Both villages are located at the bottom of or on the side of steep
hills at the top of which illegal Israeli settlements have been built. The villagers face a lot of problems with Israeli settlers attacking them or their property. Setting fire to Palestinians land has become a common tactic for settlers, they know what the land means to Palestinians, not only its cultural and historical significance but also because so many of them depend on it to live. They also know that there is virtually no chance that they will ever be caught. Despite a catalogue of attacks by settlers there have been no arrests let alone prosecutions for their continuing persecution in this area. Although the military now responds to calls from Palestinians they rarely intervene to stop the attacks.
I had been ill the day before but 2 other IWPS volunteers had been called to the villages because the settlers had come down the hillside and were setting fire to wheat fields and olive trees belonging to Palestinians. When we came the next day, there were large patches of black on the hillsides where crops had been completely destroyed.
As the fires raged the day before in both villages the army were called but they just watched as the settlers continued to light the fires and they would not let the Palestinians go to their land so that the fires could be put out. As a result people had to stand and watch their land and their livelihoods burn for several hours while they could do nothing about it.
In the evening the settlers started more fires at the top of the hill but Palestinians had to wait until the fires reached within 20m of their houses before they could put the fires out. This is because the settlers have created an imaginary line between the settlements and the villages (even though all of the land belongs to the Palestinians) and if Palestinians cross that line they will attack them.
On Friday we visited 2 houses that have suffered the worst attacks from the settlers as they are the furthest up the hill and so the nearest to the settlements. At the first house the family showed us numerous bullet holes from previous settler attacks and told how the settlers often came down the hill and threw stones and missiles at their home. Palestinian homes are always surrounded by children playing but there were none playing outside this house as the parents told us their children were scared to leave the house because of the settlers.
The second house we visited had been attacked the day before. Settlers had come down the hill and set fire to a fig tree next to the house and drawn stars of David on the side of the house. There were only women and children at home at the time and they had to wait for the Israeli military to turn up before they could go out and extinguish the fire.
I had been ill the day before but 2 other IWPS volunteers had been called to the villages because the settlers had come down the hillside and were setting fire to wheat fields and olive trees belonging to Palestinians. When we came the next day, there were large patches of black on the hillsides where crops had been completely destroyed.
As the fires raged the day before in both villages the army were called but they just watched as the settlers continued to light the fires and they would not let the Palestinians go to their land so that the fires could be put out. As a result people had to stand and watch their land and their livelihoods burn for several hours while they could do nothing about it.In the evening the settlers started more fires at the top of the hill but Palestinians had to wait until the fires reached within 20m of their houses before they could put the fires out. This is because the settlers have created an imaginary line between the settlements and the villages (even though all of the land belongs to the Palestinians) and if Palestinians cross that line they will attack them.
On Friday we visited 2 houses that have suffered the worst attacks from the settlers as they are the furthest up the hill and so the nearest to the settlements. At the first house the family showed us numerous bullet holes from previous settler attacks and told how the settlers often came down the hill and threw stones and missiles at their home. Palestinian homes are always surrounded by children playing but there were none playing outside this house as the parents told us their children were scared to leave the house because of the settlers.
The second house we visited had been attacked the day before. Settlers had come down the hill and set fire to a fig tree next to the house and drawn stars of David on the side of the house. There were only women and children at home at the time and they had to wait for the Israeli military to turn up before they could go out and extinguish the fire.Not only do the settler attacks affect the Palestinians economically as they have lost thousands of trees and vast areas of wheat fields have been destroyed, but the psychological impact of the attacks is terrifying. The Israelis appear to have a policy of building these illegal settlements at the top of hills and above Palestinian villages. This means that Palestinians must live every day with the fear of these people above them waiting to come down and attack them with apparent impunity. I can’t imagine living life like that.
We listened to the frustration that the local people felt because they could do nothing to stop the settlers and the Israelis refused to acknowledge the attacks and repeatedly failed to intervene when they were taking place. They then told us about one particular settler who had come from the US to live in the settlement. Employing another tactic used by settlers he had claimed that the Palestinians were attacking him (with no evidence whatsoever) and called on the US consulate to assist him. They duly sent a representative to the settlement to meet him and offer their support. I can’t really get my head around a settler who comes here because he believes that for whatever reason he is entitled to that land despite the fact it has been inhabited by other people for centuries and centuries. He then alleges this incident and calls on his representative from a country thousands of miles away to come and protect him on the basis that he is a US national in trouble in a foreign land.
In fact the whole settler issue confuses me, I can’t understand that these people go out and attack people living a couple of hundred metres from them, return home and then go out the next day and attack them again, day after day – and there is nothing being done about it.
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