Burin (Yitzhar), Habla, Huwwara, 'Urif, Tue 28.5.13, Afternoon

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Observers: 
Alix Weizmann, Na'ava and Fathiya (reporting)
May-28-2013
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Afternoon

 

 

13:45 Habla gate. We did not tarry because there were our colleagues doing their shift (that of Karin). So we continued in the direction of Jinsafut  with the intention of going to the village of 'Urif where there had been problems on Saturday.

There was a hummer stationed opposite the entrance to Jensapot. We continued by way of Deir Istiya, Zeita, Jama'in, Inabus and at 14:50 we reached the village of 'Urif. On our way we asked passers-by about the incident, and they directed us to the spot of the incident. That was a school situated on a hill with only the Wadi separating it from the settlement of Yitzhar. At the school there were builders who were busy building the fence which was intended to enclose the school as a defense against the repeated attacks of the settlers on the school and its neighborhood.

 

And this is what the builders told us: On Saturday, 25.5 at 12:00 hrs, about twenty settlers came down from Yitzhar and arrived at the school, but at that time the school was empty and only the workmen were there.   The settlers began throwing stones, the army arrived and pushed them back. One witness, , called Muhammad Sefadi, who lives in the neighborhood, and works as a paramedic told us that on Sunday 26.5 at night the settlers threw stones on the windows of the houses as well as gas grenades. The inhabitants were naturally in choc and came out to defend themselves. Some people were wounded and the Red Crescent arrived and treated them. Some suffocated because they inhaled gas. The army arrived, the soldiers attacked the Palestinian inhabitants with drawn rifles. They put the Palestinians back into their houses and begged the settlers to leave the place, "with kid gloves", says the man.

 

On Monday 27.5 at 04:00 in the morning the settlers arrived again and attacked again. One of the inhabitants says they have pails full of grenades which the settlers and the army threw and the children play with.

It should be pointed out that the road by which the settlers arrive is about half a km from the village, so that the army could chase them back before they arrive and carry out their schemes "if they would be interested".

Huwwara – a military jeep patrols on the main road and there is a massive traffic of military vehicles.

 

At 15:45 we reached Burin where the settlers sprayed the olive trees with a chemical material, with the result that they were totally burned. The plot belongs to three brother and they reach it only accompanied by the army. They took samplings to the Ministry of Agriculture which confirmed that the trees burned down as a result of having been sprayed with chemicals. They complained to the Palestinian DCO which transmitted the complaints to the Israeli DCO, and they arrived together on the spot, counted the trees – 117 – and photographed them and told them to complain to the police which they did….But as with all the complaints that had been submitted, there is no law and no judge.

 

At 17:30 on our way home there was a barrier at the entrance to the village of Sara and a long queue of vehicles waiting to be checked.