Overnight, Palestinian’s Livelihood Destroyed by Israeli Settlers

One week before, Israeli solidarity activists caught on tape settlers from Bat ‘Ain saying the activists should “come back next week and see”, that they would set fire to the entire area. What was not burned was systematically cut with an electric saw. The 125 trees represented a huge proportion of Hamad’s income; in one night settlers nearly destroyed his and his family’s livelihood.

When activists joined Hamad’s brother to document the destruction on Monday, Israeli soldiers and police soon turned out in force, bringing three jeeps and an armored personnel carrier full of soldiers. Hamad’s brother, Abu Jabber, approached the commander, pleading with him to come down and see for himself what the settlers had done. Instead, the soldiers informed the group that it was a closed military zone, and everyone except Abu Jabber and one Israeli activist had to leave. Abu Jabber and the Israeli activist, from the joint organization Ta’ayush, were escorted to the police station inside the settlement to make a formal complaint. However, considering the past two weeks when settlers were allowed into the area with impunity while Israeli and international solidarity activists were attacked and arrested, there is very little faith that the Israeli soldiers and police, based inside the settlement, can be relied on to protect the Palestinians’ rights and land.

Also overnight, ironically, while settlers went unimpeded into Palestinian lands and destroyed a huge tract of agricultural area without any intervention by Israeli police or military, Israeli soldiers invaded several homes in Saffa and arrested 8 people, as well as one person in Beit Ommar. The reasons are unknown.