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Settler Militia Violence Against Palestinian Farming FamiliesFriday 23 Aug 2002
author: CPT, Le Anne Clausen
summary
Father: "The roadblock has been there for one week. A gang of settler
security has been riding through the area, and frequently assaulting
Palestinians. Sometimes they have seen us trying to cross, and come out
and start beating us. We also must carry our supplies over the roadblock,
and they grab the supplies, the sacks of flour from us and destroy
them. Three days earlier, a group of three armed settlers from the militia
came door to door in the neighborhood asking, "Who lives here? Why are you
here? This is the land of Israel!"
CPT Special Focus Report:
Settler Militia Violence Against Palestinian Farming Families
By Le Anne Clausen
During the past month (July 2002), CPTers interviewed several farming
families living in the vicinity of the Israeli settlement of Harsina,
[which is situated between the city of Hebron and the Beqa'a Valley]. The
CPTers discovered that all of the families had suffered numerous incidents
of violence from a militia of settlers known as "Settler Security." While
the level of incidents has increased sharply in the region in the past few
weeks, the families have reported a steady string of assaults over the past
several months. The team is alarmed by the overall pattern of settler
militia behavior in and around the edges of the city of Hebron and is
working to prevent further violence to the families in these areas. Many
of the families interviewed asked their names not be used in this report
due to concerns about settler retaliation.
CPTers Le Anne Clausen and Jim Satterwhite and a translator visited the
Al-Bweira hillside neighborhood of Hebron to investigate a field that
settlers had destroyed earlier in the week. On their way, they crossed a
roadblock set up just outside the back gate to the settlement of Harsina
and stopped at a neighbor's house to help locate the field.
Family #1
Father: "The roadblock has been there for one week. A gang of settler
security has been riding through the area, and frequently assaulting
Palestinians. Sometimes they have seen us trying to cross, and come out
and start beating us. We also must carry our supplies over the roadblock,
and they grab the supplies, the sacks of flour from us and destroy
them. Three days earlier, a group of three armed settlers from the militia
came door to door in the neighborhood asking, "Who lives here? Why are you
here? This is the land of Israel!" When some families didn't answer the
door, the settler gang returned and threw stones at their houses at 1:00 in
the morning.
"I saw an officer from the Civil Administration [military government] in
the area the previous day, so I stopped to complain about the roadblock. I
told the officer I have children, and that the settlers grab and destroy my
groceries when they see me trying to get across the roadblock. I said, "I
have fourteen children. How can I bring them food?" The officer said, "You
deserve this treatment. You cause the bombings." When I said that I had
no hand in the bombings, the officer said, "Buy a donkey, then." When I
said that even a donkey couldn't pass over the roadblock, the officer said,
"Okay then, leave," and drove away.
"Yesterday, farmers in the area were trying to move their boxes of produce
across the roadblock when the security came out to stop them. They
destroyed everything. A few months earlier a group of international
volunteers came to help us with our harvest. The security detained the
internationals and called the police, who took the internationals
away. The police discriminate against us. If a Palestinian is attacked,
it takes one hour or more for the police to show up. If a settler is
attacked, only minutes.
"I am afraid that the security might retaliate after the CPTers
leave. Last year, when two other CPTers came to visit, some settlers
grabbed my son off the road, carried him to the start of our property, and
heaved him over a seven-foot high fence. My son had three fractures to his
arm as a result. Settlers also threw stones at the house, hitting my
seven-year-old daughter in the face. The settlers then said to us, "If you
file any complaint against us, we'll show you something that you've never
seen." Out of fear, we did not complain to the police. You can see if you
go walking, the security inside Harsina has cameras pointed toward on the
road and the our houses, so that even when settlers are not outside, they
are aware of visitors and will send militia down to harass the families.
"One month before this Intifada began, I was badly beaten by the Israeli
Border Police. My skull, knee, and leg were fractured in the attack. They
struck me with rifle butts and large stones, and kicked me. Afterwards,
the Border Police dumped me by the road and left me. I was unconscious
then. There was one officer who didn't get out of the jeep. I think his
brother or cousin was killed in South Lebanon. They talked about the
soldier killed while they were beating me. I know I wasn't the only one
beaten that day. There were many men that day.
"The soldiers occupy a tall house in our neighborhood, watching everyone
coming and going. If the settlers don't like someone passing by, they call
the soldiers, who then shoot randomly into the neighborhood.
"The problem isn't the settlers, but the settler security. The settler
security at Harsina and Kiryat Arba are the worst of all that exist in the
West Bank. We don't really encounter other settlers. According to the law,
settler security cannot touch a Palestinian or demand their ID cards, but
the settler security has taken the law into their own hands. We try to
report settler attacks to the police, but the police pay no
attention. When the political situation is bad, the police do
nothing. Filing complaints is worthless. Seven years ago, there was more
justice for us when the settlers did something. So I will keep filing the
reports and saving copies, because there might be justice when the
situation improves.
"The security also uprooted irrigation lines in one of the neighbors'
fields near Route 60. They said it was illegal for Palestinian farmers to
water their crops. On Wednesday, the Security detained two brothers, Ziyad
and Fathi Sultan, and accused them of stealing water from the
settlers. They are 55 and 70 years old. The settlement construction
destroyed the Palestinian water lines several years ago, and the settlers
and military promised to provide us with water instead. However, they have
not kept this promise.
"When I used to work in Israel, I would enter a house and feel like one of
the family. Israelis are different from the settlers. There is still a
small group of good people in Kiryat Arba who want peace. One settler
speaks Arabic and told me he is a Palestinian Jew. This settler moved to
Kiryat Arba from Jerusalem because of the [Israeli government's economic]
subsidies. However, all his children returned to Jerusalem because they
were unhappy with the environment in Kiryat Arba."
After the CPTers documented the field that had been razed by settler
security, they walked along the new road encircling the settlement. The
road appears to connect the back gate of Harsina with the military base in
Wadi Roos. As they walked into the Ein Bnei Salim neighborhood, a young man
approached to show them his family's field. Accompanied by the CPTers and
translator, they walked out into the field, which lay empty just under the
settlement.
Family #2
Son: "My brother, who is 25 years old, has served a month and a half of a
six-month sentence for being in our field, which has been confiscated by
the settlement. My other brother in the family was beaten while working in
our field. Once, I had to cross the field in order to catch one of our
rabbits that had run away. Settlers threatened me saying, "Next time, we
will shoot you." I would not walk out here now, except that you are with
me. Otherwise they would come down and do something to me. The field
produced vegetables throughout the year and was our main source of food and
income. Look here, settlers dug large holes in the land to make it
impossible to cultivate or walk through.
"Settlers opened the new road around two months ago, at about the same time
they put up a larger fence around the settlement. All the families here
have received military orders forbidding us to build new houses in the
area, and we may only add one additional floor to each existing
house. [The CPTers counted at least eight multi-family houses in the
immediate area of the settlement expansion]. We worry that we may be
forbidden to work in any of our fields that are located within 200 meters
of the road, just like other Palestinians with fields near settler roads.
Son, joined by Parents: "We do appreciate the new settlement boundary fence
because settlers have not come down to our houses to attack us since it was
installed. Only one house still suffers regularly from settler harassment,
because it is located near the fence and settlers throw stones from the
other side of the fence. This usually happens on Shabbat. All the
families in the neighborhood frequently complain to the police, but the
police have done nothing to help us. Other times, the settlers themselves
bring along the soldiers or police to back them up when they want to
confront us. It was unsafe for us to leave our homes during the early
evenings before the fence was installed because of the settler
attacks. The windows of our sunroom were completely destroyed by settlers
throwing stones. The Hebron Rehabilitation Committee replaced the glass
for us."
Janet Shoemaker and Le Anne Clausen returned to the Al-Bweira neighborhood
next to Harsina to interview a family whose vineyard was destroyed two
nights earlier. Settlers had cut 100-125 vines. The vineyard is located
50 meters from a manned Israeli military watchtower.
Family #3
Husband: "I went to my vines at 5:00am when I awoke and saw from my window
that the arbors were sagging strangely. On the way, soldiers in the
watchtower threatened me with their rifles because curfew had not yet been
lifted. Cutting a vine is like losing a member of the family. You spend
so many years nurturing each plant until it bears fruit. Each vine bears
100 lbs of fruit per year. The vineyard was the main source of income for
our family. We are devastated by the loss. We have worked ten years
cultivating that land, and have only reaped three years' worth of
crops. Now we have nothing. We applied to the Agricultural Relief
Department, but the Department only distributes a small amount of food
supplies rather than compensation for damages. We also called the police,
who said that they would come to document the damage, but never showed up.
"My wife will have our first child in a few days. But I am worried that
she will go into labor at night while there is curfew, and we risk being
shot by the security if we try to make it to the hospital. We are also
afraid of the soldiers stopping our car and jailing us for violating the
curfew.
"Our family bought land several decades ago in partnership with another
local family. The title to the land is in both families' names. The other
family sold their portion off to the settlers some years ago, and now the
settlers are trying to take our portion as well. We are challenging the
confiscation in the Israeli High Court. The law states that if land is
confiscated but not sold, settlers cannot build on the property. If we
lose the case, we will receive a minimal 'compensation' for our
land. During our case, the High Court has stopped an Israeli development
corporation that had already laid foundations from further building on the
land. The police told us that we may cultivate our land in the meantime,
but we cannot build houses or greenhouses on the property. When I asked
why the settlers can build, the police didn't answer."
As the CPTers were interviewing the family, several neighbors dropped by to
tell their stories as well.
Farmer: "We have to take a 10-kilometer detour around the blocked road in
order to bring our crops into the market in Hebron. One day last week,
some of the farmers tried to remove the roadblock, but the security arrived
and chased them away. We are afraid to resist by removing the roadblock
because we would likely be sent to prison and no one would notice.
The security has been shooting at pedestrians along Route 60. It is more
dangerous for us to work our fields along the highway. But we have to go.
Two weeks ago, they fired three shots at Ismail Sultan in his vineyard. We
have all complained about the security's behavior to the police, but the
police have ignored us. One of the greatest difficulties we face is when
our gas runs out and we have to bring it from the city. The detour road is
extremely rough for using donkeys or handcarts, and only a few of the
farmers have carts to begin with. The rest must carry their goods by
hand. We don't know what will happen now since the settlers have closed
off the road. We are most afraid that our fields will be destroyed. Ziyad
and Fathi are still in police custody. They were due to be released Friday
evening, but were kept an additional day due to Shabbat. The police can
make decisions like that."
Truck Driver: "I haven't been allowed to deliver my goods for the past
month. Hebron residents are seen as 'troublemakers' by the military and
not allowed to pass the checkpoints. The only Palestinians who are allowed
to move between roadblocks are those with ID cards from the Jordan Valley
villages. When I went and tried to reason with the soldiers that I should
be allowed to pass since I am not on any of the military's wanted lists,
the soldiers replied, "We know you are clean, but we have orders." The
military told me to apply to the Civil Administration for a permit. I
went, but I didn't get a permit. Hundreds of Palestinians are waiting for
permits, but the permits are only given to owners of large companies that
do business considered vital to Israel's economy."
Shoemaker and Clausen also interviewed another family whose house is
situated close to the paved road. They showed the CPTers damage from
settlers standing outside their gate and throwing stones into the front
yard. As a result, their yard lights and front door glass had been
shattered, and their intercom on the gate smashed.
Family #4
Father: "Every day beginning with early evening here, it is like
curfew. We don't dare go out, because of the settler attacks. Seven
months ago, we had guests for our sister's engagement party, who parked
outside the gate. A settler gang came by and slashed all the car
tires. The settlers have also repeatedly thrown stones at visitors to the
house. Even our relatives don't visit anymore. There are 70 or 75
families living in 33 houses that are affected by this roadblock. The land
lying 100 meters past our house [and extending down the valley to Route 60]
has all been confiscated. Who knows what will happen next?"