Al Mughayyir - Masses of settlers backed by the army riot in the village

We visited the village in order to see, hear and report what happened on April 12th at Mughayyir village.

We left at 12:15 and reached the village at 2:15 p.m. - it took us two hours to arrive since all entrances to the village from Duma were blocked. Exactly one hour more than usual.

We reached the local council, its head - Ameen Abu ‘Alia welcomed us. He told us about the settlers-colonists’ abuse - backed up by the Israeli army - of the villagers after the settler boy Benjamin Achimeir was killed. He denies all ties of the villagers to this case. The boy was found in a place where the villagers are not allowed to reach and anyone approaching it is shot by the soldiers, so they did not even harvest their olives there. The head of council said that either the boy quarreled with his pal or was bitten by a snake.

That day, at 3 p.m., about 1,500 settlers and soldiers entered the village and declared it a closed military zone, divided up into groups - each of about 50 people, put up barriers among the village houses and began house searches. They fired shots in all directions and threw stones. A 26-year-old man was critically wounded in the head, and when villagers tried to take him to the hospital, soldiers turned them back and prevented their passage. The man died several hours later. His name was Jihad.

The rest of the wounded, 70 persons, 40 of them seriously, were brought back and then taken to the local council house where a village doctor received them, giving them first aid. Naturally a single doctor could not care for the seriously wounded, so several young people volunteered to carry the wounded on their backs, and climbed hills among olive trees, thus arriving outside the village where vehicles waited for them.

7 young people, 2 critically wounded young women among them, were taken by the only ambulance in the village - after arguments with the soldiers - and were permitted to leave after 4 hours, but unaccompanied. All seven were piled into the ambulance.

Before coming out to see some of the burnt houses, a limping man came, his neck bandaged and looking terrible. He came to ask the local council head to help him lodge a complaint against the colonists who stole his flock of sheep. A group of over 30 colonists came to his home and cruelly beat him up with stones, shot 3 bullets into his leg (that were not yet removed from his thigh) and stole all his sheep. 120 sheep from which he and his children find their livelihood. He said the sheep were taken by a settler called Hanan who lives inside Duma village. The helpless man’s name is Imud Fathi Abu ‘Alia.

The head of council told him that any Palestinian coming to the Bet El DCO to lodge a complaint does not return. One needs a lawyer.

After hearing the man, we accompanied him to see houses the settlers had torched.

They came in large crowds from all directions. The family was attending the funeral of the young man who had been murdered, the house was closed, and the settlers broke down the entryway, all the windows inside and shutters outside, and then torched it. It was a large, modern house and now all the walls, floor and ceiling were black, a large nice kitchen cupboard and all the utensils were thrown on the ground outside. The settlers even torched sacks filled with wheat and the sheep flock’s feed sacks.

We met the lady of the house, called Lamia, who was beaten up and wounded in the head by stones. She fainted and was taken by ambulance to get treatment.

The neighborhood children began throwing stones at the assailants. Lamia’s daughter accompanied the boys, disguised as one of them, and also threw stones. The criminals shot in all directions and she was shot by 2 bullets in the leg. She is a very brave young woman, only 17-years-old.

This is a Bedouin family who purchased land in Duma village in the eastern side where it built its home, surrounded by Bedouins who make their livelihood growing sheep and cattle. The settler Hanan came and built his home close to their neighborhood and began harassing and threatening them. Most families left for the north. This family moved to Mughayyir, purchased land and built its home, which was torched. The name of the house owner is Shata Ishian.

We left Mughayyir  at 4:40 p.m.