlers' and soldiers' aggression against the farmers in the village.

- On 5 September in the evening, five settlers and one soldier attacked the residents in the Susya village south of Yatta. Rabiha Jaber Nawaj'a, 23, Khaleel Mosalaam Nawaj'a, 75, and Isma'eel Salama Nawaj'a, 60, were inured in many parts of the body. Naser Nawaj'a reports that "this happened three days before the Supreme Court hearing to discuss the matter of deportation of some families from the village."

- 0n 6 September, three settlers from the Ramat Yashai outpost in the down town of Hebron attacked several houses with stones. The houses of Mohammed Abu Eisha and Abu Haikal were attacked. The soldiers at the nearby checkpoint didn't do anything to stop the settlers; on the contrary, they prevented the residents from defending themselves.

Land Confiscation

- 0n 1 September, army bulldozers leveled and damaged five dunams of olive trees in the Wadi Gaza village north of Braij Refugee amp. The lands belong to the Abu Sa'eed, Nabaheen and Suwairki families.

- 0n 5 September, army bulldozers started building the Separation Wall in the south of the West Bank. Hundreds of dunams were leveled and damaged in the Beit Awwa and Sekka villages to the west of Hebron. According to the military order that was issued, the first step of the wall where the work is going on will be 5 km from Bait Awwa to Sekka in the south.

Thousands of dunams will be damaged, in addition to hundreds of others that will be inside the wall already from this first building stage. The majority of the land was planted with olive trees and grape vines. Hundreds of families will lose their income. Land Defense Committees member Abed el- Hadi Hantash said that "according to the plan of the wall in Hebron district, 48% of the land will be inside the wall (around half a million dunams) and more than 20 Palestinians villages will be also inside the wall."

- The army bulldozers damaged 15 dunams in the west of Ma'oon settlement south of Yatta. Saber Huraini, chairman of the Regional Committee, reports that "hundreds of trees were totally uprooted. 15 dunams were leveled and damaged in Letwani village, all for expanding the settlement of Ma'oon at the expense of residents' land. The land belongs to the Huraini family."