28 feb 2011
Israeli settler ran over a Palestinian child in Hebron, and fled, on Monday evening.
Our correspondent said, citing local sources, said the oldest settler ran over the child Koutaiba Hosni rugby (6 years) in his car before running away, next to the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the southern region of the city of Hebron, which is under Israeli security control.
Our correspondent added that the child was taken to the hospital in Hebron, and his condition was described as moderate.
Our correspondent said, citing local sources, said the oldest settler ran over the child Koutaiba Hosni rugby (6 years) in his car before running away, next to the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the southern region of the city of Hebron, which is under Israeli security control.
Our correspondent added that the child was taken to the hospital in Hebron, and his condition was described as moderate.
Molotov cocktail hurled at Hawara home
A Molotov cocktail was hurled at a home in the Palestinian village of Hawara, near Nablus. One of the rooms in the house was burned, but there were no reports of injuries.
Army and police forces launched an investigation into the incident, which according to estimates, was part of the settlers' "price tag" activity.
Settlers burn Palestinian home in Nablus
Israeli forces on Monday closed the main street in Nablus after hundreds of settlers attacked Palestinian cars and set fire to a home, Palestinian Authority officials said.
Settlers threw Molotov cocktails at homes in Huwara village, setting fire to the home of Rabi Taha As-Sebty, Doughlas said. Palestinian firefighters controlled the blaze.
Huwarra Street, Shavi Shemron Street and the At-Tanib checkpoint were all closed as hundreds of settlers gathered on roads and threw stones and Molotov cocktails at Palestinian cars, said Palestinian Authority settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas.
Locals reported that settlers broke into the home of Muhammad As-Sebty and destroyed the furniture.
The spokesman for Israeli police in the West Bank could not be reached for comment.
Settlers began rioting in the West Bank city earlier Monday in protest over the demolition of illegal structures at an outpost by Israeli authorities.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said eight settlers were arrested during the demolition, five of whom used knives and spikes to puncture the tires of security forces.
Following the clashes, protesters in Jerusalem burned tires and tried to block a main Jerusalem traffic artery on Monday in solidarity with the settlers,
"About 50 people tried to block the main road at the entrance to Jerusalem," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP. "They set fire to a number of tires, one arrest was made...they have been dispersed."
Settlers' news site Arutz Sheva said a number of demonstrators were arrested.
Doughlas said a warning had been issued to Palestinians to avoid areas where settlers gather for their own safety.
Officials fear settler violence against Palestinians, under the professed "price tag" policy, launched in 2008 by extreme right-wing Zionist Israeli groups in the West Bank.
Under the policy, settlers "exact a price" for each evacuation of outposts by harming Palestinians. In the past, the "price tag" has included arson, shootings, beatings, burning fields, uprooting trees and poisoning water wells belonging to Palestinians.
Clashes in J'lem, West Bank follow Havat Gilad razing
Hundreds of rightists block intersections, clash with police in capital during protest against demolition of structures at illegal settler outpost. 'We're furious and frustrated,' organizer says, 'we'll continue demonstrating all night'.
Twenty-three right-wing activists were arrested Monday evening for blocking major intersections, burning tires and clashing with security forces in Jerusalem. The activists were protesting against the demolition of structures at the illegal settler outpost Havat Gilad in the early morning hours.
"We plan to continue protesting all through the night," one of the activists said.
The protesters claim officers fired rubber and plastic bullets at rightists in Havat Gilad, but the army insists security forces only fired paint balls.
Those who were protesting in Jerusalem, most of whom are residents of the West Bank, carried signs reading, "You don`t shoot Jews".
The activists blocked Begin Road at the Kiryat Moshe junction, as well as Kanfei Nesharim Street and Herzl Boulevard. Rightists also blocked Road 465 near the Neve Tzuf settlement and clashed with security forces at the scene. The Bat Shalosh intersection at the entrance to Nablus was also blocked to traffic.
Rightists clash with police in Jerusalem
Kiryat Arba resident Daniel Gilad, who helped organize the protest in Jerusalem, told Ynet, "We are furious and frustrated over the Havat Gilad events and don`t understand why we are the only ones shocked by the fact that security forces opened fire."
The settlers threatened to employ the so-called price tag tactic, in which they seek revenge by attacking Palestinians for every outpost that is demolished.
Eight rightists were arrested during the clashes at Havat Gilad, and, according to the settlers, 15 were injured.
Posters put up throughout Judea and Samaria called on the settler public to come out in force on Thursday for a 'day or rage' following what the posters termed as 'the pogroms at Havat Gilad and the ongoing destruction in the hills".
The posters called on the settlers to block intersections throughout the country, interrupt Palestinian traffic in the West Bank and enter Palestinian towns without the IDF's consent.
Palestinians from Burin claimed that settlers from Yitzhar tried to roll burning tires towards the village following the demolition at Havat Gilad.
Later on Monday, a Molotov cocktail was hurled at a home in the Palestinian village of Hawara, near Nablus. One of the rooms in the house was burned, but there were no reports of injuries.
Army and police forces launched an investigation into the incident, which according to estimates, was part of the settlers' "price tag" activity.
Rightist protests in Jerusalem end; 23 arrested
Protests organized by right-wing activists in Jerusalem have ended after the protestors attempted to block roads in the capital. The police reported arresting 23 people.
Concerns over rising settler violence in West Bank
Violence between Palestinians and Israeli settlers in the West Bank appears to be worsening, say UN agencies, NGOs, and the Israeli and Palestinian communities living there.
An increased number of Palestinian civilians have been injured and had property or land damaged in incidents involving Israeli settlers living in the West Bank since the start of 2011, reports the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Meanwhile, a systematic lack of law enforcement against settlers by Israeli authorities is being reported by Israeli and Palestinian NGOs and Palestinian victims.
Israeli NGO Yesh-Din says nine out 10 investigations of Israeli attacks against Palestinians are closed, with no indictment served, according to a 16 February data sheet on its monitoring of police investigations of a variety of offenses.
However, only a fraction of the actual number of incidents are reported, says Yesh Din, as many Palestinians do not feel comfortable dealing with the Israeli police.
Five settler-related incidents in the West Bank resulted in Palestinian injury and property damage on 9-15 February, according to OCHA, including a 17-year-old boy who was allegedly shot by Israelis settlers from a neighboring outpost while walking from his farm to his home in Jalud village, Nablus Governorate.
Since the beginning of 2011, settlers have killed two Palestinian teenage boys and injured another 14 in various incidents, says OCHA.
Wael Toubasy, a 16-year-old high school student from Jalud, told IRIN that when he and his brother Shadi, 19, were returning from farming his family's olive groves on 15 February, three male Israeli settlers from neighboring Kida outpost shot Wael in the stomach.
"They were hiding near the road and jumped out and attacked us. All three were armed," recounts Wael. "I was terrified when they attacked me, but I will return to our farm with courage since their goal is to force us from our land," he said.
Wael's father, Mahmoud, filed a complaint with the Israeli police the same day, but he does not expect a response. Mahmoud says he was shot by settlers, also from Kida, in 2001 and attacked again last month while driving his tractor, which was damaged in the incident.
Spokesperson for the Israeli police Micky Rosenfeld was unable to confirm that a complaint had been filed.
Squeezed
Abdullah Tawfiq, mayor of Jalud for 15 years, said his community of about 600 residents was suffering from violent settler attacks, mostly from the neighbouring outposts of Kida and Ahiya, both with a population of about 50 and just a few kilometers from Jalud.
"These outposts have confiscated almost 70 percent of Jalud's agricultural land," said Tawfiq, which has driven unemployment to nearly 50 percent in this small farming community. He estimates about 500 residents have migrated to larger cities since 2001, due to dwindling farmland and the threat of settler attacks.
"Settler attacks are a strategy to stop our demonstrations asking for our land back," said Tawfiq, and "they can be a reaction to the dismantling of an outpost."
"Settlements" is the term used to denote Israeli civilian communities in territory conquered by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, now called the West Bank by Palestinians and the international community, and known to Israelis as Judea and Samaria.
"Outposts" are settlements built without official Israeli government sanction, typically after the mid-1990's. There are about 100 outposts to date, and many were established with unofficial Israeli government support.
Like many Palestinian villages, Jalud is situated among Israeli settlements. Six outposts and two larger settlements, Shilo and Eli, surround the Jalud area.
Tamara Assraf, spokesperson for the Matah Binyamin Regional Council, comprising 44 Israeli West Bank communities, including 52,000 people, told IRIN the Council had not heard about the attack against Wael, but is aware the police are investigating the incident.
"There is an escalation of violence in the area near Shilo [settlement] in the past weeks between settlers and Palestinians, and the reason is that people from the Palestinian communities have started coming much closer to the houses in the Jewish communities, making them feel threatened, said Assraf.
People here are still afraid from the history of "terror" attacks against settlers in the area, she explained.
"About a month ago the IDF [Israeli army] ruined a few homes near the small outpost, Alei Ayin [near the outpost Esh Kodesh], which started the decline," said Assraf, adding: "We hope to return to a peaceful coexistence."
'Price-tag' policy
UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory Max Gaylord told IRIN the recent spike in settler violence could be related to the "price-tag" policy.
This pattern of violence, named by Israeli settlers as the "price tag" strategy, emerged during 2008, in which "groups of settlers would exact a `price' against Palestinians and their property in response to attempts by the Israeli authorities to dismantle `unauthorized' settlement outposts," according to OCHA.
When linked to the Israeli occupation, settler violence can be a mechanism of displacement, said Gaylord, and "the pattern of bringing settlers to justice is not reassuring."
"The main violent activity in this area is Palestinian terrorism that targets civilians," said Dani Dayon, chairman of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization of Israeli settlers living in the West Bank. "Civilians [Israelis] should not retaliate themselves to the incidents in the Shilo [settlement] area," he said.
About 300,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, and 200,000 in East Jerusalem, according to UN estimates. Both areas are regarded as part of occupied Palestinian territory.
Dual system of law
Sarit Michaeli, spokesperson for Israeli human rights NGO B'Tselem, said there is a dual system of law in the occupied territory.
"Palestinians are under Israeli military rule and Israeli settlers are under Israeli's civilian court system, which provides benefits and protection," said Michaeli.
Menachem Klein, political scientist at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, said Israeli society's perception of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has shifted from a border conflict to an ethnic conflict.
"The land grab is an expression of a greater struggle. The settlers want the Jewish people to own the land and to limit the Arab/Palestinian presence," said Klein.
"The current Israeli government is the result of society's shift towards an ethnocentric state," he said.
Israel's February 2009 legislative council elections led to a coalition agreement between Benjamin Netanyahu's conservative Likud party and far-right Yisrael Beitenu, led by Avigdor Lieberman, known to support the settlement movement.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights began monitoring settler violence in the West Bank in 2009, and it remains one of their priorities as lead of the "protection cluster".
According to OCHA, there were 87 Israeli-settler related incidents leading to Palestinian casualties in 2010, and eight in January 2011; and 240 incidents leading to Palestinian property/land damage in 2010, and 21 in January 2011.
There were 33 Israeli-settler related incidents leading to Israeli casualties in 2010 and one in January 2011; and 83 incidents leading to Israeli property/land damage in 2010 and none in January 2011.
In this month's spike, OCHA has documented seven settler-related incidents between February 16-22, resulting in the injury of two Palestinians and damage to property - typically olive trees - on which many households depend for income. Israeli settlers also entered Burin village in Nablus governorate and stoned Palestinian-plated vehicles, setting one on fire.
The Israeli police were unable to verify these figures upon IRIN's request.
Spokesperson Assraf of the Matah Binyamin Regional Council said she was unaware of the destruction of any trees.
Rightists riot outside deputy state prosecutor's home
Right-wing activists protested and rioted outside the home of Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan at Jerusalem's Ramot neighborhood.
The protesters were dispersed by a police force, which arrested seven of them.
Settler clashes erupt in Nabi Salih
Clashes erupted in Nabi Salih on Monday after settlers tried to enter the Ramallah village, locals said.
Residents of the illegal Hallamish settlement gathered at the entrance to the village, and residents set fire to rubber tires to stop the settlers entering, Popular Committee officials said.
Israeli forces intervened and the settlers returned to the settlement, officials added.
Palestinian Authority settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas on Monday urged Palestinians to avoid areas where settlers gather for their own safety, after an escalation in settler attacks.
On Monday settlers set fire to a home in Huwwara village near Nablus and threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at Palestinian cars in protest over Israel's demolition of structures in illegal outposts.
Nablus' main road and checkpoint were closed as Israeli police tried to contain the violence.
The UN has warned of an escalation in violent attacks by settlers against Palestinians since the beginning of 2011.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that settlers have killed two Palestinian teenagers and injured another 14 since January.
However Israeli peace group Yesh Din says only a fraction of incidents are reported.
Settler supporters protest in Jerusalem
Protesters burned tires and tried to block a main Jerusalem traffic artery on Monday in solidarity with West Bank settlers who clashed with police earlier in the day.
"About 50 people tried to block the main road at the entrance to Jerusalem," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP. "They set fire to a number of tires, one arrest was made...they have been dispersed."
Settlers' news site Arutz Sheva said a number of demonstrators were arrested.
Early on Monday morning police and settlers scuffled at the West Bank settlement outpost of Havat Gilad over the demolition of a cabin there.
"The incident began when employees of the [military] administration came to dismantle illegal constructions and were met with stone-throwing by the residents of Havat Gilad," Rosenfeld said.
He said eight settlers were arrested by police protecting officials trying to demolish the cabin and the foundations of several other illegal buildings.
Five settlers were arrested for possession of knives and spikes they used to puncture the tires of security forces, Rosenfeld said.
Settlers at Havat Gilad told AFP that five of them were injured by rubber bullets, but the police denied using such weapons during the confrontation.
Havat Gilad is home to about 20 settler families and yeshiva (religious schools) students.
Anti-settlement movement Peace Now says there are more than 100 wildcat outposts strewn across the West Bank, all of which have been set up without permission from Israeli authorities.
Rioting settlers block roads, stone Palestinians near Nablus
Jewish settlers closed off roads around Nablus on Saturday morning and began stoning vehicles of Palestinians under the protection of Israeli soldiers.
Extremist Jews angered by the partial evacuation of settlers in Ramat Gilad in 2002 gathered at crossroads leading to the settlements of Yithar, Bracha and Itimar near Hawara between Nablus and Qalqilya, witnesses told our correspondent.
They were spotted pelting Palestinian commuters on roads linking the village of Jet east of Nablus and Hawara to the south amid heavy insults and armed threats.
The same morning, settlers were seen attacking Palestinian shopkeepers on Beer Sheba Street downtown Al-Khalil.
The assailants walked along the Muslim Brotherhood Street linking Tel Rumeida and Bab al-Zawiya and crossed a military checkpoint and began stoning stores owned by Palestinians as the Israeli army watched and guarded them.
Local Jewish settlers frequently attack Palestinians in the neighborhoods of Sahla, Jabir and around the sacred Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil's Old City in order to block them from the area and take complete control.
A Molotov cocktail was hurled at a home in the Palestinian village of Hawara, near Nablus. One of the rooms in the house was burned, but there were no reports of injuries.
Army and police forces launched an investigation into the incident, which according to estimates, was part of the settlers' "price tag" activity.
Settlers burn Palestinian home in Nablus
Israeli forces on Monday closed the main street in Nablus after hundreds of settlers attacked Palestinian cars and set fire to a home, Palestinian Authority officials said.
Settlers threw Molotov cocktails at homes in Huwara village, setting fire to the home of Rabi Taha As-Sebty, Doughlas said. Palestinian firefighters controlled the blaze.
Huwarra Street, Shavi Shemron Street and the At-Tanib checkpoint were all closed as hundreds of settlers gathered on roads and threw stones and Molotov cocktails at Palestinian cars, said Palestinian Authority settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas.
Locals reported that settlers broke into the home of Muhammad As-Sebty and destroyed the furniture.
The spokesman for Israeli police in the West Bank could not be reached for comment.
Settlers began rioting in the West Bank city earlier Monday in protest over the demolition of illegal structures at an outpost by Israeli authorities.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said eight settlers were arrested during the demolition, five of whom used knives and spikes to puncture the tires of security forces.
Following the clashes, protesters in Jerusalem burned tires and tried to block a main Jerusalem traffic artery on Monday in solidarity with the settlers,
"About 50 people tried to block the main road at the entrance to Jerusalem," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP. "They set fire to a number of tires, one arrest was made...they have been dispersed."
Settlers' news site Arutz Sheva said a number of demonstrators were arrested.
Doughlas said a warning had been issued to Palestinians to avoid areas where settlers gather for their own safety.
Officials fear settler violence against Palestinians, under the professed "price tag" policy, launched in 2008 by extreme right-wing Zionist Israeli groups in the West Bank.
Under the policy, settlers "exact a price" for each evacuation of outposts by harming Palestinians. In the past, the "price tag" has included arson, shootings, beatings, burning fields, uprooting trees and poisoning water wells belonging to Palestinians.
Clashes in J'lem, West Bank follow Havat Gilad razing
Hundreds of rightists block intersections, clash with police in capital during protest against demolition of structures at illegal settler outpost. 'We're furious and frustrated,' organizer says, 'we'll continue demonstrating all night'.
Twenty-three right-wing activists were arrested Monday evening for blocking major intersections, burning tires and clashing with security forces in Jerusalem. The activists were protesting against the demolition of structures at the illegal settler outpost Havat Gilad in the early morning hours.
"We plan to continue protesting all through the night," one of the activists said.
The protesters claim officers fired rubber and plastic bullets at rightists in Havat Gilad, but the army insists security forces only fired paint balls.
Those who were protesting in Jerusalem, most of whom are residents of the West Bank, carried signs reading, "You don`t shoot Jews".
The activists blocked Begin Road at the Kiryat Moshe junction, as well as Kanfei Nesharim Street and Herzl Boulevard. Rightists also blocked Road 465 near the Neve Tzuf settlement and clashed with security forces at the scene. The Bat Shalosh intersection at the entrance to Nablus was also blocked to traffic.
Rightists clash with police in Jerusalem
Kiryat Arba resident Daniel Gilad, who helped organize the protest in Jerusalem, told Ynet, "We are furious and frustrated over the Havat Gilad events and don`t understand why we are the only ones shocked by the fact that security forces opened fire."
The settlers threatened to employ the so-called price tag tactic, in which they seek revenge by attacking Palestinians for every outpost that is demolished.
Eight rightists were arrested during the clashes at Havat Gilad, and, according to the settlers, 15 were injured.
Posters put up throughout Judea and Samaria called on the settler public to come out in force on Thursday for a 'day or rage' following what the posters termed as 'the pogroms at Havat Gilad and the ongoing destruction in the hills".
The posters called on the settlers to block intersections throughout the country, interrupt Palestinian traffic in the West Bank and enter Palestinian towns without the IDF's consent.
Palestinians from Burin claimed that settlers from Yitzhar tried to roll burning tires towards the village following the demolition at Havat Gilad.
Later on Monday, a Molotov cocktail was hurled at a home in the Palestinian village of Hawara, near Nablus. One of the rooms in the house was burned, but there were no reports of injuries.
Army and police forces launched an investigation into the incident, which according to estimates, was part of the settlers' "price tag" activity.
Rightist protests in Jerusalem end; 23 arrested
Protests organized by right-wing activists in Jerusalem have ended after the protestors attempted to block roads in the capital. The police reported arresting 23 people.
Concerns over rising settler violence in West Bank
Violence between Palestinians and Israeli settlers in the West Bank appears to be worsening, say UN agencies, NGOs, and the Israeli and Palestinian communities living there.
An increased number of Palestinian civilians have been injured and had property or land damaged in incidents involving Israeli settlers living in the West Bank since the start of 2011, reports the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Meanwhile, a systematic lack of law enforcement against settlers by Israeli authorities is being reported by Israeli and Palestinian NGOs and Palestinian victims.
Israeli NGO Yesh-Din says nine out 10 investigations of Israeli attacks against Palestinians are closed, with no indictment served, according to a 16 February data sheet on its monitoring of police investigations of a variety of offenses.
However, only a fraction of the actual number of incidents are reported, says Yesh Din, as many Palestinians do not feel comfortable dealing with the Israeli police.
Five settler-related incidents in the West Bank resulted in Palestinian injury and property damage on 9-15 February, according to OCHA, including a 17-year-old boy who was allegedly shot by Israelis settlers from a neighboring outpost while walking from his farm to his home in Jalud village, Nablus Governorate.
Since the beginning of 2011, settlers have killed two Palestinian teenage boys and injured another 14 in various incidents, says OCHA.
Wael Toubasy, a 16-year-old high school student from Jalud, told IRIN that when he and his brother Shadi, 19, were returning from farming his family's olive groves on 15 February, three male Israeli settlers from neighboring Kida outpost shot Wael in the stomach.
"They were hiding near the road and jumped out and attacked us. All three were armed," recounts Wael. "I was terrified when they attacked me, but I will return to our farm with courage since their goal is to force us from our land," he said.
Wael's father, Mahmoud, filed a complaint with the Israeli police the same day, but he does not expect a response. Mahmoud says he was shot by settlers, also from Kida, in 2001 and attacked again last month while driving his tractor, which was damaged in the incident.
Spokesperson for the Israeli police Micky Rosenfeld was unable to confirm that a complaint had been filed.
Squeezed
Abdullah Tawfiq, mayor of Jalud for 15 years, said his community of about 600 residents was suffering from violent settler attacks, mostly from the neighbouring outposts of Kida and Ahiya, both with a population of about 50 and just a few kilometers from Jalud.
"These outposts have confiscated almost 70 percent of Jalud's agricultural land," said Tawfiq, which has driven unemployment to nearly 50 percent in this small farming community. He estimates about 500 residents have migrated to larger cities since 2001, due to dwindling farmland and the threat of settler attacks.
"Settler attacks are a strategy to stop our demonstrations asking for our land back," said Tawfiq, and "they can be a reaction to the dismantling of an outpost."
"Settlements" is the term used to denote Israeli civilian communities in territory conquered by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, now called the West Bank by Palestinians and the international community, and known to Israelis as Judea and Samaria.
"Outposts" are settlements built without official Israeli government sanction, typically after the mid-1990's. There are about 100 outposts to date, and many were established with unofficial Israeli government support.
Like many Palestinian villages, Jalud is situated among Israeli settlements. Six outposts and two larger settlements, Shilo and Eli, surround the Jalud area.
Tamara Assraf, spokesperson for the Matah Binyamin Regional Council, comprising 44 Israeli West Bank communities, including 52,000 people, told IRIN the Council had not heard about the attack against Wael, but is aware the police are investigating the incident.
"There is an escalation of violence in the area near Shilo [settlement] in the past weeks between settlers and Palestinians, and the reason is that people from the Palestinian communities have started coming much closer to the houses in the Jewish communities, making them feel threatened, said Assraf.
People here are still afraid from the history of "terror" attacks against settlers in the area, she explained.
"About a month ago the IDF [Israeli army] ruined a few homes near the small outpost, Alei Ayin [near the outpost Esh Kodesh], which started the decline," said Assraf, adding: "We hope to return to a peaceful coexistence."
'Price-tag' policy
UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory Max Gaylord told IRIN the recent spike in settler violence could be related to the "price-tag" policy.
This pattern of violence, named by Israeli settlers as the "price tag" strategy, emerged during 2008, in which "groups of settlers would exact a `price' against Palestinians and their property in response to attempts by the Israeli authorities to dismantle `unauthorized' settlement outposts," according to OCHA.
When linked to the Israeli occupation, settler violence can be a mechanism of displacement, said Gaylord, and "the pattern of bringing settlers to justice is not reassuring."
"The main violent activity in this area is Palestinian terrorism that targets civilians," said Dani Dayon, chairman of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization of Israeli settlers living in the West Bank. "Civilians [Israelis] should not retaliate themselves to the incidents in the Shilo [settlement] area," he said.
About 300,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, and 200,000 in East Jerusalem, according to UN estimates. Both areas are regarded as part of occupied Palestinian territory.
Dual system of law
Sarit Michaeli, spokesperson for Israeli human rights NGO B'Tselem, said there is a dual system of law in the occupied territory.
"Palestinians are under Israeli military rule and Israeli settlers are under Israeli's civilian court system, which provides benefits and protection," said Michaeli.
Menachem Klein, political scientist at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, said Israeli society's perception of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has shifted from a border conflict to an ethnic conflict.
"The land grab is an expression of a greater struggle. The settlers want the Jewish people to own the land and to limit the Arab/Palestinian presence," said Klein.
"The current Israeli government is the result of society's shift towards an ethnocentric state," he said.
Israel's February 2009 legislative council elections led to a coalition agreement between Benjamin Netanyahu's conservative Likud party and far-right Yisrael Beitenu, led by Avigdor Lieberman, known to support the settlement movement.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights began monitoring settler violence in the West Bank in 2009, and it remains one of their priorities as lead of the "protection cluster".
According to OCHA, there were 87 Israeli-settler related incidents leading to Palestinian casualties in 2010, and eight in January 2011; and 240 incidents leading to Palestinian property/land damage in 2010, and 21 in January 2011.
There were 33 Israeli-settler related incidents leading to Israeli casualties in 2010 and one in January 2011; and 83 incidents leading to Israeli property/land damage in 2010 and none in January 2011.
In this month's spike, OCHA has documented seven settler-related incidents between February 16-22, resulting in the injury of two Palestinians and damage to property - typically olive trees - on which many households depend for income. Israeli settlers also entered Burin village in Nablus governorate and stoned Palestinian-plated vehicles, setting one on fire.
The Israeli police were unable to verify these figures upon IRIN's request.
Spokesperson Assraf of the Matah Binyamin Regional Council said she was unaware of the destruction of any trees.
Rightists riot outside deputy state prosecutor's home
Right-wing activists protested and rioted outside the home of Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan at Jerusalem's Ramot neighborhood.
The protesters were dispersed by a police force, which arrested seven of them.
Settler clashes erupt in Nabi Salih
Clashes erupted in Nabi Salih on Monday after settlers tried to enter the Ramallah village, locals said.
Residents of the illegal Hallamish settlement gathered at the entrance to the village, and residents set fire to rubber tires to stop the settlers entering, Popular Committee officials said.
Israeli forces intervened and the settlers returned to the settlement, officials added.
Palestinian Authority settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas on Monday urged Palestinians to avoid areas where settlers gather for their own safety, after an escalation in settler attacks.
On Monday settlers set fire to a home in Huwwara village near Nablus and threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at Palestinian cars in protest over Israel's demolition of structures in illegal outposts.
Nablus' main road and checkpoint were closed as Israeli police tried to contain the violence.
The UN has warned of an escalation in violent attacks by settlers against Palestinians since the beginning of 2011.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that settlers have killed two Palestinian teenagers and injured another 14 since January.
However Israeli peace group Yesh Din says only a fraction of incidents are reported.
Settler supporters protest in Jerusalem
Protesters burned tires and tried to block a main Jerusalem traffic artery on Monday in solidarity with West Bank settlers who clashed with police earlier in the day.
"About 50 people tried to block the main road at the entrance to Jerusalem," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP. "They set fire to a number of tires, one arrest was made...they have been dispersed."
Settlers' news site Arutz Sheva said a number of demonstrators were arrested.
Early on Monday morning police and settlers scuffled at the West Bank settlement outpost of Havat Gilad over the demolition of a cabin there.
"The incident began when employees of the [military] administration came to dismantle illegal constructions and were met with stone-throwing by the residents of Havat Gilad," Rosenfeld said.
He said eight settlers were arrested by police protecting officials trying to demolish the cabin and the foundations of several other illegal buildings.
Five settlers were arrested for possession of knives and spikes they used to puncture the tires of security forces, Rosenfeld said.
Settlers at Havat Gilad told AFP that five of them were injured by rubber bullets, but the police denied using such weapons during the confrontation.
Havat Gilad is home to about 20 settler families and yeshiva (religious schools) students.
Anti-settlement movement Peace Now says there are more than 100 wildcat outposts strewn across the West Bank, all of which have been set up without permission from Israeli authorities.
Rioting settlers block roads, stone Palestinians near Nablus
Jewish settlers closed off roads around Nablus on Saturday morning and began stoning vehicles of Palestinians under the protection of Israeli soldiers.
Extremist Jews angered by the partial evacuation of settlers in Ramat Gilad in 2002 gathered at crossroads leading to the settlements of Yithar, Bracha and Itimar near Hawara between Nablus and Qalqilya, witnesses told our correspondent.
They were spotted pelting Palestinian commuters on roads linking the village of Jet east of Nablus and Hawara to the south amid heavy insults and armed threats.
The same morning, settlers were seen attacking Palestinian shopkeepers on Beer Sheba Street downtown Al-Khalil.
The assailants walked along the Muslim Brotherhood Street linking Tel Rumeida and Bab al-Zawiya and crossed a military checkpoint and began stoning stores owned by Palestinians as the Israeli army watched and guarded them.
Local Jewish settlers frequently attack Palestinians in the neighborhoods of Sahla, Jabir and around the sacred Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil's Old City in order to block them from the area and take complete control.
Moshe Cohen. Don't give enemies livelihood.
Residents of Gush Etzion settlement bloc demanded the bus driver be dismissed after word got out that he would work as a school-bus driver in the settlement of Elazar.
Residents of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc near Jerusalem are demanding a bus driver be dismissed because he is Arab. The head of the regional council has rejected the demand.
The driver, an Israeli Arab, is employed by the Gush Etzion Development Company. The company is an agency of the Gush Etzion Regional Council.
The development company operates a bus service for local school children and employs dozens of drivers. The employee in question was hired several months ago to perform a range of tasks, but word got out that he would work as a school-bus driver in the settlement of Elazar.
In a letter, Elazar residents objected to the Israeli Arab's placement as a school-bus driver in the settlement.
Acknowledging that Jews and Arabs are "cousins," the residents said that the regional council "apparently wants to save a few pennies at the expense of the safety of our children, or perhaps for another reason, regional peace, eating baklava in Hebron, hummus in Bethlehem or a real vision of the end of days."
The residents stressed that the complaint was not motivated by anti-Arab racism but rather by what they said were legitimate concerns for their children's safety. They said that if a member of the driver's family were detained by the army, it was impossible to know how what the driver might do as a response.
The secretary of the settlement of Elazar, Yossi Kaufman, told Haaretz: "[Residents of] Elazar have approached the regional council and requested that the settlement's buses not have an Arab driver. If army directives require a guard for an Arab entering the community, there can't be an Arab school-bus driver. If someone wants to earn a living, be my guest. In fact, Arabs built the houses in Elazar. When it comes to children, that's an issue of safety. We were notified that the driver is not Arab and that was the end of the story."
At the same time, the right-wing Komemiyut movement wrote to the Gush Etzion Regional Council asking that the council stop employing Arabs. The movement's board members include Rabbi Dov Lior of Kiryat Arba, against whom an arrest warrant was issued after he supported a book justifying the killing of non-Jews under some circumstances.
"In recent years we have been disabused of our innocence and know that to inherit the land, we must see to it that our enemies are not given a source of livelihood," wrote Komemiyut chairman Moshe Cohen. "Whereas otherwise, heaven forbid, we will meet a fate similar to the fate of the Jews of Gaza, who were ultimately expelled from their land because they were left very few in number in the heart of a massive number of Arabs."
In response to the objections, Shaul Goldstein, the head of the regional council, sent a letter to area residents. He said employing Israeli Arabs is not an "innovation" of the regional council, adding that 40 percent of public drivers in the country are Arab and that the situation is similar in the construction industry. He said hundreds of Arab workers come to Gush Etzion settlements every day to work.
"Arabs in the State of Israel are employed in every field: doctors, economists, gas-station attendants, construction workers, teachers, Knesset members ... and drivers too," he wrote.
Goldstein also noted that racist discrimination in employment is illegal and that as long as education encouraging manual labor is not being provided, "this is not the ideal reality, but that's the situation."
Israeli Settlers Demand Firing Of Bus Driver For Crime Of 'being Arab'
A Palestinian-Israeli bus driver, who holds Israeli citizenship, has been threatened with firing after he was assigned to a route that serves the Israeli colonial settlement of Elazar. Jewish Israeli residents of the settlement have launched a campaign to have the bus driver fired, submitting a letter to the regional council to that effect.
Although the settlers said that they were not motivated by racism, they had to consider the safety of their children, and could not accept the possibility of an Arab bus driver driving their children. At the same time, one of the letters calling for the firing of the driver was submitted by the right-wing organization Komemiyut, which said that the enemy should be deprived of their sources of livelihood.
One of the board members of Komemiyut, Rabbi Dov Lior, recently published a book justifying the killing of non-Jews, which led the Israeli government to issue a warrant for his arrest. Moshe Cohen, the current head of Komemiyut, wrote in the letter to the regional council that if Arabs are allowed to have jobs and sources of livelihood, we will meet a fate similar to the fate of the Jews of Gaza, who were ultimately expelled from their land because they were left very few in number in the heart of a massive number of Arabs.
Another letter to the regional council, from the residents of the Elazar settlement, made the claim that the regional council, by refusing to fire the Arab bus driver, apparently wants to save a few pennies at the expense of the safety of our children, or perhaps for another reason, regional peace, eating baklava in Hebron, hummus in Bethlehem or a real vision of the end of days.
Israeli settlers in Elazar are known for their extreme right religious and political views, and many residents of the settlement claim membership in right-wing organizations like Komemiyut.
The settlement of Elazar, like all Israeli settlements, is constructed on Palestinian land occupied by the Israeli military following 1967, and is constructed in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits the transfer of civilian population of an occupying power onto land seized by military force.
After Israeli Army Clears Outpost, Settlers Close Roads Surrounding Nablus
After Israeli troops cleared away structures in the illegal Israeli settlement of Havat Gilad, near Nablus in the northern West Bank, settlers struck back against Palestinians by closing roads and throwing stones at passing cars.
According to Israeli news source YNetNews, Israeli security forces arrived early Monday morning to destroy illegal structures in Havat Gilad, resulting in clashes between settlers and soldiers that injured 15 people. Eight people were arrested as well, five for suspected concealment of weapons, two for cutting down Palestinian olive trees, and one for allegedly throwing stones. One shack was taken down.
Israeli settlers in the area then took to throwing stones at passing Palestinian cars on roads near Nablus, according to Palestinian state news wire Wafa. Eyewitnesses said a group of settlers gathered near an intersection near the Yitzhar and Itamar Bracha settlements and pelted passing cars with stones.
Ghassan Douglas, the Palestinian Authority (PA) official in charge of filing settler attacks in the northern West Bank went wild after the Israeli army demolished part of Havat Gilad. He warned that further settler violence against Palestinian villages in the countryside south of Nablus may be coming.
In related news, a settler leader in the southern West Bank settlement bloc of Gush Etzion rejected community calls to fire a local Arab bus driver. The residents who called for the bus drivers ouster said they were not motivated by racism but said the regional council apparently wanted to save a few pennies at the expense of the safety of our children.
Residents of Gush Etzion settlement bloc demanded the bus driver be dismissed after word got out that he would work as a school-bus driver in the settlement of Elazar.
Residents of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc near Jerusalem are demanding a bus driver be dismissed because he is Arab. The head of the regional council has rejected the demand.
The driver, an Israeli Arab, is employed by the Gush Etzion Development Company. The company is an agency of the Gush Etzion Regional Council.
The development company operates a bus service for local school children and employs dozens of drivers. The employee in question was hired several months ago to perform a range of tasks, but word got out that he would work as a school-bus driver in the settlement of Elazar.
In a letter, Elazar residents objected to the Israeli Arab's placement as a school-bus driver in the settlement.
Acknowledging that Jews and Arabs are "cousins," the residents said that the regional council "apparently wants to save a few pennies at the expense of the safety of our children, or perhaps for another reason, regional peace, eating baklava in Hebron, hummus in Bethlehem or a real vision of the end of days."
The residents stressed that the complaint was not motivated by anti-Arab racism but rather by what they said were legitimate concerns for their children's safety. They said that if a member of the driver's family were detained by the army, it was impossible to know how what the driver might do as a response.
The secretary of the settlement of Elazar, Yossi Kaufman, told Haaretz: "[Residents of] Elazar have approached the regional council and requested that the settlement's buses not have an Arab driver. If army directives require a guard for an Arab entering the community, there can't be an Arab school-bus driver. If someone wants to earn a living, be my guest. In fact, Arabs built the houses in Elazar. When it comes to children, that's an issue of safety. We were notified that the driver is not Arab and that was the end of the story."
At the same time, the right-wing Komemiyut movement wrote to the Gush Etzion Regional Council asking that the council stop employing Arabs. The movement's board members include Rabbi Dov Lior of Kiryat Arba, against whom an arrest warrant was issued after he supported a book justifying the killing of non-Jews under some circumstances.
"In recent years we have been disabused of our innocence and know that to inherit the land, we must see to it that our enemies are not given a source of livelihood," wrote Komemiyut chairman Moshe Cohen. "Whereas otherwise, heaven forbid, we will meet a fate similar to the fate of the Jews of Gaza, who were ultimately expelled from their land because they were left very few in number in the heart of a massive number of Arabs."
In response to the objections, Shaul Goldstein, the head of the regional council, sent a letter to area residents. He said employing Israeli Arabs is not an "innovation" of the regional council, adding that 40 percent of public drivers in the country are Arab and that the situation is similar in the construction industry. He said hundreds of Arab workers come to Gush Etzion settlements every day to work.
"Arabs in the State of Israel are employed in every field: doctors, economists, gas-station attendants, construction workers, teachers, Knesset members ... and drivers too," he wrote.
Goldstein also noted that racist discrimination in employment is illegal and that as long as education encouraging manual labor is not being provided, "this is not the ideal reality, but that's the situation."
Israeli Settlers Demand Firing Of Bus Driver For Crime Of 'being Arab'
A Palestinian-Israeli bus driver, who holds Israeli citizenship, has been threatened with firing after he was assigned to a route that serves the Israeli colonial settlement of Elazar. Jewish Israeli residents of the settlement have launched a campaign to have the bus driver fired, submitting a letter to the regional council to that effect.
Although the settlers said that they were not motivated by racism, they had to consider the safety of their children, and could not accept the possibility of an Arab bus driver driving their children. At the same time, one of the letters calling for the firing of the driver was submitted by the right-wing organization Komemiyut, which said that the enemy should be deprived of their sources of livelihood.
One of the board members of Komemiyut, Rabbi Dov Lior, recently published a book justifying the killing of non-Jews, which led the Israeli government to issue a warrant for his arrest. Moshe Cohen, the current head of Komemiyut, wrote in the letter to the regional council that if Arabs are allowed to have jobs and sources of livelihood, we will meet a fate similar to the fate of the Jews of Gaza, who were ultimately expelled from their land because they were left very few in number in the heart of a massive number of Arabs.
Another letter to the regional council, from the residents of the Elazar settlement, made the claim that the regional council, by refusing to fire the Arab bus driver, apparently wants to save a few pennies at the expense of the safety of our children, or perhaps for another reason, regional peace, eating baklava in Hebron, hummus in Bethlehem or a real vision of the end of days.
Israeli settlers in Elazar are known for their extreme right religious and political views, and many residents of the settlement claim membership in right-wing organizations like Komemiyut.
The settlement of Elazar, like all Israeli settlements, is constructed on Palestinian land occupied by the Israeli military following 1967, and is constructed in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits the transfer of civilian population of an occupying power onto land seized by military force.
After Israeli Army Clears Outpost, Settlers Close Roads Surrounding Nablus
After Israeli troops cleared away structures in the illegal Israeli settlement of Havat Gilad, near Nablus in the northern West Bank, settlers struck back against Palestinians by closing roads and throwing stones at passing cars.
According to Israeli news source YNetNews, Israeli security forces arrived early Monday morning to destroy illegal structures in Havat Gilad, resulting in clashes between settlers and soldiers that injured 15 people. Eight people were arrested as well, five for suspected concealment of weapons, two for cutting down Palestinian olive trees, and one for allegedly throwing stones. One shack was taken down.
Israeli settlers in the area then took to throwing stones at passing Palestinian cars on roads near Nablus, according to Palestinian state news wire Wafa. Eyewitnesses said a group of settlers gathered near an intersection near the Yitzhar and Itamar Bracha settlements and pelted passing cars with stones.
Ghassan Douglas, the Palestinian Authority (PA) official in charge of filing settler attacks in the northern West Bank went wild after the Israeli army demolished part of Havat Gilad. He warned that further settler violence against Palestinian villages in the countryside south of Nablus may be coming.
In related news, a settler leader in the southern West Bank settlement bloc of Gush Etzion rejected community calls to fire a local Arab bus driver. The residents who called for the bus drivers ouster said they were not motivated by racism but said the regional council apparently wanted to save a few pennies at the expense of the safety of our children.
Israeli Settler Violence Report: November, December 2010
Jerusalem AIC The Alternative Information Center (AIC) monitored and recorded Israeli settler attacks and violations during the final two months of 2010.
As will be demonstrated, settler attacks continued during this period and were concentrated in the north of the West Bank, especially in the Nablus District. Trees were the most common target, with burnings and land confiscations, especially land close to settlements, which serve the aim of expanding settlements and providing strategic points for attacks on Palestinian residents traveling by road.
Several of the attacks were done with full cooperation of the Israeli army and in plain sight of soldiers, who did nothing to prevent the settlers from attacking and burning trees.
Hebron and South West Bank Region
At midday on 11 November, settlers from the Takoa settlement to the southeast of Bethlehem threw stones at the students of the girls school in the Tako'a village. Students from the school were engaged in a demonstration against the soldiers who had stopped in front of the school, which is located near the main road. Settlers who were travelling on the road stopped their cars and threw stones at the students.
On 11 November, settlers from the Beitar Illit settlement, west of the Bethlehem District, opened the pipes of the settlement's sewage onto the land of the Hosan village to the east of the settlement. The site targeted by the sewage is called Al-Haraeq and is planted with grape vines and olive trees. According to the Palestinian Agriculture Ministry Office for the Bethlehem District, more than 20 dunams of land were subsequently covered by sewage. The issue of sewage in this area is not new. From time to time the settlers open sewage pipes on land belonging to Palestinians and numerous trees have been damaged and died.
On November 15, settlers from Bat Ayin settlement to the north of the town of Beit Ommar, north of the Hebron District, burned 20 grape vines belonging to Thaljee Adee. The soldiers in the area prevented the fire brigades from entering the field to stop the fire. According to Mohammed Ayyad from the Palestine Solidarity Project in Beit Ommar, around 15 dunams of land were targeted by the fire.
On 27 December, a group of settlers from the Ashkilot settlement, in the south of the Hebron District and located on the Green Line, attacked farmers from the Ramadeen village. Farmer Majdi Shihda Zamil told the AIC, A settler who we know, his name is Ori from the Ashkilot settlement south of my village, came with other settlers and fenced around 200 dumans of the areas of Shi'b Abu Shaikha, Khallet Khader and Khallet Zamil.
These sites are very close to the Green Line, and located to the west of the aforementioned settlement. A few days ago, when we went to our land, there were many settlers, some of whom were armed, and they came and tried to force us to leave. When we refused, some physical fighting occurred between us and them. The Israeli soldiers who came forced us to leave. Later we decided to come regularly to work our land in cooperation with local committees and internationals who support us. Farmer Mosa Hasan Amro, who is 70 years old, said, We will not leave our land and allow the settlers to take it.
Nablus and North of West Bank Region
On 13 November, settlers from the outpost of Kalia, east of the Nablus District, burned dozens of dunams of land belonging to families from the Salem village . The site that was targeted is known as Joret Naser and is located on the east side of the town. Around 150 olive trees were burned as a result of this action.
On 9 November, settlers from the Maskiot settlement, in the northern valleys, confiscated around 200 dunams of land for settlement expansion. The settlers also fenced the land. Many Bedouin of the small villages in the north used the land for feeding their goats and planted it with wheat.
On 16 November, settlers from the outpost of Gev'at Gel'ad, located between Nablus and Qalqelya, burned around 100 olive trees on land located near the outpost. The land belongs to families from Jet village. According to Naser Al-Sadda the mayor of the village, When we were informed by the farmers about the attack we went with the fire brigades to stop the fire, but the soldiers who came prevented us from entering for two hours. Tens of settlers threw stones at us in sight of the soldiers who didn't stop them. The targeted site is called the Al- Baidat area.
On 20 November, tens of settlers from the Rechelim outpost, south of the Nablus District, began working on and leveling the land around the settlement to prepare for expansion. The land belongs to families from Yatma and Al Sawiya villages. The settlers brought bulldozers and began damaging the land in the morning. According to resources from the Settlement File Office in the north, hundreds of dunams will be targeted by this expansion. The land is planted with trees, particularly olive trees, and is the most important income resource for dozens of families, mainly the Abo Dawlah, Abu Saleh, Abo Shaheen, Al Beik and Al Haj Sulaiman families of the two villages and who are the primary owners of most of the land.
On 22 November, tens of settlers from the Shilo settlement south of the Nablus District prevented farmers from Qaryout village from entering and working on land that is close to the settlement. Mofeed Jameel, the secretary of the local council in the village said, A group of settlers, some of them armed, came and stopped the farmers who were working on the land that belongs to my village. The settlers tried to confiscate it and prevented the farmers from working on it for a long time, but the farmers raised the issue in Israeli courts and received a legal decision to work on the land. However, the settlers attack the farmers from time to time. The area of the targeted land is around 50 dunams.
On 22 November, settlers from the Alei Zahav settlement in the Salfeet District began expanding the borders of the settlement by annexing more land for it. The land belongs to Palestinians from the villages of Dair Ballot and Kufr Al- Deek. According to Land Research Center researcher Raed Moqadee the settlers have started leveling more land and uprooting the trees on dozens of dunams using bulldozers . The targeted land is located to the west of the settlement. Jamal Al-Deek, the Mayor of Kufr Al- Deek village said that 100 dunams were targeted by the settlers action.
On 23 November, settlers from Shilo and Shvut Rachel settlements in the south of the Nablus District began damaging and leveling land, using bulldozers to create a link between the mentioned settlements .The land belongs to Palestinians from the nearby village of Jalod. According to Ghassan Doglos, the Settlements File Coordinator in the north of West Bank, more than 50 dunams are being targeted by this new confiscation in order to make connections and build new roads between both settlements. This means that additional land will be isolated when the roads are finished.
On 25 November, settlers from Kistra settlement, south of the Nablus District, attacked farmer Abed Al -Hameed Tawfeeg, who is 45 years old and from Qisra village. At least five settlers attacked him while he was shepherding his goats on his land, which is close to the village. The settlers attacked him with their hands and also used stones. He was injured in the head and was taken to the hospital. The attack happened in the afternoon.
On 30 November, dozens of settlers from Yitzhar settlement, in the south of the Nablus District, burned 12 dunams planted with olive trees. The land belongs to Palestinians from Madama and Asera Al- Shamaliyya villages. The targeted site is called Madama- Spring and is to the south of the villages. The soldiers who came to site prevented the farmers from entering the area to stop the fire for two hours. As a result, 12 dunams were burnt . Later the soldiers allowed the fire brigades, which came from the city of Nablus, to stop the fire. According to local sources, this area is targeted by settlers from Yitzhar from time to time, especially during the olive harvest season.
On 2 December, settlers from many settlements in the north of the West Bank burned 10 dunams at a site called Khallet Awana. The land targeted was the site of the Homish settlement, before it was dismantled by the Israeli army in 2005. The settlers who refused to participate in the dismantling of Homesh settlement, along with four other outposts in the north of West Bank, sometimes return to the area participate in aggressions against the Palestinians and their land. According to Ghassan Doglas, the Settlement File Coordinator in the north, Ten dunams planted with olive trees were totally burned.
On 14 December, a group of settlers from the settlement of Kistra, in the Nablus District, attacked the shepherd Faiz Ibraheem Hasan, who is 28 years old and from the village of Qasra, while he was shepherding his goats on his land. The site is called Allahaf and is located to the south of the village. The settlers beat him and killed two of the goats.
On 17 December, settlers from the Ma`ale Efraim settlement, south of Nablus, burned 12 goats and injured some others belonging to farmer Sameer Mohammed Khader Bani Fadel from the village of Aqraba. According to village mayor Jawdat Bani Jabber, The settlers attacked the farmer Sameer, age 40, while he was shepherding the goats at the site Al-Taweel, which is close to the Ma'ale Efraim settlement.
A group of settlers, some of them armed, came in cars and called Sameer to come to them. When he refused and ran away, the settlers gathered the goats in a place where there is a lot of wood, and burned them. The event resulted in the death of 12, who were totally burned, and injury to two. The Israeli army promised an investigation into the event. Sameer reported that the goats are his only source of income, which he has now lost as a result of this attack. He has a family of six.
On 17 December, the settlers from the settlement of Giv'at Gil'ad, south of the Nablus District, damaged trees and vegetables belonging to farmers from the village of Tal. The attack happened at night. One dunam of planted trees was totally damaged.
On 17 December, in the middle of the night, hundreds of settlers under Israeli Army protection entered the village of Kufel Hares, east of the Salfeet District, to pray in a place inside the village that they claim is holy for the Jews. The soldiers closed the village and prevented the residents from leaving their homes until morning, when the settlers finished their praying and left the village. According to local village sources and human rights organizations, including previous AIC reports, the settlers come to this village to pray in large numbers from time to time.
On 23 December, the settlers from the outpost of Shvut Rachel, south of Nablus, brought 20 new mobile houses (caravans) and built them on land they recently confiscated for expanding their outpost. The land belongs to farmers from Qaryot and Jalod villages.
On 23 December, the settlers from Yitzhar tried to prevent the farmers from Madama village from working on land located near the settlement. The settlers threw stones at the farmers and some physical clashes occurred. The day before Israeli soldiers also prevented the farmers from working at the same place, which is located to the south of the village. According to local council sources in the village, the settlers uprooted some of the olive trees belonging to farmer Jadallah Naef Nassar.
On 27 December, around 30 settlers from Yitzhar settlement, in the south of the Nablus District, burned 60 olive trees on land that belongs to families from Madama village. Hasan Ziyada, a member of the local council told the AIC, The settlers came in groups, each group had around 6- 8 settlers, and started to burn trees in different places. The targeted site called Ayn Al-Sha'ra. Later when the farmers came to stop the fire the settlers tried to prevent them from entering the place, which caused physical fight between both sides. Some farmers were beaten by settlers.
On 29 December, settlers from the Rotem settlement, in the northern valleys, entered and worked on 35 dunams of land belonging to the village of Al-Farisiyya. Marwan Tobasi, the governor of Tobas and the northern valleys said that the settlers confiscated the land in cooperation with the Israeli Army, in order to expand the settlement by taking more land from the area. The settlers also cultivated the property.
Jerusalem AIC The Alternative Information Center (AIC) monitored and recorded Israeli settler attacks and violations during the final two months of 2010.
As will be demonstrated, settler attacks continued during this period and were concentrated in the north of the West Bank, especially in the Nablus District. Trees were the most common target, with burnings and land confiscations, especially land close to settlements, which serve the aim of expanding settlements and providing strategic points for attacks on Palestinian residents traveling by road.
Several of the attacks were done with full cooperation of the Israeli army and in plain sight of soldiers, who did nothing to prevent the settlers from attacking and burning trees.
Hebron and South West Bank Region
At midday on 11 November, settlers from the Takoa settlement to the southeast of Bethlehem threw stones at the students of the girls school in the Tako'a village. Students from the school were engaged in a demonstration against the soldiers who had stopped in front of the school, which is located near the main road. Settlers who were travelling on the road stopped their cars and threw stones at the students.
On 11 November, settlers from the Beitar Illit settlement, west of the Bethlehem District, opened the pipes of the settlement's sewage onto the land of the Hosan village to the east of the settlement. The site targeted by the sewage is called Al-Haraeq and is planted with grape vines and olive trees. According to the Palestinian Agriculture Ministry Office for the Bethlehem District, more than 20 dunams of land were subsequently covered by sewage. The issue of sewage in this area is not new. From time to time the settlers open sewage pipes on land belonging to Palestinians and numerous trees have been damaged and died.
On November 15, settlers from Bat Ayin settlement to the north of the town of Beit Ommar, north of the Hebron District, burned 20 grape vines belonging to Thaljee Adee. The soldiers in the area prevented the fire brigades from entering the field to stop the fire. According to Mohammed Ayyad from the Palestine Solidarity Project in Beit Ommar, around 15 dunams of land were targeted by the fire.
On 27 December, a group of settlers from the Ashkilot settlement, in the south of the Hebron District and located on the Green Line, attacked farmers from the Ramadeen village. Farmer Majdi Shihda Zamil told the AIC, A settler who we know, his name is Ori from the Ashkilot settlement south of my village, came with other settlers and fenced around 200 dumans of the areas of Shi'b Abu Shaikha, Khallet Khader and Khallet Zamil.
These sites are very close to the Green Line, and located to the west of the aforementioned settlement. A few days ago, when we went to our land, there were many settlers, some of whom were armed, and they came and tried to force us to leave. When we refused, some physical fighting occurred between us and them. The Israeli soldiers who came forced us to leave. Later we decided to come regularly to work our land in cooperation with local committees and internationals who support us. Farmer Mosa Hasan Amro, who is 70 years old, said, We will not leave our land and allow the settlers to take it.
Nablus and North of West Bank Region
On 13 November, settlers from the outpost of Kalia, east of the Nablus District, burned dozens of dunams of land belonging to families from the Salem village . The site that was targeted is known as Joret Naser and is located on the east side of the town. Around 150 olive trees were burned as a result of this action.
On 9 November, settlers from the Maskiot settlement, in the northern valleys, confiscated around 200 dunams of land for settlement expansion. The settlers also fenced the land. Many Bedouin of the small villages in the north used the land for feeding their goats and planted it with wheat.
On 16 November, settlers from the outpost of Gev'at Gel'ad, located between Nablus and Qalqelya, burned around 100 olive trees on land located near the outpost. The land belongs to families from Jet village. According to Naser Al-Sadda the mayor of the village, When we were informed by the farmers about the attack we went with the fire brigades to stop the fire, but the soldiers who came prevented us from entering for two hours. Tens of settlers threw stones at us in sight of the soldiers who didn't stop them. The targeted site is called the Al- Baidat area.
On 20 November, tens of settlers from the Rechelim outpost, south of the Nablus District, began working on and leveling the land around the settlement to prepare for expansion. The land belongs to families from Yatma and Al Sawiya villages. The settlers brought bulldozers and began damaging the land in the morning. According to resources from the Settlement File Office in the north, hundreds of dunams will be targeted by this expansion. The land is planted with trees, particularly olive trees, and is the most important income resource for dozens of families, mainly the Abo Dawlah, Abu Saleh, Abo Shaheen, Al Beik and Al Haj Sulaiman families of the two villages and who are the primary owners of most of the land.
On 22 November, tens of settlers from the Shilo settlement south of the Nablus District prevented farmers from Qaryout village from entering and working on land that is close to the settlement. Mofeed Jameel, the secretary of the local council in the village said, A group of settlers, some of them armed, came and stopped the farmers who were working on the land that belongs to my village. The settlers tried to confiscate it and prevented the farmers from working on it for a long time, but the farmers raised the issue in Israeli courts and received a legal decision to work on the land. However, the settlers attack the farmers from time to time. The area of the targeted land is around 50 dunams.
On 22 November, settlers from the Alei Zahav settlement in the Salfeet District began expanding the borders of the settlement by annexing more land for it. The land belongs to Palestinians from the villages of Dair Ballot and Kufr Al- Deek. According to Land Research Center researcher Raed Moqadee the settlers have started leveling more land and uprooting the trees on dozens of dunams using bulldozers . The targeted land is located to the west of the settlement. Jamal Al-Deek, the Mayor of Kufr Al- Deek village said that 100 dunams were targeted by the settlers action.
On 23 November, settlers from Shilo and Shvut Rachel settlements in the south of the Nablus District began damaging and leveling land, using bulldozers to create a link between the mentioned settlements .The land belongs to Palestinians from the nearby village of Jalod. According to Ghassan Doglos, the Settlements File Coordinator in the north of West Bank, more than 50 dunams are being targeted by this new confiscation in order to make connections and build new roads between both settlements. This means that additional land will be isolated when the roads are finished.
On 25 November, settlers from Kistra settlement, south of the Nablus District, attacked farmer Abed Al -Hameed Tawfeeg, who is 45 years old and from Qisra village. At least five settlers attacked him while he was shepherding his goats on his land, which is close to the village. The settlers attacked him with their hands and also used stones. He was injured in the head and was taken to the hospital. The attack happened in the afternoon.
On 30 November, dozens of settlers from Yitzhar settlement, in the south of the Nablus District, burned 12 dunams planted with olive trees. The land belongs to Palestinians from Madama and Asera Al- Shamaliyya villages. The targeted site is called Madama- Spring and is to the south of the villages. The soldiers who came to site prevented the farmers from entering the area to stop the fire for two hours. As a result, 12 dunams were burnt . Later the soldiers allowed the fire brigades, which came from the city of Nablus, to stop the fire. According to local sources, this area is targeted by settlers from Yitzhar from time to time, especially during the olive harvest season.
On 2 December, settlers from many settlements in the north of the West Bank burned 10 dunams at a site called Khallet Awana. The land targeted was the site of the Homish settlement, before it was dismantled by the Israeli army in 2005. The settlers who refused to participate in the dismantling of Homesh settlement, along with four other outposts in the north of West Bank, sometimes return to the area participate in aggressions against the Palestinians and their land. According to Ghassan Doglas, the Settlement File Coordinator in the north, Ten dunams planted with olive trees were totally burned.
On 14 December, a group of settlers from the settlement of Kistra, in the Nablus District, attacked the shepherd Faiz Ibraheem Hasan, who is 28 years old and from the village of Qasra, while he was shepherding his goats on his land. The site is called Allahaf and is located to the south of the village. The settlers beat him and killed two of the goats.
On 17 December, settlers from the Ma`ale Efraim settlement, south of Nablus, burned 12 goats and injured some others belonging to farmer Sameer Mohammed Khader Bani Fadel from the village of Aqraba. According to village mayor Jawdat Bani Jabber, The settlers attacked the farmer Sameer, age 40, while he was shepherding the goats at the site Al-Taweel, which is close to the Ma'ale Efraim settlement.
A group of settlers, some of them armed, came in cars and called Sameer to come to them. When he refused and ran away, the settlers gathered the goats in a place where there is a lot of wood, and burned them. The event resulted in the death of 12, who were totally burned, and injury to two. The Israeli army promised an investigation into the event. Sameer reported that the goats are his only source of income, which he has now lost as a result of this attack. He has a family of six.
On 17 December, the settlers from the settlement of Giv'at Gil'ad, south of the Nablus District, damaged trees and vegetables belonging to farmers from the village of Tal. The attack happened at night. One dunam of planted trees was totally damaged.
On 17 December, in the middle of the night, hundreds of settlers under Israeli Army protection entered the village of Kufel Hares, east of the Salfeet District, to pray in a place inside the village that they claim is holy for the Jews. The soldiers closed the village and prevented the residents from leaving their homes until morning, when the settlers finished their praying and left the village. According to local village sources and human rights organizations, including previous AIC reports, the settlers come to this village to pray in large numbers from time to time.
On 23 December, the settlers from the outpost of Shvut Rachel, south of Nablus, brought 20 new mobile houses (caravans) and built them on land they recently confiscated for expanding their outpost. The land belongs to farmers from Qaryot and Jalod villages.
On 23 December, the settlers from Yitzhar tried to prevent the farmers from Madama village from working on land located near the settlement. The settlers threw stones at the farmers and some physical clashes occurred. The day before Israeli soldiers also prevented the farmers from working at the same place, which is located to the south of the village. According to local council sources in the village, the settlers uprooted some of the olive trees belonging to farmer Jadallah Naef Nassar.
On 27 December, around 30 settlers from Yitzhar settlement, in the south of the Nablus District, burned 60 olive trees on land that belongs to families from Madama village. Hasan Ziyada, a member of the local council told the AIC, The settlers came in groups, each group had around 6- 8 settlers, and started to burn trees in different places. The targeted site called Ayn Al-Sha'ra. Later when the farmers came to stop the fire the settlers tried to prevent them from entering the place, which caused physical fight between both sides. Some farmers were beaten by settlers.
On 29 December, settlers from the Rotem settlement, in the northern valleys, entered and worked on 35 dunams of land belonging to the village of Al-Farisiyya. Marwan Tobasi, the governor of Tobas and the northern valleys said that the settlers confiscated the land in cooperation with the Israeli Army, in order to expand the settlement by taking more land from the area. The settlers also cultivated the property.
27 feb 2011
An 11-year-old Palestinian girl was run over by a Jewish settler on Sunday morning in the south West Bank province of Al-Khalil.
The driver, a Jewish settler, hit Amani Jassim al-Mutawwar on the Beit Ainoun bypass northeast of Al-Khalil, a Palestinian security source said, adding that the seriousness of her injuries are yet undetermined.
The victim has been transferred to the Hadassah Hospital for treatment.
The driver, a Jewish settler, hit Amani Jassim al-Mutawwar on the Beit Ainoun bypass northeast of Al-Khalil, a Palestinian security source said, adding that the seriousness of her injuries are yet undetermined.
The victim has been transferred to the Hadassah Hospital for treatment.
IOF soldiers, settlers quell peaceful protest demo
Jewish armed settlers assisted Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in quelling a peaceful demonstration in Beit Ummar village, north of Al-Khalil, on Sunday to protest continued confiscation of Palestinian land and settlement activity.
Local sources said that settlers from Karmi Tzur and Beit Ayin assaulted the participants in the demonstration and unleashed their dogs against them.
The witnesses said that among the participants were Arab and foreign solidarity activists.
They added that IOF soldiers attacked the marchers and violently dispersed them triggering fistfights between them and the demonstrators.
Jewish armed settlers assisted Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in quelling a peaceful demonstration in Beit Ummar village, north of Al-Khalil, on Sunday to protest continued confiscation of Palestinian land and settlement activity.
Local sources said that settlers from Karmi Tzur and Beit Ayin assaulted the participants in the demonstration and unleashed their dogs against them.
The witnesses said that among the participants were Arab and foreign solidarity activists.
They added that IOF soldiers attacked the marchers and violently dispersed them triggering fistfights between them and the demonstrators.
26 feb 2011
Settlers Attack Palestinian Village Near Nablus, Torch Vehicle
For the second day in a raw, a group of fundamentalist settlers of the Yitzhar illegal settlement, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, invaded on Saturday at dawn Burin Palestinian village, and torched a vehicle that belongs to a local resident.
Eyewitnesses reported that the settlers torched the vehicle of resident Bashir Al Zibin, and also torched his front yard.
On Friday at dawn, the settlers invaded the village and torched a bulldozer that belongs resident Ibrahim Eshtayya.
The two attacks are part of a series of attacks carried out by Jewish settlers against several villages in the Nablus district.
Yitzhar settlement was built on Palestinian lands in southern Nablus, and were illegally expropriated by the Israeli government in 1983.
The settlement of Bracha was also built on lands that belong to residents of Burin village, north of Nablus. Israel confiscated 300 Dunams owned by residents of the village in order to build the illegal settlement.
Iraq Burin is subject to frequent attacks carried out by the settlers who are frequently protected by the Israeli army. Most of The village`s lands are off-limits to the residents due to illegal settlements and settlement outposts.
PA official: Extremists torch Palestinian car
Extremist settlers attacked a village in the occupied West Bank and torched a Palestinian car, an official said Saturday.
Ghassan Daghlas, an official who monitors Israel's northern settlements, told Ma`an that settlers from an illegal outpost attacked the home of Bashir Az-Zein in Burin.
They poured fuel on the car and set it ablaze, then they started to set fire to the house from outside before the family stopped them, the official said. Israeli forces arrived and sent the settlers away, he added.
Accounts of settler vandalism are on the rise.
Residents of the illegal Yitzhar settlement on Friday set fire to a bulldozer, Daghlas said. A group of Israelis attacked a village northeast of Ramallah and ruined wheat fields.
Before that in Jit, settlers sprayed racist graffiti and punctured tires of cars, Doughlas said.
The Israeli army said its Civil Administration branch had received a complaint and would investigate. Settlers could not be reached for comment on the Jewish Sabbath.
In the past, settlers have accused the Palestinians of playing a "blame game" to try to discredit them.
The region, with several hardline settlements in close proximity to Palestinian villages, has been a frequent flashpoint for clashes.
In the preceding week, settlers set fire to two vehicles in Burin and threw a Molotov cocktail at a home, uprooted olive trees planted by UNRWA officials, and injured two others in a mob attack. http://bit.ly/gMqSj4
Mayor: Settlers damage field near Ramallah
Settlers attacked a village northeast of Ramallah on Friday and ruined wheat fields, officials said.
Al-Magheer village mayor Faraj An-Na`as said Adei Ad settlers used a tractor to spray the wheat with chemicals.
He said farmers cannot reach their land except except during certain times of the year after getting permission from Israel.
He said it was not the first time settlers damaged the field.
Settlers Uproot Lands Planted With Wheat Near Ramallah
A group of extremist settlers uprooted 150 Dunams planted with wheat near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
The settlers came from an illegal outpost near Al Mogheer Palestinian village north east of the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
Faraj Al Na`aas, head of the Al Mogheer village council, reported that the settlers sprayed chemicals on the wheat before uprooting it using a tractor.
He added that the lands in questions became off-limits to the local residents due to the
Annexation Wall surrounding the lands. The residents can only enter their lands if granted a special permit issues by the Israeli Coordination Office.
A local shepherd stated that he saw a tractor uprooted the wheat under guard by armed settlers, and that the color of the wheat turned yellow from blow due to exposure to chemicals.
The settlers previously uprooted dozens of trees in the same area and also sprayed farmlands with chemicals to prevent the residents from planting them.
In related news, a group of settlers uprooted 150 Dunams of farmlands that belong to residents of Tormos-Ayya village, near Ramallah. The settlers also sprayed the lands in question with chemicals.
Jewish vandals set fire to car in Burin amid attacks
Jewish settlers have attacked the south Nablus village of Burin setting fire to a car amid a fierce outbreak of similar assaults.
A gang of Jews from the Yitzhar settlement, south of Burin, infiltrated the town Saturday and set fire to the yard and closely parked car of Palestinian man Bashir al-Zein before the flames were extinguished.
Jews from Yitzhar, built in 1983 on private Palestinian property taken south of the village, had set ablaze a bulldozer belonging to Ibrahim Ishtayeh earlier Friday morning.
On Friday evening in the village of Al-Mughayyar northeast of Ramallah, settlers vandalized a large area of wheat crops belonging to Palestinians.
The assailants from the nearby Adi Ad settlement used a tractor to spray the farmlands with toxic chemicals under protection from the Israeli army, witnesses said.
Tens of thousands of square meters of land had been damaged by chemicals in similar previous attacks.
Settlers reportedly have interests in the land.
Jewish settlers organize provocative march in Al-Khalil
Hundreds of armed Jewish settlers organized a provocative march in the Old City of Al-Khalil under heavy protection provided by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at a late night hour on Friday.
Local sources said that the settlers' planned march started from the vicinity of the Ibrahimi Mosque and roamed the streets of the Old City until they reached the settlement outpost Daboya in the town's center.
The sources said that the settlers hoisted Israeli flags and chanted racist slogans against the Palestinian citizens and Arabs such as "Death to the Arabs", "Hebron is ours".
Few hundred Jewish settlers are occupying the heart of Al-Khalil city under IOF protection.
Meanwhile, in the same context the IOF banned the Athan (call for prayers) at the Ibrahimi Mosque on 60 occasions since the start of February at the pretext it "annoys" the settlers.
Settlers disrupt Beit Ummar rally
Settlers disrupted an anti-wall demonstration Saturday in Beit Ummar near Hebron, protest organizers said.
Local popular committee spokesman Mohammad Awad said the rally ended peacefully despite attempts by settlers to intimidate protesters with an aggressive dog.
Local and international activists headed toward the illegal Karmi Tzur settlement chanting slogans, Awad said, adding that Israeli soldiers kept settlers away from the protest.
Minor clashes erupted between protesters and Israeli forces but no one was injured, Awad said.
Settlers Attack Palestinian Village Near Nablus, Torch Vehicle
For the second day in a raw, a group of fundamentalist settlers of the Yitzhar illegal settlement, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, invaded on Saturday at dawn Burin Palestinian village, and torched a vehicle that belongs to a local resident.
Eyewitnesses reported that the settlers torched the vehicle of resident Bashir Al Zibin, and also torched his front yard.
On Friday at dawn, the settlers invaded the village and torched a bulldozer that belongs resident Ibrahim Eshtayya.
The two attacks are part of a series of attacks carried out by Jewish settlers against several villages in the Nablus district.
Yitzhar settlement was built on Palestinian lands in southern Nablus, and were illegally expropriated by the Israeli government in 1983.
The settlement of Bracha was also built on lands that belong to residents of Burin village, north of Nablus. Israel confiscated 300 Dunams owned by residents of the village in order to build the illegal settlement.
Iraq Burin is subject to frequent attacks carried out by the settlers who are frequently protected by the Israeli army. Most of The village`s lands are off-limits to the residents due to illegal settlements and settlement outposts.
PA official: Extremists torch Palestinian car
Extremist settlers attacked a village in the occupied West Bank and torched a Palestinian car, an official said Saturday.
Ghassan Daghlas, an official who monitors Israel's northern settlements, told Ma`an that settlers from an illegal outpost attacked the home of Bashir Az-Zein in Burin.
They poured fuel on the car and set it ablaze, then they started to set fire to the house from outside before the family stopped them, the official said. Israeli forces arrived and sent the settlers away, he added.
Accounts of settler vandalism are on the rise.
Residents of the illegal Yitzhar settlement on Friday set fire to a bulldozer, Daghlas said. A group of Israelis attacked a village northeast of Ramallah and ruined wheat fields.
Before that in Jit, settlers sprayed racist graffiti and punctured tires of cars, Doughlas said.
The Israeli army said its Civil Administration branch had received a complaint and would investigate. Settlers could not be reached for comment on the Jewish Sabbath.
In the past, settlers have accused the Palestinians of playing a "blame game" to try to discredit them.
The region, with several hardline settlements in close proximity to Palestinian villages, has been a frequent flashpoint for clashes.
In the preceding week, settlers set fire to two vehicles in Burin and threw a Molotov cocktail at a home, uprooted olive trees planted by UNRWA officials, and injured two others in a mob attack. http://bit.ly/gMqSj4
Mayor: Settlers damage field near Ramallah
Settlers attacked a village northeast of Ramallah on Friday and ruined wheat fields, officials said.
Al-Magheer village mayor Faraj An-Na`as said Adei Ad settlers used a tractor to spray the wheat with chemicals.
He said farmers cannot reach their land except except during certain times of the year after getting permission from Israel.
He said it was not the first time settlers damaged the field.
Settlers Uproot Lands Planted With Wheat Near Ramallah
A group of extremist settlers uprooted 150 Dunams planted with wheat near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
The settlers came from an illegal outpost near Al Mogheer Palestinian village north east of the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
Faraj Al Na`aas, head of the Al Mogheer village council, reported that the settlers sprayed chemicals on the wheat before uprooting it using a tractor.
He added that the lands in questions became off-limits to the local residents due to the
Annexation Wall surrounding the lands. The residents can only enter their lands if granted a special permit issues by the Israeli Coordination Office.
A local shepherd stated that he saw a tractor uprooted the wheat under guard by armed settlers, and that the color of the wheat turned yellow from blow due to exposure to chemicals.
The settlers previously uprooted dozens of trees in the same area and also sprayed farmlands with chemicals to prevent the residents from planting them.
In related news, a group of settlers uprooted 150 Dunams of farmlands that belong to residents of Tormos-Ayya village, near Ramallah. The settlers also sprayed the lands in question with chemicals.
Jewish vandals set fire to car in Burin amid attacks
Jewish settlers have attacked the south Nablus village of Burin setting fire to a car amid a fierce outbreak of similar assaults.
A gang of Jews from the Yitzhar settlement, south of Burin, infiltrated the town Saturday and set fire to the yard and closely parked car of Palestinian man Bashir al-Zein before the flames were extinguished.
Jews from Yitzhar, built in 1983 on private Palestinian property taken south of the village, had set ablaze a bulldozer belonging to Ibrahim Ishtayeh earlier Friday morning.
On Friday evening in the village of Al-Mughayyar northeast of Ramallah, settlers vandalized a large area of wheat crops belonging to Palestinians.
The assailants from the nearby Adi Ad settlement used a tractor to spray the farmlands with toxic chemicals under protection from the Israeli army, witnesses said.
Tens of thousands of square meters of land had been damaged by chemicals in similar previous attacks.
Settlers reportedly have interests in the land.
Jewish settlers organize provocative march in Al-Khalil
Hundreds of armed Jewish settlers organized a provocative march in the Old City of Al-Khalil under heavy protection provided by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at a late night hour on Friday.
Local sources said that the settlers' planned march started from the vicinity of the Ibrahimi Mosque and roamed the streets of the Old City until they reached the settlement outpost Daboya in the town's center.
The sources said that the settlers hoisted Israeli flags and chanted racist slogans against the Palestinian citizens and Arabs such as "Death to the Arabs", "Hebron is ours".
Few hundred Jewish settlers are occupying the heart of Al-Khalil city under IOF protection.
Meanwhile, in the same context the IOF banned the Athan (call for prayers) at the Ibrahimi Mosque on 60 occasions since the start of February at the pretext it "annoys" the settlers.
Settlers disrupt Beit Ummar rally
Settlers disrupted an anti-wall demonstration Saturday in Beit Ummar near Hebron, protest organizers said.
Local popular committee spokesman Mohammad Awad said the rally ended peacefully despite attempts by settlers to intimidate protesters with an aggressive dog.
Local and international activists headed toward the illegal Karmi Tzur settlement chanting slogans, Awad said, adding that Israeli soldiers kept settlers away from the protest.
Minor clashes erupted between protesters and Israeli forces but no one was injured, Awad said.
25 feb 2011
PA: Settlers vandalize Nablus villages
Settlers on Friday escalated attacks against Palestinians in villages south of the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian officials said.
Palestinian Authority settlement official Ghassan Doughlas said residents of the illegal Yitzhar settlement set fire to a bulldozer belonging to Ibrahim Ishteiyah in Burin.
Meanwhile in Jit, settlers sprayed racist graffiti and punctured the tires of villagers' cars, Doughlas said.
The PA official added added that settlers chopped down 25 trees belonging to Hassan and Mohammad Safadi in Urif.
In the past week, settlers set fire to two vehicles in Burin and threw a Molotov cocktail at a home, uprooted olive trees planted by UNRWA officials, and injured two others in a mob attack.
Settlers go on a Rampage in Nablus Area
Israeli settlers went on a rampage in Nablus area village Friday morning, setting a car and fields on fire, according to local sources.
Settlers burnt 25 trees in the village of Oreef, a tractor in the village of Burin, both south of Nablus, and they wrote racist slogans on walls in the village of Jitt, west of the city, they said.
PA: Settlers vandalize Nablus villages
Settlers on Friday escalated attacks against Palestinians in villages south of the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian officials said.
Palestinian Authority settlement official Ghassan Doughlas said residents of the illegal Yitzhar settlement set fire to a bulldozer belonging to Ibrahim Ishteiyah in Burin.
Meanwhile in Jit, settlers sprayed racist graffiti and punctured the tires of villagers' cars, Doughlas said.
The PA official added added that settlers chopped down 25 trees belonging to Hassan and Mohammad Safadi in Urif.
In the past week, settlers set fire to two vehicles in Burin and threw a Molotov cocktail at a home, uprooted olive trees planted by UNRWA officials, and injured two others in a mob attack.
Settlers go on a Rampage in Nablus Area
Israeli settlers went on a rampage in Nablus area village Friday morning, setting a car and fields on fire, according to local sources.
Settlers burnt 25 trees in the village of Oreef, a tractor in the village of Burin, both south of Nablus, and they wrote racist slogans on walls in the village of Jitt, west of the city, they said.
23 feb 2011
Palestinian hit by gunfire sent to IDF jail despite injury
Tribunal Judge who ordered the youth to remain in IDF custody says the suspect posed a threat which warranted his continued detention.
A Palestinian youth arrested by the Israel Defense Forces for throwing stones has been remanded to detention in a military jail, despite sustaining a fractured elbow when he was shot by Israeli settlers.
Tribunal Judge Tsvi Frenkel, who ordered the youth to remain in IDF custody until his case is heard in court, said the suspect posed a threat which warranted his continued detention.
The incident occurred on January 28, when a group of Israelis went hiking near the Palestinian village of Beit Ummar near Hebron. During the trip, which was not coordinated with the army, the Israelis said they were attacked by gunfire and stones. In response, one of the armed Israelis opened fire, killing a Palestinian and injuring another one.
An IDF investigation did not find any evidence of gunfire in the direction of the Israeli hikers. Police arrested four of the Israelis, who were remanded into custody. Days later, they were released. Authorities do not intend to indict them.
Police officials said that because the bullet allegedly fired by the Israelis was not handed over by the Palestinian police, they could not perform ballistics tests to determine its origin.
Last Thursday, Murad Halil, the young Palestinian wounded in the incident, was summoned to the West Bank police station for questioning. When he arrived, he was informed that he was under arrest for throwing stones a charge Halil denies.
Halil`s lawyer, Nery Ramati, said there was no point in remanding Halil to custody since his right arm is in a cast. The IDF judge disagreed.
Ramati appealed the decision to the appellate tribunal, which ordered Halil to undergo a medical exam that would determine whether he`d be able to throw stones within the next year.
Settlers Vandalize Palestinian Property Near Nablus
The Ma`an News Network reports that Israeli settlers burnt two Palestinian cars, south of Nablus.
Israeli settlers from the settlement of Bracha allegedly set fire to the cars in the village of Burin and threw a Molotov cocktail into a home, apparently causing some damage but no injuries. The cars, which belonged to Abdul Salam Abdul Hameed and Khaled Walid Taher were damaged irreparably by the incident.
Settlers attack villages, IOF detain West Bankers
Armed Jewish settlers on Tuesday evening attacked Burin village, south of Nablus, and Tawana village, in Al-Khalil, wounding farmers and damaging crops, before returning at dawn Wednesday, locals reported.
They said that a number of citizens in Burin were injured in the attack, adding that the armed settlers were escorted by Israeli occupation forces (IOF).
Local sources said that the settlers returned to the village at dawn Wednesday and burnt two cars after throwing fire bombs at civilians' homes and vehicles.
Other settlers attacked Tawana village, south of Al-Khalil, and destroyed dozens of seedlings under the protection of the IOF troops at a late night hour.
The IOF soldiers stormed the village of Talluza, northeast of Nablus, and roamed its streets, witnesses told the PIC, adding that the soldiers also erected roadblocks at entrances to the village and questioned a number of citizens.
Three citizens were arrested by IOF soldiers at dawn Wednesday in the villages of Tarqumiya and Doura, west and south of Al-Khalil respectively.
Villagers: Settlers torch two cars near Nablus
Israeli settlers set fire to two cars in the village of Burin, south of Nablus, residents said, and threw a Molotov Cocktail at a home east of the area.
Fatah official charged with monitoring settlement activity in the northern West Bank Ghassan Doughlas, said Jewish settlers from the Barakha settlement were behind the arson.
The cars belonged to Khaled Walid Taher and Abdul Salam Abdul Hameed, the official said, adding that the vehicles were damaged beyond repair.
East of the village, Doughlas added, settlers were seen throwing a Molotov Cocktail at the home of Ayman Sofan. Light damage was reported to the home, and no injuries were recorded.
The Burin village has seen several waves of settler violence over the past years. In the past week, settlers in the area uprooted olive trees planted by UNRWA officials, and injured two others in a mob attack.
Palestinian hit by gunfire sent to IDF jail despite injury
Tribunal Judge who ordered the youth to remain in IDF custody says the suspect posed a threat which warranted his continued detention.
A Palestinian youth arrested by the Israel Defense Forces for throwing stones has been remanded to detention in a military jail, despite sustaining a fractured elbow when he was shot by Israeli settlers.
Tribunal Judge Tsvi Frenkel, who ordered the youth to remain in IDF custody until his case is heard in court, said the suspect posed a threat which warranted his continued detention.
The incident occurred on January 28, when a group of Israelis went hiking near the Palestinian village of Beit Ummar near Hebron. During the trip, which was not coordinated with the army, the Israelis said they were attacked by gunfire and stones. In response, one of the armed Israelis opened fire, killing a Palestinian and injuring another one.
An IDF investigation did not find any evidence of gunfire in the direction of the Israeli hikers. Police arrested four of the Israelis, who were remanded into custody. Days later, they were released. Authorities do not intend to indict them.
Police officials said that because the bullet allegedly fired by the Israelis was not handed over by the Palestinian police, they could not perform ballistics tests to determine its origin.
Last Thursday, Murad Halil, the young Palestinian wounded in the incident, was summoned to the West Bank police station for questioning. When he arrived, he was informed that he was under arrest for throwing stones a charge Halil denies.
Halil`s lawyer, Nery Ramati, said there was no point in remanding Halil to custody since his right arm is in a cast. The IDF judge disagreed.
Ramati appealed the decision to the appellate tribunal, which ordered Halil to undergo a medical exam that would determine whether he`d be able to throw stones within the next year.
Settlers Vandalize Palestinian Property Near Nablus
The Ma`an News Network reports that Israeli settlers burnt two Palestinian cars, south of Nablus.
Israeli settlers from the settlement of Bracha allegedly set fire to the cars in the village of Burin and threw a Molotov cocktail into a home, apparently causing some damage but no injuries. The cars, which belonged to Abdul Salam Abdul Hameed and Khaled Walid Taher were damaged irreparably by the incident.
Settlers attack villages, IOF detain West Bankers
Armed Jewish settlers on Tuesday evening attacked Burin village, south of Nablus, and Tawana village, in Al-Khalil, wounding farmers and damaging crops, before returning at dawn Wednesday, locals reported.
They said that a number of citizens in Burin were injured in the attack, adding that the armed settlers were escorted by Israeli occupation forces (IOF).
Local sources said that the settlers returned to the village at dawn Wednesday and burnt two cars after throwing fire bombs at civilians' homes and vehicles.
Other settlers attacked Tawana village, south of Al-Khalil, and destroyed dozens of seedlings under the protection of the IOF troops at a late night hour.
The IOF soldiers stormed the village of Talluza, northeast of Nablus, and roamed its streets, witnesses told the PIC, adding that the soldiers also erected roadblocks at entrances to the village and questioned a number of citizens.
Three citizens were arrested by IOF soldiers at dawn Wednesday in the villages of Tarqumiya and Doura, west and south of Al-Khalil respectively.
Villagers: Settlers torch two cars near Nablus
Israeli settlers set fire to two cars in the village of Burin, south of Nablus, residents said, and threw a Molotov Cocktail at a home east of the area.
Fatah official charged with monitoring settlement activity in the northern West Bank Ghassan Doughlas, said Jewish settlers from the Barakha settlement were behind the arson.
The cars belonged to Khaled Walid Taher and Abdul Salam Abdul Hameed, the official said, adding that the vehicles were damaged beyond repair.
East of the village, Doughlas added, settlers were seen throwing a Molotov Cocktail at the home of Ayman Sofan. Light damage was reported to the home, and no injuries were recorded.
The Burin village has seen several waves of settler violence over the past years. In the past week, settlers in the area uprooted olive trees planted by UNRWA officials, and injured two others in a mob attack.
22 feb 2011
Settlers injure 2 Palestinians near Nablus
Thirty settlers on Tuesday attacked and injured two Palestinians in Burin village in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian Authority official said.
Ghassan Doughlas, who monitors settlement activity for the PA, said residents of the illegal Bracha settlement surrounded homes in the eastern side of the south Nablus village.
They attacked and injured Fares Nassar and Ahmad Samir Eid, he said.
The settlers did not withdraw until Israeli soldiers intervened, Doughlas added.
Settlers injure 2 Palestinians near Nablus
Thirty settlers on Tuesday attacked and injured two Palestinians in Burin village in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian Authority official said.
Ghassan Doughlas, who monitors settlement activity for the PA, said residents of the illegal Bracha settlement surrounded homes in the eastern side of the south Nablus village.
They attacked and injured Fares Nassar and Ahmad Samir Eid, he said.
The settlers did not withdraw until Israeli soldiers intervened, Doughlas added.
21 feb 2011
Sharifi: He expressed remorse
Court issues incredibly light sentence to 19-year old after accepting plea of 'youthful frivolity'.
A 19-year old settler was sentenced to just 100 hours of community service Monday, without a conviction, for stealing weapons and ammunition from IDF warehouses in the West Bank.
The Kfar Saba Magistrates' Court accepted his attorney's claim that the theft, executed three years ago, was a matter of "youthful frivolity" and decided to punish him lightly. He was also fined NIS 1,000 ($277).
In February of 2008 stun and gas grenades, ammunition for M-16 rifles, sniper rifles, and sub-machine guns, and a spike barrier were stolen from an IDF warehouse.
A week after the first incident there was once again a break-in at the warehouse, and more ammunition as well as sleeping bags and another spike barrier were stolen. A week later, binoculars, grenades, night-vision goggles, uniforms, shoes, and flashlights were stolen during a third break-in.
An investigation ended with a number of arrests, and searches held in two homes uncovered most of the stolen equipment. Only one of the suspects was an adult, and after his conviction was sentenced to five months in prison.
But the suspect whose sentence ended Monday, who was also a minor at the time, was not convicted. The court ordered him to post NIS 3,000 ($832) as security that he would not commit similar offenses.
His attorney, Dr. Nissan Sharifi, said his client had admitted to the charges and that they had been a product of "youthful frivolity" rather than ideology.
"He has expressed remorse for his actions and wants to rehabilitate his life. What needs to be investigated here is the ease with which the IDF's ammunition warehouses can be broken into," Sharifi added.
Settlers uproot 270 olive trees near Nablus
A mob of extremist settlers stormed Palestinian farmland and uprooted olive trees near Nablus in the northern West Bank, Palestinian officials said.
Residents of an illegal outpost "waged war on olive trees uprooting 270 using chainsaws and other means," in Duma and Qusra villages, said Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement activities in the northern West Bank.
Of the trees uprooted, 100 belonged to Abdul-Razzaq Dawabsha, 100 to Muhammad and Shahada Dawabsha and 70 to Sabir Dawabsha, Daghlas said.
On Tuesday, settlers shot a Palestinian teenager in his abdomen as he worked on his land near Jalud village, west of Qusra, Daglas said.
Wa'el Mahmud Ayed, 17, was transferred to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus.
On Monday, the outgoing director of UNRWA operations Barbara Shenstone planted olive tree saplings on land slated for confiscation in Burin, south of Nablus.
Shenstone said planting olive trees was a way to protect Palestinian lands from confiscation by Israeli settlers.
Court issues incredibly light sentence to 19-year old after accepting plea of 'youthful frivolity'.
A 19-year old settler was sentenced to just 100 hours of community service Monday, without a conviction, for stealing weapons and ammunition from IDF warehouses in the West Bank.
The Kfar Saba Magistrates' Court accepted his attorney's claim that the theft, executed three years ago, was a matter of "youthful frivolity" and decided to punish him lightly. He was also fined NIS 1,000 ($277).
In February of 2008 stun and gas grenades, ammunition for M-16 rifles, sniper rifles, and sub-machine guns, and a spike barrier were stolen from an IDF warehouse.
A week after the first incident there was once again a break-in at the warehouse, and more ammunition as well as sleeping bags and another spike barrier were stolen. A week later, binoculars, grenades, night-vision goggles, uniforms, shoes, and flashlights were stolen during a third break-in.
An investigation ended with a number of arrests, and searches held in two homes uncovered most of the stolen equipment. Only one of the suspects was an adult, and after his conviction was sentenced to five months in prison.
But the suspect whose sentence ended Monday, who was also a minor at the time, was not convicted. The court ordered him to post NIS 3,000 ($832) as security that he would not commit similar offenses.
His attorney, Dr. Nissan Sharifi, said his client had admitted to the charges and that they had been a product of "youthful frivolity" rather than ideology.
"He has expressed remorse for his actions and wants to rehabilitate his life. What needs to be investigated here is the ease with which the IDF's ammunition warehouses can be broken into," Sharifi added.
Settlers uproot 270 olive trees near Nablus
A mob of extremist settlers stormed Palestinian farmland and uprooted olive trees near Nablus in the northern West Bank, Palestinian officials said.
Residents of an illegal outpost "waged war on olive trees uprooting 270 using chainsaws and other means," in Duma and Qusra villages, said Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement activities in the northern West Bank.
Of the trees uprooted, 100 belonged to Abdul-Razzaq Dawabsha, 100 to Muhammad and Shahada Dawabsha and 70 to Sabir Dawabsha, Daghlas said.
On Tuesday, settlers shot a Palestinian teenager in his abdomen as he worked on his land near Jalud village, west of Qusra, Daglas said.
Wa'el Mahmud Ayed, 17, was transferred to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus.
On Monday, the outgoing director of UNRWA operations Barbara Shenstone planted olive tree saplings on land slated for confiscation in Burin, south of Nablus.
Shenstone said planting olive trees was a way to protect Palestinian lands from confiscation by Israeli settlers.
20 feb 2011
Armed Jewish settlers last night attacked Palestinian homes in the old city of Al-Khalil, which led to the injury of one citizen and caused material damage in some houses.
Eyewitness told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that dozens of armed Jewish savages brutally attacked a Palestinian young man called Mohamed Al-Rajbi who sustained different bruises all over his body and was transferred to hospital.
They added that settlers also attacked three homes belonging to Assalaymeh family and another house owned by Fakhouri family and smashed their windows after they failed to break into them.
In a separate incident, Israeli troops and settlers physically attacked last night a number of Palestinian natives on Al-Wad street in the old city of occupied Jerusalem which triggered scuffles between the two sides.
Eyewitnesses said that some Israeli soldiers intercepted a Palestinian citizen and embarked on beating him with no reason which prompted other Palestinians in the scene to help him before a group of Jewish setters and border guards joined the fight and attacked all Palestinians randomly.
Consequently, Five Palestinians were badly injured in this assault, according to the eyewitnesses.
For its part, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that Israeli soldiers kidnapped three Palestinian citizens at dawn Sunday during raids on homes in the West Bank, claiming they were wanted.
Israelis chop down 220 olive trees envisioning settlement expansion
Jewish settlers in the West Bank were certainly encouraged after the U.S. struck down a resolution that would have thwarted settlement activity for good. In Nablus, Yash Adam settlers attacked a Palestinian-owned farm noon Sunday, chopping down hundreds of olive trees. Other settlers beat up the night before entire families in the Jordan Valley.
Jewish settlers from Yash Adam infiltrated an olive grove between the villages of Qasra and Doma south of Nablus and used saws to cut down 220 trees under protection of other settlers armed with machine guns and automatic weapons.
Locals said the act was aimed at expanding and thus linking isolated settlement outposts by taking Palestinian land.
Palestinian parliamentarians from the Hamas bloc called on the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas to shoulder its responsibilities and protect the Palestinian people and their property from settler mischief.
In a statement they said the attacks were supported by the U.S. veto used to strike down a resolution condemning settlement construction in the West Bank as illegal. They said continued peace talks with Israel were also to blame.
One night earlier, Jews from the Maskiot settlement stormed the Wadi al-Halwa area and assaulted locals.
They threatened to kill the family of Sati Daraghima if they did not evacuate the land and assaulted his wife, witnesses said.
The assailants apparently had sights set on annexing that area to their settlement.
Earlier settlers flooded the area's streets shouting anti-Arab slogans and demanding they leave and not graze in the region.
The incident was witnessed by the Israel army, which has mapped the area as a closed military zone.
Eyewitness told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that dozens of armed Jewish savages brutally attacked a Palestinian young man called Mohamed Al-Rajbi who sustained different bruises all over his body and was transferred to hospital.
They added that settlers also attacked three homes belonging to Assalaymeh family and another house owned by Fakhouri family and smashed their windows after they failed to break into them.
In a separate incident, Israeli troops and settlers physically attacked last night a number of Palestinian natives on Al-Wad street in the old city of occupied Jerusalem which triggered scuffles between the two sides.
Eyewitnesses said that some Israeli soldiers intercepted a Palestinian citizen and embarked on beating him with no reason which prompted other Palestinians in the scene to help him before a group of Jewish setters and border guards joined the fight and attacked all Palestinians randomly.
Consequently, Five Palestinians were badly injured in this assault, according to the eyewitnesses.
For its part, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that Israeli soldiers kidnapped three Palestinian citizens at dawn Sunday during raids on homes in the West Bank, claiming they were wanted.
Israelis chop down 220 olive trees envisioning settlement expansion
Jewish settlers in the West Bank were certainly encouraged after the U.S. struck down a resolution that would have thwarted settlement activity for good. In Nablus, Yash Adam settlers attacked a Palestinian-owned farm noon Sunday, chopping down hundreds of olive trees. Other settlers beat up the night before entire families in the Jordan Valley.
Jewish settlers from Yash Adam infiltrated an olive grove between the villages of Qasra and Doma south of Nablus and used saws to cut down 220 trees under protection of other settlers armed with machine guns and automatic weapons.
Locals said the act was aimed at expanding and thus linking isolated settlement outposts by taking Palestinian land.
Palestinian parliamentarians from the Hamas bloc called on the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas to shoulder its responsibilities and protect the Palestinian people and their property from settler mischief.
In a statement they said the attacks were supported by the U.S. veto used to strike down a resolution condemning settlement construction in the West Bank as illegal. They said continued peace talks with Israel were also to blame.
One night earlier, Jews from the Maskiot settlement stormed the Wadi al-Halwa area and assaulted locals.
They threatened to kill the family of Sati Daraghima if they did not evacuate the land and assaulted his wife, witnesses said.
The assailants apparently had sights set on annexing that area to their settlement.
Earlier settlers flooded the area's streets shouting anti-Arab slogans and demanding they leave and not graze in the region.
The incident was witnessed by the Israel army, which has mapped the area as a closed military zone.
19 feb 2011
Report: Israel sold 1,400 West Bank, J'lem settlement homes in 2010
The Israeli Ministry of Housing sold 1,400 to settlers in East Jerusalem and the West Bank in 2010, a Palestinian researcher inside 1948- occupied Palestine said in a report on Saturday.
According to data gathered by Attorney Qais Nasser, a lecturer in planning, most of the units were sold in Modi'in (668), Har Homa (319), Ma'ale Adumim (101), Beitar Illit (126) and Givat Ze'ev (78).
The report says houses sold that year constitute 35 per cent of the total houses sold by the Housing Ministry.
Nasser warned that the ministry is working to build and market around 5,000 new settlement units in Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as develop structural plans to build around 3,300 new homes in Har Homa, Homat Shamuel, Ramot and Ramat Shlomo in Jerusalem.
Report: Israel sold 1,400 West Bank, J'lem settlement homes in 2010
The Israeli Ministry of Housing sold 1,400 to settlers in East Jerusalem and the West Bank in 2010, a Palestinian researcher inside 1948- occupied Palestine said in a report on Saturday.
According to data gathered by Attorney Qais Nasser, a lecturer in planning, most of the units were sold in Modi'in (668), Har Homa (319), Ma'ale Adumim (101), Beitar Illit (126) and Givat Ze'ev (78).
The report says houses sold that year constitute 35 per cent of the total houses sold by the Housing Ministry.
Nasser warned that the ministry is working to build and market around 5,000 new settlement units in Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as develop structural plans to build around 3,300 new homes in Har Homa, Homat Shamuel, Ramot and Ramat Shlomo in Jerusalem.
18 feb 2011
West Bank city of Hebron, in 2008
Court ruled in the past that the wishes of the owners should be taken into account in deciding the use of the properties, but rejected compensating owners of property from before establishment of Israel.
The Jewish community in Hebron celebrated this week the decision of Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar to fund Jewish heritage trips for students to the city's Tomb of the Patriarchs.
But last week, the community suffered a setback when the Supreme Court ruled that Jews could not be given property which belonged to them in the city before 1948, and that they are also not entitled to be given any compensation for it.
Since the re-establishment of Jewish settlement in Hebron in 1968, settlers there have repeatedly demanded the return of Jewish properties abandoned after the War of Independence.
The assets are extensive and include properties in the market area, at the Beit Hadassah compound, Beit Romano, Beit Hizkiya, Tel Rumeida and a plot nearby.
Abandoned Jewish property had been used in the past to establish a Jewish settlement in the city. The neighborhoods of Avraham Avinu, Beit Hadassah and Tel Rumeida were built this way.
The Supreme Court ruled in the past that the wishes of the owners should be taken into account in deciding the use of the properties, but rejected petitions to restore it to its owners.
In 1948, following the Jordanian occupation of the city, the properties were handed over to a Jordanian caretaker whose function was to deal with enemy properties.
The Jordanians razed large portions of the Jewish Quarter and in the 1960s King Hussein built up the market complex.
In 1967, then-Defense Minister Moshe Dayan decided to continue the functioning of the office of the Jordanian caretaker, which now functions under the Civil Administration.
Only a small portion of Jewish-owned properties in the West Bank have been returned to their owners.
In 1997 the state decided that the matter would be decided in an agreement between the Civil Administration and the Jews claiming them. One of them was Yossi Ezra, from Jerusalem. His family was the last one to leave Hebron in 1947, the day after the UN decided on the partition plan.
Most Jews fled the city in 1929 following a massacre of 66 members of the community. Ezra is now in a legal battle to receive back the home of his parents, near the Avraham Avinu neighborhood close to the market.
It is not abandoned property but property that was taken away, he said.
The issue of Jewish properties in Hebron is also at the center of another petition to the High Court, filed by two Palestinians and Peace Now. The Palestinians had shops in the market that were closed down after 29 Muslims were gunned down at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in 1994. Some of the shop areas were used to expand Jewish homes and the Palestinians want the settlers removed and their property rights returned.
http://bit.ly/eHKoIH
Court ruled in the past that the wishes of the owners should be taken into account in deciding the use of the properties, but rejected compensating owners of property from before establishment of Israel.
The Jewish community in Hebron celebrated this week the decision of Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar to fund Jewish heritage trips for students to the city's Tomb of the Patriarchs.
But last week, the community suffered a setback when the Supreme Court ruled that Jews could not be given property which belonged to them in the city before 1948, and that they are also not entitled to be given any compensation for it.
Since the re-establishment of Jewish settlement in Hebron in 1968, settlers there have repeatedly demanded the return of Jewish properties abandoned after the War of Independence.
The assets are extensive and include properties in the market area, at the Beit Hadassah compound, Beit Romano, Beit Hizkiya, Tel Rumeida and a plot nearby.
Abandoned Jewish property had been used in the past to establish a Jewish settlement in the city. The neighborhoods of Avraham Avinu, Beit Hadassah and Tel Rumeida were built this way.
The Supreme Court ruled in the past that the wishes of the owners should be taken into account in deciding the use of the properties, but rejected petitions to restore it to its owners.
In 1948, following the Jordanian occupation of the city, the properties were handed over to a Jordanian caretaker whose function was to deal with enemy properties.
The Jordanians razed large portions of the Jewish Quarter and in the 1960s King Hussein built up the market complex.
In 1967, then-Defense Minister Moshe Dayan decided to continue the functioning of the office of the Jordanian caretaker, which now functions under the Civil Administration.
Only a small portion of Jewish-owned properties in the West Bank have been returned to their owners.
In 1997 the state decided that the matter would be decided in an agreement between the Civil Administration and the Jews claiming them. One of them was Yossi Ezra, from Jerusalem. His family was the last one to leave Hebron in 1947, the day after the UN decided on the partition plan.
Most Jews fled the city in 1929 following a massacre of 66 members of the community. Ezra is now in a legal battle to receive back the home of his parents, near the Avraham Avinu neighborhood close to the market.
It is not abandoned property but property that was taken away, he said.
The issue of Jewish properties in Hebron is also at the center of another petition to the High Court, filed by two Palestinians and Peace Now. The Palestinians had shops in the market that were closed down after 29 Muslims were gunned down at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in 1994. Some of the shop areas were used to expand Jewish homes and the Palestinians want the settlers removed and their property rights returned.
http://bit.ly/eHKoIH
16 feb 2011
Settlers shot and injured a Palestinian teenager near the West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday, Palestinian Authority officials said.
Residents of the illegal Kida settlement shot Wa'el Mahmud Ayed, 17, in his abdomen as he plowed his land near Jalud village, said Ghassan Doughlas, who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank.
Doughlas said Ayed was transferred to the Rafidia Hospital in Nablus.
Report: Settler violence not probed
Rights group report shows 91% of Palestinian complaints end without indictments. 'People who lack rights under our rule are abandoned to their fates, and this carries both moral and legal consequences,' says Yesh Din legal advisor. Police: We're looking into report's findings.
An Israeli human rights organization released a report Wednesday saying that 91% of cases in which Palestinians complain of violent acts against them are closed without indictments.
Yesh Din organization presented in its report cases which have been under its charge from 2005 until today, in which Israelis were accused of behaving violently towards Palestinian residents of the West Bank. It found that less than 10% of these cases ended with an indictment.
Most of the cases in which Palestinians complained of physical violence against them or property damage by Israelis were closed due to lack of evidence or police inability to track down suspects, Yesh Din says.
The report provides data showing that 488 of the 539 cases, or 91%, filed by Yesh Din were closed without indictments. In 315 cases, police cited "assailant unknown" as the reason for this and in 33 cases "no criminal culpableness" was found.
One of these cases was filed in 2009 by a Palestinian who claimed three men attacked him, two of them masked. He said they beat him with sticks and axe-handles, after which he was taken to a Qalqilya hospital and then filed a report with Ariel Police.
Yesh Din says the Palestinian provided a description of the unmasked man and subsequently recognized him in a lineup. However the suspect was not interrogated by police and the case was closed and filed under "assailant unknown" less than a month later.
An appeal filed by the organization caused the court to reopen the case and order police to investigate once more.
Attorney Michael Sfard, Yesh Din's legal advisor, called the police's failure to protect West Bank residents "a mark of Cain upon the brow of Israeli society".
"The data show that the people who lack rights under our rule are abandoned to their fates, and this fact has both moral and legal consequences," Sfard said.
Police refrained from issuing a response and said they were looking into the report's findings. Regarding the case cited by Yesh Din, police stated that the suspect was not identified beyond a doubt in the lineup, and that despite this they had summoned him for questioning.
Jewish settlers fire at villagers, wound one
Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian villagers in Jalud village, southeast of Nablus city, on Tuesday evening moderately wounding one of them after opening gunfire in the attack, eyewitnesses reported.
They said that the settlers were hiding in the fields and fired at the young farmers who were tending to their land, adding that Wa'el Obad was hit with a bullet in his abdomen.
Medical sources in Rafidia hospital in Nablus, where Obad was being treated, said that his condition was stable.
Jalud village is surrounded by four Jewish settlements and is the target of systematic attacks by settlers.
Residents of the illegal Kida settlement shot Wa'el Mahmud Ayed, 17, in his abdomen as he plowed his land near Jalud village, said Ghassan Doughlas, who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank.
Doughlas said Ayed was transferred to the Rafidia Hospital in Nablus.
Report: Settler violence not probed
Rights group report shows 91% of Palestinian complaints end without indictments. 'People who lack rights under our rule are abandoned to their fates, and this carries both moral and legal consequences,' says Yesh Din legal advisor. Police: We're looking into report's findings.
An Israeli human rights organization released a report Wednesday saying that 91% of cases in which Palestinians complain of violent acts against them are closed without indictments.
Yesh Din organization presented in its report cases which have been under its charge from 2005 until today, in which Israelis were accused of behaving violently towards Palestinian residents of the West Bank. It found that less than 10% of these cases ended with an indictment.
Most of the cases in which Palestinians complained of physical violence against them or property damage by Israelis were closed due to lack of evidence or police inability to track down suspects, Yesh Din says.
The report provides data showing that 488 of the 539 cases, or 91%, filed by Yesh Din were closed without indictments. In 315 cases, police cited "assailant unknown" as the reason for this and in 33 cases "no criminal culpableness" was found.
One of these cases was filed in 2009 by a Palestinian who claimed three men attacked him, two of them masked. He said they beat him with sticks and axe-handles, after which he was taken to a Qalqilya hospital and then filed a report with Ariel Police.
Yesh Din says the Palestinian provided a description of the unmasked man and subsequently recognized him in a lineup. However the suspect was not interrogated by police and the case was closed and filed under "assailant unknown" less than a month later.
An appeal filed by the organization caused the court to reopen the case and order police to investigate once more.
Attorney Michael Sfard, Yesh Din's legal advisor, called the police's failure to protect West Bank residents "a mark of Cain upon the brow of Israeli society".
"The data show that the people who lack rights under our rule are abandoned to their fates, and this fact has both moral and legal consequences," Sfard said.
Police refrained from issuing a response and said they were looking into the report's findings. Regarding the case cited by Yesh Din, police stated that the suspect was not identified beyond a doubt in the lineup, and that despite this they had summoned him for questioning.
Jewish settlers fire at villagers, wound one
Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian villagers in Jalud village, southeast of Nablus city, on Tuesday evening moderately wounding one of them after opening gunfire in the attack, eyewitnesses reported.
They said that the settlers were hiding in the fields and fired at the young farmers who were tending to their land, adding that Wa'el Obad was hit with a bullet in his abdomen.
Medical sources in Rafidia hospital in Nablus, where Obad was being treated, said that his condition was stable.
Jalud village is surrounded by four Jewish settlements and is the target of systematic attacks by settlers.
