31 mar 2012
Jewish settlers attack Palestinian farmer and his children
Jewish settlers attack Palestinian farmer and his children
Jewish settlers attacked a 67-year-old Palestinian farmer while tending to his field along with his family in Beit Ummar, to the north of Al-Khalil, on Saturday morning.
Mohammed Awad, the coordinator of the popular committee in Beit Ummar, told Quds Press that Mohammed Salibi, 67, was tending to his farm along with his sons and daughters when suddenly dozens of masked settlers from the nearby settlement of Beit Ayin ran toward them while throwing rocks.
He said that he rushed to protect his children, who were panicked, and took them away to their home leaving his tractor behind.
Salibi said that the savage attack progressed under the very eyes of the Israeli occupation soldiers (IOF), who maintain constant presence in the area and occupy high watchtowers that enable them watch whatever is going on nearby but did not move to protect him or his family.
Elsewhere in Al-Khalil, IOF soldiers kidnapped a Palestinian shepherd near Susiya settlement while watching for his sheep that were grazing nearby.
Ratib Al-Jibour, the coordinator of the popular committee in Yatta town, said that an IOF unit kidnapped Hammad Nawaja, 33, after claiming that he tried to cut the barbed wire near the settlement.
Jibour noted that Nawaja’s brother was arrested by IOF soldiers ten days ago in a bid to pressure this family and force them and Palestinians in the area to abandon their land and allow room for the settlement to expand.
4 hospitalized after settler attack near Ramallah
Four Palestinians were hospitalized in the northern West Bank after they were attacked by Israeli settlers near Ramallah on Saturday, locals told Ma'an.
Salfit residents said the two men and two women were picking tumbleweed near Mikhmas junction outside Ramallah, when a group of young Israelis approached them.
The settlers beat the group with batons and metal chains, locals said.
-- Raja Sabri Al-Zeer, whose right arm and left fingers were broken, will undergo surgery in Salfit hospital, medics said.
-- Ahmad Moharram Al-Zeer, who suffered head injuries,
-- Lamya Fathi Hussain Al-Zeer, who was severely bruised, and
-- Hasan Saleem Al-Aridi who suffered medium bruising, were also transferred to the hospital.
Also on Saturday, a Palestinian farmer from Beit Ummar and his family were pelted with stones by masked Israelis from a nearby settlement on Saturday, a local spokesman said.
Settler violence against Palestinians is on the rise. In 2011, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that settler attacks had increased by 50 percent over the previous year.
Jewish settlers assault Jerusalemite in light rail
Jewish settlers attacked a Palestinian Jerusalemite from Shufat refugee camp in the Jerusalem light rail on Friday evening.
Hebrew press said that the youth was beaten by a wooden board in one of the light rail carriages and that he was hospitalized.
The press did not identify the settlers, but added that the young man suffered wounds in the assault.
29 mar 2012
Settlers take up residence in Hebron house
Several dozen settlers move into property located near Cave of Patriarchs; say they have legal ownership. Palestinian owner detained by PA police.
Several dozen settlers have taken up residence in a Hebron house overnight, claiming they purchased it from its Palestinian owner.
Sources in Hebron said that the owner of the house, which is located near the Cave of the Patriarchs, was detained for questioning by the Palestinian police.
As soon as news of the move reached the defense establishment, large IDF forces arrived as the scene to maintain the order. No unusual events were noted on the premises overnight.
The IDF declared the immediate premises a restricted military zone. Military sources told Ynet that the land in question has been at the center of an ownership dispute.
The IDF said that the move constitutes "an irresponsible move and a dangerous provocation that may inflame spirits, especially ahead of Lad day."
Settlers have been buying up land and property in Hebron for several years now, with many of the purchases contested in court.
Sources familiar with Wednesday night's event told Ynet that the "operation was carried out in military fashion," adding that no one but the new tenants knew about the plan.
The settlers claim that they have all the legal documents attesting to the purchase of what has been dubbed the "Machpelah House."
Senior officers with the Judea and Samaria Spatial Brigade are currently looking into the purchase's legality.
Shlomo Levinger, one of the new owners, told Ynet: "This is very exciting. It's taken us years but we have finally been able to buy a house near the Cave of the Patriarchs.
"The police have decided not to allow anyone in until a decision on the property is made by higher-ranking officers," he added. "We were told that anyone who wants to leave may do so, but no one can go it. Naturally, we're not going anywhere."
MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union) commented on the event, saying: "It's time to reclaim all of the homes taken by the enemies in the City of the Fathers.
"The rule of law must allow for the most basic thing – to let Jews retune to the dozens of Hebron homes that belong to the Jewish community."
Settlers Seize House Near Ibrahim Mosque in Hebron
On Thursday, March 29, Yediot Ahranot Israeli newspaper published on its website that settlers seized one of the Palestinian houses in Hebron City near Ibrahim Mosque (Mosque of Abraham), under the pretext that they have bought it from its Palestinian owners.
The Director General of Hebron Rehabilitation Committee Mr. Imad Hamdan told PNN "Settlers always claim that they are the owners of the houses they seize, but have they got any papers that prove it?"
"About 20 Settlers broke into the house at dawn. Yet, their claims are invalid and the Palestinian owners complained to the legal unit in Hebron Rehabilitation Committee," said Hamdan, "we are working on this issue until settlers get out of the house."
Hebron's police chief, Ramadan Awad, said that settlers showed illegal and fake documents and the Palestinian police had interrogated the Palestinian owners to make sure settlers won't sell the house.
According to the newspaper, senior officials from the Israeli army reached the area and started an investigation about this issue and interrogated the settlers and the Palestinian owner to determine the house's ownership.
Sources from Yediot Ahranot newspaper also assured that settlers will stay in the house as long as the investigation continues.
Settlers expressed their happiness for seizing the house that is few meters away from the Ibrahim mosque, noting that they are so proud and confirms the Jews right to live in Hebron, as its original citizens since 4000 years, as Shlomo Levinger one of the extremist settlers leaders claimed.
Knesset members expressed their happiness that settlers broke into the house; the member of the Knesset Michael Ben-Ari said that the Jews have the right to return to their original houses in Hebron, because those are the houses of their ancestors as he described in his racist statements.
Jewish Settlers Takeover Building in Hebron
A group of Jewish settlers Thursday broke into an abandoned building located less than a kilometer away from the Ibrahimi mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs) in the southern West Bank city of Hebron and took it over claiming they have documents proving ownership of the building, according to local residents.
They told WAFA that settlers broke into the three story building owned by Taleb Abu Rajab in the early hours.
Israeli army and police surrounded the building and prevented its owners who gathered in front of it from entering it claiming they were waiting for proof of ownership from the settlers and the owners before they decide on the next move.
Settlers normally use forged documents obtained from land dealers to prove ownership of Palestinian property.
Jewish settlers terrorize Palestinian family, seize their house in Al-Khalil
Fanatic Jewish settlers seized by force a Palestinian house in the old city of Al-Khalil near the Ibrahimi Mosque under heavy military and police protection.
Local sources reported that dozens of Jewish settlers stormed at one o'clock after midnight the top two floors of the house which is owned by two brothers Amran and Ali Abu Rajab.
They noted that Ali and his family are staying in the first floor, while the upper floors were not used by his brother for a while.
The sources added that dozens of extremist settlers brought their children into the house in order to prevent any attempt to evacuate them, while Israeli troops encircled the house and barred Palestinian citizens from approaching to fend off the settlers.
The family of Ali is now stranded in the house and cannot leave lest the settlers come down to take over the rest of the house.
Settlers Expand Illegal Outpost in Nablus
Israeli settlers Thursday added four mobile homes to an illegal settlement outpost east of Yanoun, a village southeast of Nablus, according to a local activist.
Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of settlements file in the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, told WAFA that Israeli settlers also detained four Palestinian shepherds near the village.
Settlers intensified their presence around settlements across Nablus governorate after the Palestinian municipality of Nablus announced it will plow the land around settlements on the eve of Land Day.
28 mar 2012
Soldiers, Settlers, Break Into The Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound
The Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage issued a press release on Wednesday morning stating that dozens of Israeli soldiers and fundamentalist settlers broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound through the Al-Magharba Gate and provoked local Muslim worshipers.
The Foundation said that the incident led to tension in the mosque area especially as the soldiers were heavily deployed with their guns around the mosque while the armed settlers provoked several residents before performing prayers in and around the mosque.
It added that "three groups of extremist settlers, and dozens of fully uniformed and armed Israeli soldiers, started the invasion at 7:30a.m., and that the total number of soldiers and settlers who conducted the attack was more than a hundred".
The Foundation called on the Arab and Islamic nations, and the International Community, to intervene and stop the illegal violations carried out by the soldiers and extremist settler groups against the Palestinians and their holy sites.
Several Palestinians were recently injured, some seriously, during numerous assaults carried out by armed fundamentalist settlers against the Palestinians, their homes and lands, in the occupied Palestinian territories.
On Tuesday, a Palestinian youth was shot in his leg by a fundamentalist Israeli settler in the Old City of Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank. His condition was described as moderate due to significant blood loss.
Council: Settlers assault north Jordan Valley village
Israeli settlers entered a Palestinian village in the northern Jordan Valley on Tuesday night, taking down tents and assaulting residents, the village council said.
Al-Maleh village Hani Foqaha said four Israelis violently searched his house overnight, disrupting his belongings.
The village council warned that residents of nearby Israeli settlements regularly tour the mountains of the village, causing violent confrontations.
Israeli settlers protest re-opening of road to Palestinian village
After the Israeli military re-opened the road to Beit Dajan, near Nablus, on Tuesday, a group of several dozen Israeli settlers gathered Wednesday at the entrance to the Palestinian village, many armed with automatic weapons, to block the Palestinian villagers from using the newly-reopened road.
The road had been closed by the Israeli military for the past 12 years, which compelled the villagers to take a difficult, circuitous route in order to reach the city of Nablus.
According to local sources, the fence which was put in place by the Israeli military to maintain the closure remains in place, and has not been dismantled. So when the settlers arrived in a dozen vehicles on Wednesday morning, they simply had to close the gate on the fence to lock the villagers in once again.
After a call from the Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Settlement Relations to the Israeli military, some soldiers arrived and told the settlers to re-open the gate. No clashes were reported between the soldiers and the settlers.
Local news agency Ma’an News reported that the settlers were residents of Itamar and Elon Moreh settlements, two illegal Israeli settlements constructed on stolen Palestinian land in the Nablus area.
27 mar 2012
Hebron teen 'shot by Israeli settler'
An Israeli settler shot an 18-year-old Palestinian in Hebron's Old City on Tuesday morning, leaving him moderately injured, locals said.
Medics at Al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron said Muhammad Hisham Abu Aker was shot in his right leg and is undergoing surgery.
On Saturday, a Palestinian man was moderately injured when armed settlers stormed Burqa village east of Ramallah and attempted to vandalize property, witnesses said. Hassan Muatan, 40, was shot in the abdomen, they said.
Settler violence is on the rise. In 2011, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that settler attacks had increased by 50 percent over the previous year.
Around 800 Jewish settlers live in Hebron's Old City, among 30,000 Palestinians in the parts of the ancient city that are under Israeli control.
Migron’s Palestinian neighbors waiting to see if they get land back
Migron’s Palestinian neighbors waiting to see if they get land back.
High Court rejects compromise between government and settlers - evacuation set for August 1.
Residents of the West Bank village of Burqa are waiting for "real results" before celebrating this week's High Court of Justice ruling ordering the demolition of the Migron outpost, which Burqa residents say was built on land owned by Palestinians in their village.
In its ruling, the High Court rejected a compromise between the government and the settlers that would have delayed the evacuation of Migron, which the court had previously said must take place by the end of this month. The evacuation is now set for August 1.
"It's not the first time the High Court of Justice has ordered the eviction of settlers from our land," said Abdel Mun'im Ma'atan, who was one of the petitioners in the court case. "For the time being, everything is on paper, but we want to see real results, on the ground."
Ma'atan said he hoped the coming months would be calm but that it was too early to make plans for the land on which Migron has been located for more than a decade.
Abdel Kader Sumarin, who heads the Burqa village council, was cautiously optimistic.
"We hope this time the state enforces [the ruling] and that our children will be able to enjoy the use of the land," he said. "But based on past experience, it's understandable that people are skeptical and wary."
Sumarin and Ma'atan got angry when confronted with the settlers' contention that the villagers have not proven their ownership of the land on which Migron was built.
The ownership of the land was recorded in the land registry by Jordanian authorities before the Six-Day War, Sumarin said.
"We proved in court that no one sold their plot," he said, adding that the settlers' claim that the land was purchased by Israelis was based on forged documents.
Shlomo Zecharia, one of the lawyers who represented Peace Now and the Burqa villagers before the High Court, said there was no factual or legal basis to the contention that Palestinians had abandoned the land on which Migron was built. Settlers have argued both that they purchased the land and that it was abandoned.
Burqa residents said any joy they might have felt over the ruling was dampened by an attack on Saturday, in which they say Israeli Jews threw stones at three village residents who were tending livestock at the time.
One Burqa resident, a relative of Ma'atan, was injured by shrapnel during clashes with the Israelis, eyewitnesses told an investigator for B'Tselem, which investigates human rights violations in the West Bank.
Burqa residents said the stone throwing began about 9:30 A.M. on Saturday and that the shooting took place after several young village residents threw stones back at the Israelis.
Witnesses said at least one of the Israelis was armed.
Israel Defense Forces troops arrived on the scene about an hour after the clashes began and separated the two sides, witnesses said.
The IDF said it was investigating a report that a Palestinian was injured in a clash with settlers.
Several months ago, a mosque was set alight in Burqa. No suspects have been arrested.
26 mar 2012
Israel: Supreme Court rules against illegal outpost
Mohammed Awad, the coordinator of the popular committee in Beit Ummar, told Quds Press that Mohammed Salibi, 67, was tending to his farm along with his sons and daughters when suddenly dozens of masked settlers from the nearby settlement of Beit Ayin ran toward them while throwing rocks.
He said that he rushed to protect his children, who were panicked, and took them away to their home leaving his tractor behind.
Salibi said that the savage attack progressed under the very eyes of the Israeli occupation soldiers (IOF), who maintain constant presence in the area and occupy high watchtowers that enable them watch whatever is going on nearby but did not move to protect him or his family.
Elsewhere in Al-Khalil, IOF soldiers kidnapped a Palestinian shepherd near Susiya settlement while watching for his sheep that were grazing nearby.
Ratib Al-Jibour, the coordinator of the popular committee in Yatta town, said that an IOF unit kidnapped Hammad Nawaja, 33, after claiming that he tried to cut the barbed wire near the settlement.
Jibour noted that Nawaja’s brother was arrested by IOF soldiers ten days ago in a bid to pressure this family and force them and Palestinians in the area to abandon their land and allow room for the settlement to expand.
4 hospitalized after settler attack near Ramallah
Four Palestinians were hospitalized in the northern West Bank after they were attacked by Israeli settlers near Ramallah on Saturday, locals told Ma'an.
Salfit residents said the two men and two women were picking tumbleweed near Mikhmas junction outside Ramallah, when a group of young Israelis approached them.
The settlers beat the group with batons and metal chains, locals said.
-- Raja Sabri Al-Zeer, whose right arm and left fingers were broken, will undergo surgery in Salfit hospital, medics said.
-- Ahmad Moharram Al-Zeer, who suffered head injuries,
-- Lamya Fathi Hussain Al-Zeer, who was severely bruised, and
-- Hasan Saleem Al-Aridi who suffered medium bruising, were also transferred to the hospital.
Also on Saturday, a Palestinian farmer from Beit Ummar and his family were pelted with stones by masked Israelis from a nearby settlement on Saturday, a local spokesman said.
Settler violence against Palestinians is on the rise. In 2011, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that settler attacks had increased by 50 percent over the previous year.
Jewish settlers assault Jerusalemite in light rail
Jewish settlers attacked a Palestinian Jerusalemite from Shufat refugee camp in the Jerusalem light rail on Friday evening.
Hebrew press said that the youth was beaten by a wooden board in one of the light rail carriages and that he was hospitalized.
The press did not identify the settlers, but added that the young man suffered wounds in the assault.
29 mar 2012
Settlers take up residence in Hebron house
Several dozen settlers move into property located near Cave of Patriarchs; say they have legal ownership. Palestinian owner detained by PA police.
Several dozen settlers have taken up residence in a Hebron house overnight, claiming they purchased it from its Palestinian owner.
Sources in Hebron said that the owner of the house, which is located near the Cave of the Patriarchs, was detained for questioning by the Palestinian police.
As soon as news of the move reached the defense establishment, large IDF forces arrived as the scene to maintain the order. No unusual events were noted on the premises overnight.
The IDF declared the immediate premises a restricted military zone. Military sources told Ynet that the land in question has been at the center of an ownership dispute.
The IDF said that the move constitutes "an irresponsible move and a dangerous provocation that may inflame spirits, especially ahead of Lad day."
Settlers have been buying up land and property in Hebron for several years now, with many of the purchases contested in court.
Sources familiar with Wednesday night's event told Ynet that the "operation was carried out in military fashion," adding that no one but the new tenants knew about the plan.
The settlers claim that they have all the legal documents attesting to the purchase of what has been dubbed the "Machpelah House."
Senior officers with the Judea and Samaria Spatial Brigade are currently looking into the purchase's legality.
Shlomo Levinger, one of the new owners, told Ynet: "This is very exciting. It's taken us years but we have finally been able to buy a house near the Cave of the Patriarchs.
"The police have decided not to allow anyone in until a decision on the property is made by higher-ranking officers," he added. "We were told that anyone who wants to leave may do so, but no one can go it. Naturally, we're not going anywhere."
MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union) commented on the event, saying: "It's time to reclaim all of the homes taken by the enemies in the City of the Fathers.
"The rule of law must allow for the most basic thing – to let Jews retune to the dozens of Hebron homes that belong to the Jewish community."
Settlers Seize House Near Ibrahim Mosque in Hebron
On Thursday, March 29, Yediot Ahranot Israeli newspaper published on its website that settlers seized one of the Palestinian houses in Hebron City near Ibrahim Mosque (Mosque of Abraham), under the pretext that they have bought it from its Palestinian owners.
The Director General of Hebron Rehabilitation Committee Mr. Imad Hamdan told PNN "Settlers always claim that they are the owners of the houses they seize, but have they got any papers that prove it?"
"About 20 Settlers broke into the house at dawn. Yet, their claims are invalid and the Palestinian owners complained to the legal unit in Hebron Rehabilitation Committee," said Hamdan, "we are working on this issue until settlers get out of the house."
Hebron's police chief, Ramadan Awad, said that settlers showed illegal and fake documents and the Palestinian police had interrogated the Palestinian owners to make sure settlers won't sell the house.
According to the newspaper, senior officials from the Israeli army reached the area and started an investigation about this issue and interrogated the settlers and the Palestinian owner to determine the house's ownership.
Sources from Yediot Ahranot newspaper also assured that settlers will stay in the house as long as the investigation continues.
Settlers expressed their happiness for seizing the house that is few meters away from the Ibrahim mosque, noting that they are so proud and confirms the Jews right to live in Hebron, as its original citizens since 4000 years, as Shlomo Levinger one of the extremist settlers leaders claimed.
Knesset members expressed their happiness that settlers broke into the house; the member of the Knesset Michael Ben-Ari said that the Jews have the right to return to their original houses in Hebron, because those are the houses of their ancestors as he described in his racist statements.
Jewish Settlers Takeover Building in Hebron
A group of Jewish settlers Thursday broke into an abandoned building located less than a kilometer away from the Ibrahimi mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs) in the southern West Bank city of Hebron and took it over claiming they have documents proving ownership of the building, according to local residents.
They told WAFA that settlers broke into the three story building owned by Taleb Abu Rajab in the early hours.
Israeli army and police surrounded the building and prevented its owners who gathered in front of it from entering it claiming they were waiting for proof of ownership from the settlers and the owners before they decide on the next move.
Settlers normally use forged documents obtained from land dealers to prove ownership of Palestinian property.
Jewish settlers terrorize Palestinian family, seize their house in Al-Khalil
Fanatic Jewish settlers seized by force a Palestinian house in the old city of Al-Khalil near the Ibrahimi Mosque under heavy military and police protection.
Local sources reported that dozens of Jewish settlers stormed at one o'clock after midnight the top two floors of the house which is owned by two brothers Amran and Ali Abu Rajab.
They noted that Ali and his family are staying in the first floor, while the upper floors were not used by his brother for a while.
The sources added that dozens of extremist settlers brought their children into the house in order to prevent any attempt to evacuate them, while Israeli troops encircled the house and barred Palestinian citizens from approaching to fend off the settlers.
The family of Ali is now stranded in the house and cannot leave lest the settlers come down to take over the rest of the house.
Settlers Expand Illegal Outpost in Nablus
Israeli settlers Thursday added four mobile homes to an illegal settlement outpost east of Yanoun, a village southeast of Nablus, according to a local activist.
Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of settlements file in the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the West Bank, told WAFA that Israeli settlers also detained four Palestinian shepherds near the village.
Settlers intensified their presence around settlements across Nablus governorate after the Palestinian municipality of Nablus announced it will plow the land around settlements on the eve of Land Day.
28 mar 2012
Soldiers, Settlers, Break Into The Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound
The Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage issued a press release on Wednesday morning stating that dozens of Israeli soldiers and fundamentalist settlers broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound through the Al-Magharba Gate and provoked local Muslim worshipers.
The Foundation said that the incident led to tension in the mosque area especially as the soldiers were heavily deployed with their guns around the mosque while the armed settlers provoked several residents before performing prayers in and around the mosque.
It added that "three groups of extremist settlers, and dozens of fully uniformed and armed Israeli soldiers, started the invasion at 7:30a.m., and that the total number of soldiers and settlers who conducted the attack was more than a hundred".
The Foundation called on the Arab and Islamic nations, and the International Community, to intervene and stop the illegal violations carried out by the soldiers and extremist settler groups against the Palestinians and their holy sites.
Several Palestinians were recently injured, some seriously, during numerous assaults carried out by armed fundamentalist settlers against the Palestinians, their homes and lands, in the occupied Palestinian territories.
On Tuesday, a Palestinian youth was shot in his leg by a fundamentalist Israeli settler in the Old City of Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank. His condition was described as moderate due to significant blood loss.
Council: Settlers assault north Jordan Valley village
Israeli settlers entered a Palestinian village in the northern Jordan Valley on Tuesday night, taking down tents and assaulting residents, the village council said.
Al-Maleh village Hani Foqaha said four Israelis violently searched his house overnight, disrupting his belongings.
The village council warned that residents of nearby Israeli settlements regularly tour the mountains of the village, causing violent confrontations.
Israeli settlers protest re-opening of road to Palestinian village
After the Israeli military re-opened the road to Beit Dajan, near Nablus, on Tuesday, a group of several dozen Israeli settlers gathered Wednesday at the entrance to the Palestinian village, many armed with automatic weapons, to block the Palestinian villagers from using the newly-reopened road.
The road had been closed by the Israeli military for the past 12 years, which compelled the villagers to take a difficult, circuitous route in order to reach the city of Nablus.
According to local sources, the fence which was put in place by the Israeli military to maintain the closure remains in place, and has not been dismantled. So when the settlers arrived in a dozen vehicles on Wednesday morning, they simply had to close the gate on the fence to lock the villagers in once again.
After a call from the Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Settlement Relations to the Israeli military, some soldiers arrived and told the settlers to re-open the gate. No clashes were reported between the soldiers and the settlers.
Local news agency Ma’an News reported that the settlers were residents of Itamar and Elon Moreh settlements, two illegal Israeli settlements constructed on stolen Palestinian land in the Nablus area.
27 mar 2012
Hebron teen 'shot by Israeli settler'
An Israeli settler shot an 18-year-old Palestinian in Hebron's Old City on Tuesday morning, leaving him moderately injured, locals said.
Medics at Al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron said Muhammad Hisham Abu Aker was shot in his right leg and is undergoing surgery.
On Saturday, a Palestinian man was moderately injured when armed settlers stormed Burqa village east of Ramallah and attempted to vandalize property, witnesses said. Hassan Muatan, 40, was shot in the abdomen, they said.
Settler violence is on the rise. In 2011, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that settler attacks had increased by 50 percent over the previous year.
Around 800 Jewish settlers live in Hebron's Old City, among 30,000 Palestinians in the parts of the ancient city that are under Israeli control.
Migron’s Palestinian neighbors waiting to see if they get land back
Migron’s Palestinian neighbors waiting to see if they get land back.
High Court rejects compromise between government and settlers - evacuation set for August 1.
Residents of the West Bank village of Burqa are waiting for "real results" before celebrating this week's High Court of Justice ruling ordering the demolition of the Migron outpost, which Burqa residents say was built on land owned by Palestinians in their village.
In its ruling, the High Court rejected a compromise between the government and the settlers that would have delayed the evacuation of Migron, which the court had previously said must take place by the end of this month. The evacuation is now set for August 1.
"It's not the first time the High Court of Justice has ordered the eviction of settlers from our land," said Abdel Mun'im Ma'atan, who was one of the petitioners in the court case. "For the time being, everything is on paper, but we want to see real results, on the ground."
Ma'atan said he hoped the coming months would be calm but that it was too early to make plans for the land on which Migron has been located for more than a decade.
Abdel Kader Sumarin, who heads the Burqa village council, was cautiously optimistic.
"We hope this time the state enforces [the ruling] and that our children will be able to enjoy the use of the land," he said. "But based on past experience, it's understandable that people are skeptical and wary."
Sumarin and Ma'atan got angry when confronted with the settlers' contention that the villagers have not proven their ownership of the land on which Migron was built.
The ownership of the land was recorded in the land registry by Jordanian authorities before the Six-Day War, Sumarin said.
"We proved in court that no one sold their plot," he said, adding that the settlers' claim that the land was purchased by Israelis was based on forged documents.
Shlomo Zecharia, one of the lawyers who represented Peace Now and the Burqa villagers before the High Court, said there was no factual or legal basis to the contention that Palestinians had abandoned the land on which Migron was built. Settlers have argued both that they purchased the land and that it was abandoned.
Burqa residents said any joy they might have felt over the ruling was dampened by an attack on Saturday, in which they say Israeli Jews threw stones at three village residents who were tending livestock at the time.
One Burqa resident, a relative of Ma'atan, was injured by shrapnel during clashes with the Israelis, eyewitnesses told an investigator for B'Tselem, which investigates human rights violations in the West Bank.
Burqa residents said the stone throwing began about 9:30 A.M. on Saturday and that the shooting took place after several young village residents threw stones back at the Israelis.
Witnesses said at least one of the Israelis was armed.
Israel Defense Forces troops arrived on the scene about an hour after the clashes began and separated the two sides, witnesses said.
The IDF said it was investigating a report that a Palestinian was injured in a clash with settlers.
Several months ago, a mosque was set alight in Burqa. No suspects have been arrested.
26 mar 2012
Israel: Supreme Court rules against illegal outpost
Israel’s Supreme Court has given Jewish settlers until August to evacuate Migron, the biggest illegal outpost in the occupied West Bank.
A government-backed deal would have let them stay on the Palestinian-owned land until 2015. The court dismissed that delay but extended the deadline beyond the end of March when settlers were supposed to leave, under an earlier ruling.
In Tel Aviv, the rights group Peace Now is content: “We are satisfied with the decision of the Supreme Court to reject the deal between the government and the settlers,” said Peace Now’s Director-General Yariv Oppenheimer. “The land of Migron should go back to it’s owners, the Palestinians.”
It is another blow to Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, just days after the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva launched an international investigation into Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories.
Settlers Attack Farmers, Injure One
Jewish settlers Monday attacked Palestinian farmers on the outskirts of Iraq Burin, a village southwest of the nothern West Bank city of Nablus, injuring a farmer in the head, according to an official.
Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors Israeli settlement activities in the northern part of the West Bank, said that settlers attacked farmers while they were plowing their land west of the village, leading to clashes between them and the farmers.
He said a farmer was injured in the head after being hit with a stick by one of the settlers.
Settlers aim to prevent farmers from reaching their lands located far from the village in order to claim it for themselves, he explained.
25 mar 2012
Jewish settlers assault Palestinian farmer
Jewish settlers attacked a Palestinian farmer in Tuwana village near Yatta town, south of Al-Khalil, on Sunday morning, the head of the popular committee in the village said.
Saber Al-Harini told the PIC reporter that the 33-year-old farmer, Mohammed Al-Adra, was injured in his head after the settlers assaulted him while farming his land.
He said that seven armed settlers from the nearby Karma’il settlement outpost tried to prevent the farmer from tending to his land and beat him with batons but ran away when villagers came to his rescue.
24 mar 2012
Medics: Palestinian hurt by settler gunfire
A Palestinian man was shot and injured Saturday during clashes with Israeli settlers who attacked his village in the central West Bank, medical officials said.
Hassan Muatan, 40, was shot in the abdomen after armed settlers stormed the Burqa village east of Ramallah and attempted to vandalize property, witnesses said.
Muatan was evacuated to the Palestine Medical Compound. His wounds were described as moderate.
According to residents of the village, locals confronted the settlers who then opened fire. Security forces also intervened and themselves fired at the villagers, they said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army was aware of the incident but uninvolved.
Settler violence is on the rise. In 2011, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that settler attacks had increased by 50 percent over the previous year.
In a separate development Saturday, settlers uprooted about 85 olive trees in the Bethlehem village of al-Khader, the local anti-wall committee reported.
In 2011, around 10,000 Palestinian-owned trees were destroyed by settlers, OCHA says.
Committee: Settlers uproot 85 olive trees near Bethlehem
Settlers uprooted dozens of olive trees in the Bethlehem village of al-Khader on Saturday, a local anti-separation wall committee said.
The group of Israelis destroyed 85 olive trees in a field belonging to Khader Ali Au Ghalyoun, committee coordinator Ahmad Salah told Ma'an.
The settlers, according to Salah, have been illegally living on hilltop called Ein el-Qassis for more than ten years, during which time they have committed multiple assaults on local farmers.
Settler attacks in the West Bank against Palestinians increased by more than 50 percent in 2011, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
In 2011, around 10,000 Palestinian owned trees were destroyed by settlers, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said that there were no reports of the incident.
23 mar 2012
Settlers Break into Building in Hebron
On Friday, March 23, an "enormous" group of settlers raided a building in B'ir al-Sabe' street in Hebron, south of the West Bank.
Eyewitnesses said that around 1000 settlers raided a building near the main street in the middle of the city, after the Israeli soldiers completely closed it.
The Israeli soldiers hindered the Palestinian citizens' movement and evacuated the street from the taxi cars that transfer the citizens to and from Hebron villages and city.
The settlers call the house "the tomb of Atnaúal bin Gunar" and they consider it a Jewish shrine. This is not the first time they raided the building, as they always break into it, under the protection of the Israeli army, to perform their religious rituals. Many years ago, Settlers seized the building that belonged to one of the Arab families.
22 mar 2012
Jewish settlers storm Nablus under PA-Israeli military protection
Hundreds of Jewish settlers along with one Israeli minister stormed Thursday evening under military protection Nablus city to perform alleged religious rituals inside Joseph's Tomb.
Local sources said that in coordination with the Palestinian authority security forces, hundreds of settlers escorted by troops were allowed to enter Nablus, which is under full Palestinian control.
Transportation minister Yisrael Katz who came along with the settlers placed at the doorstep of the Tomb a roll of Hebrew-written paper. Other senior military and political figures were also in the site.
In a separate incident, a gang of armed Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian citizens in Hammamat area of Wadi Al-Maleh in the Jordan Valley and chased their cattle.
Local sources said that armed settlers from Maskiot settlement stormed the area many times on Thursday evening and night and each time they embarked on harassing and terrifying the Palestinian villagers.
The villagers of Wadi Maleh suffer from daily attacks and raids by Maskiot settlers who steal their cattle and property, and appropriate their lands by armed force.
21 mar 2012
Settlers to Take Over More Houses in East-Jerusalem
On Tuesday March 20, settlers announced their intention to take over more Palestinians houses in the Sheikh Jarrah and Beit Hanina neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc said that they will only be able to proceed if the police facilitates the expulsion of the inhabitants from their homes.
Gush Shalom has warned that the settlers intend to take over more houses in the Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem and to drive out their residents. The settlers' plans were explicitly proclaimed by their leader Aryeh King – a past militant of the "Jewish Underground" that intended to blow up the mosques on Temple Mount, and at present a columnist in the extreme-right paper "Makor Rishon" – in an interview with Hagai Segal, a UK based Middle-East commemntator. According to King, the settlers intend to take over four houses Beit Hanina and two additional houses in Sheikh Jarrah "very soon".
Only a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister's bureau issued a protest against Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, who stated that Israel intends to Judaize East Jerusalem and dispossess its Palestinians residents. If the government helps Aryeh King and his settler group implement their proposed plan, it will have itself provided a conclusive proof for the veracity of Abbas' words.
In letters sent to Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister of Public Security Aharonovitch, Gush Shalom stated: "The settlers, by themselves, do not have the force needed to invade Palestinian homes in the night, throw the residents into the street, establish themselves in the house, and turn it into an armed enclave surrounded by barbed wire.
The settlers can only carry out such an abomination if the Israeli police, with the approval of the government, does the dirty work for them - sending hundreds of police officers to physically carry out the expulsions and afterwards stand guard day and night over the settlers in the seized houses.
Whoever gives the authorization shall be responsible for the consequences, which might be severe. The situation in the Occupied Territories is volatile, and any spark can cause a conflagration. What did not take place in September last year, despite all the nightmare scenarios which were imagined at the time, may well occur on the day after the expulsion of Palestinians from their Jerusalem homes and the establishment of settlers in their place. "
20 mar 2012
Settler Group Presses Israeli Government to Accelerate Palestinian Home Demolitions – Inadvertently Giving the Game Away
A government-backed deal would have let them stay on the Palestinian-owned land until 2015. The court dismissed that delay but extended the deadline beyond the end of March when settlers were supposed to leave, under an earlier ruling.
In Tel Aviv, the rights group Peace Now is content: “We are satisfied with the decision of the Supreme Court to reject the deal between the government and the settlers,” said Peace Now’s Director-General Yariv Oppenheimer. “The land of Migron should go back to it’s owners, the Palestinians.”
It is another blow to Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, just days after the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva launched an international investigation into Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories.
Settlers Attack Farmers, Injure One
Jewish settlers Monday attacked Palestinian farmers on the outskirts of Iraq Burin, a village southwest of the nothern West Bank city of Nablus, injuring a farmer in the head, according to an official.
Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors Israeli settlement activities in the northern part of the West Bank, said that settlers attacked farmers while they were plowing their land west of the village, leading to clashes between them and the farmers.
He said a farmer was injured in the head after being hit with a stick by one of the settlers.
Settlers aim to prevent farmers from reaching their lands located far from the village in order to claim it for themselves, he explained.
25 mar 2012
Jewish settlers assault Palestinian farmer
Jewish settlers attacked a Palestinian farmer in Tuwana village near Yatta town, south of Al-Khalil, on Sunday morning, the head of the popular committee in the village said.
Saber Al-Harini told the PIC reporter that the 33-year-old farmer, Mohammed Al-Adra, was injured in his head after the settlers assaulted him while farming his land.
He said that seven armed settlers from the nearby Karma’il settlement outpost tried to prevent the farmer from tending to his land and beat him with batons but ran away when villagers came to his rescue.
24 mar 2012
Medics: Palestinian hurt by settler gunfire
A Palestinian man was shot and injured Saturday during clashes with Israeli settlers who attacked his village in the central West Bank, medical officials said.
Hassan Muatan, 40, was shot in the abdomen after armed settlers stormed the Burqa village east of Ramallah and attempted to vandalize property, witnesses said.
Muatan was evacuated to the Palestine Medical Compound. His wounds were described as moderate.
According to residents of the village, locals confronted the settlers who then opened fire. Security forces also intervened and themselves fired at the villagers, they said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army was aware of the incident but uninvolved.
Settler violence is on the rise. In 2011, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that settler attacks had increased by 50 percent over the previous year.
In a separate development Saturday, settlers uprooted about 85 olive trees in the Bethlehem village of al-Khader, the local anti-wall committee reported.
In 2011, around 10,000 Palestinian-owned trees were destroyed by settlers, OCHA says.
Committee: Settlers uproot 85 olive trees near Bethlehem
Settlers uprooted dozens of olive trees in the Bethlehem village of al-Khader on Saturday, a local anti-separation wall committee said.
The group of Israelis destroyed 85 olive trees in a field belonging to Khader Ali Au Ghalyoun, committee coordinator Ahmad Salah told Ma'an.
The settlers, according to Salah, have been illegally living on hilltop called Ein el-Qassis for more than ten years, during which time they have committed multiple assaults on local farmers.
Settler attacks in the West Bank against Palestinians increased by more than 50 percent in 2011, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
In 2011, around 10,000 Palestinian owned trees were destroyed by settlers, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said that there were no reports of the incident.
23 mar 2012
Settlers Break into Building in Hebron
On Friday, March 23, an "enormous" group of settlers raided a building in B'ir al-Sabe' street in Hebron, south of the West Bank.
Eyewitnesses said that around 1000 settlers raided a building near the main street in the middle of the city, after the Israeli soldiers completely closed it.
The Israeli soldiers hindered the Palestinian citizens' movement and evacuated the street from the taxi cars that transfer the citizens to and from Hebron villages and city.
The settlers call the house "the tomb of Atnaúal bin Gunar" and they consider it a Jewish shrine. This is not the first time they raided the building, as they always break into it, under the protection of the Israeli army, to perform their religious rituals. Many years ago, Settlers seized the building that belonged to one of the Arab families.
22 mar 2012
Jewish settlers storm Nablus under PA-Israeli military protection
Hundreds of Jewish settlers along with one Israeli minister stormed Thursday evening under military protection Nablus city to perform alleged religious rituals inside Joseph's Tomb.
Local sources said that in coordination with the Palestinian authority security forces, hundreds of settlers escorted by troops were allowed to enter Nablus, which is under full Palestinian control.
Transportation minister Yisrael Katz who came along with the settlers placed at the doorstep of the Tomb a roll of Hebrew-written paper. Other senior military and political figures were also in the site.
In a separate incident, a gang of armed Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian citizens in Hammamat area of Wadi Al-Maleh in the Jordan Valley and chased their cattle.
Local sources said that armed settlers from Maskiot settlement stormed the area many times on Thursday evening and night and each time they embarked on harassing and terrifying the Palestinian villagers.
The villagers of Wadi Maleh suffer from daily attacks and raids by Maskiot settlers who steal their cattle and property, and appropriate their lands by armed force.
21 mar 2012
Settlers to Take Over More Houses in East-Jerusalem
On Tuesday March 20, settlers announced their intention to take over more Palestinians houses in the Sheikh Jarrah and Beit Hanina neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc said that they will only be able to proceed if the police facilitates the expulsion of the inhabitants from their homes.
Gush Shalom has warned that the settlers intend to take over more houses in the Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem and to drive out their residents. The settlers' plans were explicitly proclaimed by their leader Aryeh King – a past militant of the "Jewish Underground" that intended to blow up the mosques on Temple Mount, and at present a columnist in the extreme-right paper "Makor Rishon" – in an interview with Hagai Segal, a UK based Middle-East commemntator. According to King, the settlers intend to take over four houses Beit Hanina and two additional houses in Sheikh Jarrah "very soon".
Only a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister's bureau issued a protest against Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, who stated that Israel intends to Judaize East Jerusalem and dispossess its Palestinians residents. If the government helps Aryeh King and his settler group implement their proposed plan, it will have itself provided a conclusive proof for the veracity of Abbas' words.
In letters sent to Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister of Public Security Aharonovitch, Gush Shalom stated: "The settlers, by themselves, do not have the force needed to invade Palestinian homes in the night, throw the residents into the street, establish themselves in the house, and turn it into an armed enclave surrounded by barbed wire.
The settlers can only carry out such an abomination if the Israeli police, with the approval of the government, does the dirty work for them - sending hundreds of police officers to physically carry out the expulsions and afterwards stand guard day and night over the settlers in the seized houses.
Whoever gives the authorization shall be responsible for the consequences, which might be severe. The situation in the Occupied Territories is volatile, and any spark can cause a conflagration. What did not take place in September last year, despite all the nightmare scenarios which were imagined at the time, may well occur on the day after the expulsion of Palestinians from their Jerusalem homes and the establishment of settlers in their place. "
20 mar 2012
Settler Group Presses Israeli Government to Accelerate Palestinian Home Demolitions – Inadvertently Giving the Game Away
By Assaf Oron and Ehud Krinis
We previously reported on the worrisome escalation in demolition of Palestinian structures in South Hebron Hills (see also this story). The body issuing the demolition orders is the deceptively-named “Civil Administration”. Contrary to its name (invented in the 1980′s by Ariel Sharon to mislead the outside world), this “Administration” is in fact a military body (its former name was simply “military government”), and its head is a general serving full-time in the Israeli military. It claims authority to run Palestinian civilian life in the less-densely populated West Bank “Area C”, which accounts for some 60% of the territory and about 150,000 Palestinian residents.
We will continue to shine a light upon the ways in which this “Administration” misgoverns Palestinian life. A future post will discuss the demolition orders on solar-wind energy systems installed at rural Palestinian communities by our friends, the Israeli NGO COMET-ME; systems funded with the help of donors and governments across the world.
We previously reported on the worrisome escalation in demolition of Palestinian structures in South Hebron Hills (see also this story). The body issuing the demolition orders is the deceptively-named “Civil Administration”. Contrary to its name (invented in the 1980′s by Ariel Sharon to mislead the outside world), this “Administration” is in fact a military body (its former name was simply “military government”), and its head is a general serving full-time in the Israeli military. It claims authority to run Palestinian civilian life in the less-densely populated West Bank “Area C”, which accounts for some 60% of the territory and about 150,000 Palestinian residents.
We will continue to shine a light upon the ways in which this “Administration” misgoverns Palestinian life. A future post will discuss the demolition orders on solar-wind energy systems installed at rural Palestinian communities by our friends, the Israeli NGO COMET-ME; systems funded with the help of donors and governments across the world.
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Meanwhile, enter another player, stage right. In late February, an Israeli NGO called “Regavim” submitted a High Court appeal, together with the Sussya settlement, against the military – claiming that it should demolish more Palestinian homes in the region, and faster! We kid you not. Here is the original appeal (Hebrew, pdf).
The mysterious-sounding Regavim NGO presents itself in the appeal as “an a-political movement… to prevent illegal takeover of national lands by certain bodies”. However, its own publicized record reveals that its main business is 1. To force the government’s hand to destroy Palestinian structures, whether in the West Bank or in Israel itself, 2. To identify and suggest to the government new opportunities for |
such demolitions, and 3. To try and stop demolitions and evictions of unauthorized Israeli-settler structures in the West Bank. “A-political”, indeed.
To cap the irony, Regavim’s head Rabbi Yehuda Eliyahu himself lives in an unauthorized settlement-outpost in northern West Bank. Their main field worker, Ovadia Arad named as a co-plaintiff, is a settler as well.
Regavim is emblematic of a trend in Israeli far-right circles. Since they recognize the power and appeal of basic human rights and justice, they have been setting up phony and mendacious imitations of respected human-rights organizations working on Palestinian human rights issues. These imitations turn the human-rights terminology on its head, in order to leverage the moral authority associated with it, while confusing and misleading the general public.
In the appeal, Regavim and the Sussya settlers refer to themselves as “residents of the area” and “farmers”. That is, they – who settled in the 1980′s as part of a heavily-subsidized takeover of Palestinian lands – pretend to be the indigenous, original residents. The A-Nawwajeh family of Palestinian Susiya (named as defendants 4 through 34), having lived in the area for generations, suddenly become – in Regavim’s upside-down terminology – the squatters who had set up “illegal outposts” arround the “poor settlers”; trouble-makers who should be evicted to the town of Yatta.
Of course, this is a bald-faced lie, one of dozens of distortions and outright lies in this frivolous Regavim appeal. Even the Israeli authorities have already conceded that the A-Nawwajeh, like other Palestinian South Hebron Hills residents, are the legal owners of their land. Unlike the settlers of Sussya, they have to live on the land with no government assistance, and against the continued restrictions from the military and physical harassment from the settlers. Here are a couple of pictures from our recent visit to the A-Nawwajeh hamlet.
Apparently, truth or justice are not a goal of Regavim, or of the Sussya settlers who have unfortunately joined this appeal, and possibly even pushed Regavim to submit it. As far as these ideological settlers are concerned, all of life in Israel-Palestine is a negative-sum game, in which the overarching goal is to retain exclusive control of the entire country, while squeezing more and more Palestinians into smaller and smaller enclaves – and if possible push them out of the country altogether. It is a sad and immoral world-view, but unfortunately its holders are very close to the corridors of power nowadays.
At other places and times, many settlers at Sussya and elsewhere have extolled their “good neighborly relations” with local Palestinians, and complained that only the media, or human-rights activists, are seeing and brewing trouble where there isn’t any. Many settlers also repeatedly claim that they only wish to live peacefully on these sacred hills, not to lord over others.
However, this court appeal on which the entire settlement of Sussya is signed as a co-plaintiff, reveals a very different perspective. The plaintiffs view their neighbors who have lived in the area long before them, as illegitimate and criminal. They accuse their neighbors of guilt-by-association, in completely unrelated terror attacks that took place at other parts of the West Bank 20-30 km away from Susiya (clause 10), and in thefts of livestock from Sussya settlement, even though these were admittedly carried out by persons from Yatta (clause 11: “…it can be assumed that the thefts were aided and abetted by accurate information… collected by the A-Nawajeh, living in illegal structures and making observations into the settlement”).
What is more disturbing to us, is that the Sussya settlement leadership has no qualms about exploiting the settlers’ structurally privileged citizenship status and the Palestinians’ discriminated status as subjects of a military regime. In this appeal, the settlers explicitly attempt to leverage that regime to punish and evict their neighbors in ways that would have been impossible, had the two population groups enjoyed equal legal and political status.
The future vision of settlers and Palestinians living together as equals, is plausible in principle both for us and for many Palestinians. Unfortunately, the Sussya settlers in submitting this appeal, and in this appeal’s foul language, reject this vision outright.
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Frivolous lawsuits like this one can actually help the “Civil Administration”. The differences between the “Administration” and ideological-settler bodies like Regavim are only of style and nuance. Both the settlers and the “Administration” are determined to reduce and, if possible, eradicate Palestinian life in “Area C”, in the apparent hope of making permanent the Israeli control of this vast region. Unlike settlers, the “Administration” is bound by the need to maintain a facade of respectability and legalistic pretexts. Thus, the Regavim appeal can present the “Civil Administration” in the public mind as even-handed or pro-Palestinian, and exaggerate its disagreement with ideological settlers. Nothing could be further from the truth.
But amazingly, the court appeal itself presents concrete evidence that exposes this charade for what it is.
To cap the irony, Regavim’s head Rabbi Yehuda Eliyahu himself lives in an unauthorized settlement-outpost in northern West Bank. Their main field worker, Ovadia Arad named as a co-plaintiff, is a settler as well.
Regavim is emblematic of a trend in Israeli far-right circles. Since they recognize the power and appeal of basic human rights and justice, they have been setting up phony and mendacious imitations of respected human-rights organizations working on Palestinian human rights issues. These imitations turn the human-rights terminology on its head, in order to leverage the moral authority associated with it, while confusing and misleading the general public.
In the appeal, Regavim and the Sussya settlers refer to themselves as “residents of the area” and “farmers”. That is, they – who settled in the 1980′s as part of a heavily-subsidized takeover of Palestinian lands – pretend to be the indigenous, original residents. The A-Nawwajeh family of Palestinian Susiya (named as defendants 4 through 34), having lived in the area for generations, suddenly become – in Regavim’s upside-down terminology – the squatters who had set up “illegal outposts” arround the “poor settlers”; trouble-makers who should be evicted to the town of Yatta.
Of course, this is a bald-faced lie, one of dozens of distortions and outright lies in this frivolous Regavim appeal. Even the Israeli authorities have already conceded that the A-Nawwajeh, like other Palestinian South Hebron Hills residents, are the legal owners of their land. Unlike the settlers of Sussya, they have to live on the land with no government assistance, and against the continued restrictions from the military and physical harassment from the settlers. Here are a couple of pictures from our recent visit to the A-Nawwajeh hamlet.
Apparently, truth or justice are not a goal of Regavim, or of the Sussya settlers who have unfortunately joined this appeal, and possibly even pushed Regavim to submit it. As far as these ideological settlers are concerned, all of life in Israel-Palestine is a negative-sum game, in which the overarching goal is to retain exclusive control of the entire country, while squeezing more and more Palestinians into smaller and smaller enclaves – and if possible push them out of the country altogether. It is a sad and immoral world-view, but unfortunately its holders are very close to the corridors of power nowadays.
At other places and times, many settlers at Sussya and elsewhere have extolled their “good neighborly relations” with local Palestinians, and complained that only the media, or human-rights activists, are seeing and brewing trouble where there isn’t any. Many settlers also repeatedly claim that they only wish to live peacefully on these sacred hills, not to lord over others.
However, this court appeal on which the entire settlement of Sussya is signed as a co-plaintiff, reveals a very different perspective. The plaintiffs view their neighbors who have lived in the area long before them, as illegitimate and criminal. They accuse their neighbors of guilt-by-association, in completely unrelated terror attacks that took place at other parts of the West Bank 20-30 km away from Susiya (clause 10), and in thefts of livestock from Sussya settlement, even though these were admittedly carried out by persons from Yatta (clause 11: “…it can be assumed that the thefts were aided and abetted by accurate information… collected by the A-Nawajeh, living in illegal structures and making observations into the settlement”).
What is more disturbing to us, is that the Sussya settlement leadership has no qualms about exploiting the settlers’ structurally privileged citizenship status and the Palestinians’ discriminated status as subjects of a military regime. In this appeal, the settlers explicitly attempt to leverage that regime to punish and evict their neighbors in ways that would have been impossible, had the two population groups enjoyed equal legal and political status.
The future vision of settlers and Palestinians living together as equals, is plausible in principle both for us and for many Palestinians. Unfortunately, the Sussya settlers in submitting this appeal, and in this appeal’s foul language, reject this vision outright.
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Frivolous lawsuits like this one can actually help the “Civil Administration”. The differences between the “Administration” and ideological-settler bodies like Regavim are only of style and nuance. Both the settlers and the “Administration” are determined to reduce and, if possible, eradicate Palestinian life in “Area C”, in the apparent hope of making permanent the Israeli control of this vast region. Unlike settlers, the “Administration” is bound by the need to maintain a facade of respectability and legalistic pretexts. Thus, the Regavim appeal can present the “Civil Administration” in the public mind as even-handed or pro-Palestinian, and exaggerate its disagreement with ideological settlers. Nothing could be further from the truth.
But amazingly, the court appeal itself presents concrete evidence that exposes this charade for what it is.
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Clauses 40-49 deal with Regavim’s attempts to obtain information
about Palestinian structures already destroyed by the “Civil
Administration” for “security reasons.” The “Administration” refused to
release detailed data, saying laconically that “all demolitions are
due to security reasons”.
Data were obtained by Regavim indirectly via other government arms. Here’s what they found (translation, emphasis and comments by Assaf): 44. In parallel, the plaintiff has obtained via a separate FOIA request the GIS layer containing all illegal-construction cases in the Palestinian sector. Combining the two sources brings to light the reality of “structures” destroyed by the Civil Administration in 2008-2011, allegedly for being a “security risk.” [45. Data table ] |
….46. These data show, that while the defendants claim all structures destroyed in the Palestinian sector in 2008-2011 were destroyed for being a security risk – out of 195 such structures, only 28 were actual buildings, while 51 “security risk structures” were cisterns,
68 “security risk structures” were sheds, chicken coops and livestock pens, and 12 “security risk structures” were improved agricultural fields.
47. This clearly indicates, that despite clear instructions from the government to focus on security-related demolitions, the Civil Administration avoids destroying such structures, and instead focuses on destroying cisterns, sheds, chicken coops, livestock pens and agricultural fields – in order to present a statistical balance with destruction in the Jewish [settler] sector.
48. It should be noted that from a separate FOIA request by the plaintiff about construction permits awarded in the Palestinian sector it turned out that in 2008, 74 such permits were issued, in 2009 six permits, and in 2010 only 7 permits were approved for the entire Palestinian sector of “Area C”. It is well-known that every year, thousands of structures are built in that sector… the message internalized by the Palestinian public is that there is no need to apply for permits…
It is rare to see far-right settlers, in an open legal document, confirm word-for-word what Palestinians and the human-right community have been arguing for years:
- That “security” is usually a ruse by Occupation authorities, used to mask the true motives,
- That recently Palestinians have been virtually blocked from obtaining building permits,
- and that these policies undermine any remaining semblance of legitimacy that the “Civil Administration” might have had a right to claim.
One might wonder how Regavim still thinks that this is somehow evidence for discrimination against what they call “the Jewish sector” – the state-funded, state-built settlements whose residents wield immense power and occupy several seats in the Israeli cabinet. One might also wonder, whether Regavim thinks that 150,000 Palestinians should be allowed to construct buildings to live in at all (the answer seems to be “no”) – or whether Regavim feels fine with the “Civil Administration” refusing to issue any permits to Palestinians whatsoever (the answer seems to be “yes, as long as they also make sure to destroy all those thousands of unapproved Palestinian structures”). The permit numbers in the appeal also confirm the escalation in anti-Palestinian “Area C” policies since the establishment of Netanyahu’s current government in early 2009. We have reported and analyzed this escalation from the start.
The Regavim appeal is a clumsy attempt to shift the debate towards how stringent or lax “Civil Administration” policies should be. However, the information presented, and the reality of unequal treatment as known to anyone with even a basic knowledge, turn their appeal into valuable supporting evidence for the following conclusions:
1. This outdated Israeli military body, the so-called “Civil Administration”, should not be allowed to run Palestinian life anymore, and
2. The situation of fully-privileged citizens living side-by-side with rightless subjects of military rule, is unacceptable and must stop.
We welcome the sudden interest of settler groups in fairness and government accountability. They should be forewarned, though, that the quest for the truth, fairness, transparency and good governance – if carried out properly to its logical conclusion – will most likely lead to outcomes diametrically opposed to their political goals.
68 “security risk structures” were sheds, chicken coops and livestock pens, and 12 “security risk structures” were improved agricultural fields.
47. This clearly indicates, that despite clear instructions from the government to focus on security-related demolitions, the Civil Administration avoids destroying such structures, and instead focuses on destroying cisterns, sheds, chicken coops, livestock pens and agricultural fields – in order to present a statistical balance with destruction in the Jewish [settler] sector.
48. It should be noted that from a separate FOIA request by the plaintiff about construction permits awarded in the Palestinian sector it turned out that in 2008, 74 such permits were issued, in 2009 six permits, and in 2010 only 7 permits were approved for the entire Palestinian sector of “Area C”. It is well-known that every year, thousands of structures are built in that sector… the message internalized by the Palestinian public is that there is no need to apply for permits…
It is rare to see far-right settlers, in an open legal document, confirm word-for-word what Palestinians and the human-right community have been arguing for years:
- That “security” is usually a ruse by Occupation authorities, used to mask the true motives,
- That recently Palestinians have been virtually blocked from obtaining building permits,
- and that these policies undermine any remaining semblance of legitimacy that the “Civil Administration” might have had a right to claim.
One might wonder how Regavim still thinks that this is somehow evidence for discrimination against what they call “the Jewish sector” – the state-funded, state-built settlements whose residents wield immense power and occupy several seats in the Israeli cabinet. One might also wonder, whether Regavim thinks that 150,000 Palestinians should be allowed to construct buildings to live in at all (the answer seems to be “no”) – or whether Regavim feels fine with the “Civil Administration” refusing to issue any permits to Palestinians whatsoever (the answer seems to be “yes, as long as they also make sure to destroy all those thousands of unapproved Palestinian structures”). The permit numbers in the appeal also confirm the escalation in anti-Palestinian “Area C” policies since the establishment of Netanyahu’s current government in early 2009. We have reported and analyzed this escalation from the start.
The Regavim appeal is a clumsy attempt to shift the debate towards how stringent or lax “Civil Administration” policies should be. However, the information presented, and the reality of unequal treatment as known to anyone with even a basic knowledge, turn their appeal into valuable supporting evidence for the following conclusions:
1. This outdated Israeli military body, the so-called “Civil Administration”, should not be allowed to run Palestinian life anymore, and
2. The situation of fully-privileged citizens living side-by-side with rightless subjects of military rule, is unacceptable and must stop.
We welcome the sudden interest of settler groups in fairness and government accountability. They should be forewarned, though, that the quest for the truth, fairness, transparency and good governance – if carried out properly to its logical conclusion – will most likely lead to outcomes diametrically opposed to their political goals.
