by David Nir
Nov 17 report: Olive Harvest in Hawarta
Nir is activist who was more
than once himself attacked by settlers
We were 21 activists on the bus. 18 of us were
assigned to Issawie, and three of us to Hawarta. Five IWPS activists were to
join in Issawie.
the assignment in Hawarta was to pick the olives
between the two perimeter fences of Ittamar, in the section overlooking the
entrance of Waddi Yannun. The three of us were to be observers and to deal with
troubles when those arose. We were to stay about 500-1000 meters away, at the
junction, and observe (We had a camera and binoculars). We arrived
to the "junction" at 08:30, however only at about 10:00 the entry
process began. at first only Assad and two women waited for us; Due to yesterday's
experience with the hostile settlers and soldiers, most of the owners did not
show up and it took much coaxing to see them arrive at the junction.
The army commander there, a major, proved
to be hostile to the entire project. As we had the chance to converse with him
till the entry commenced, and it seems that he is an extreme right winger, as
it could be observed through his conduct towards the Palestinians. When the
owners that arrived numbered 15 men and 8 women, the entry began.
Their I.D.s were verified with the list by the DCO Hassan who was really OK,
and then they marched to the gate of the outer perimeter fence. Later came 4
more men and rushed to the gate. Two others who were 30 minutes late but were
not allowed to enter - (Hassan - had he been near the gate then - he would have
seen that they enter. One of the villagers was not allowed to carry his
branches saw in. They were also forbidden to use their phones.
We followed them with our binoculars. The settlers
were this time held inside the inner perimeter fence by a large police and army
force. We could see two Yassam (special task police force) vans parked uphill,
to the north of the greenhouses.
The soldiers partitioned between the Palestinians and
the inner fence. We saw the Palestinians walking around but not picking
anything. At 11:30 one of the Palestinians returned alone; He has 120 trees
there but he said there was nothing to pick. that was because the trees
received no care in the past 5 years. At about 12:30 we saw all the other
Palestinians beginning to advance towards the exit gate. When they arrived near
us at about 13:00 we found out the reason: Most of theirs trees were uprooted,
burnt or sawed down. Some of the trees were even buried under a heap of rocks.
Another owner who returned empty handed told us has between 700 and 1000 trees
within the inner fence, that yielded between 3 and 6 tons of oil annually. He
was prevented from reaching them, and of course has no idea of their state.
A list of the owners and their respective damage shall
be supplied in a following message. Summing their respective accounts, over
1,110 trees were destroyed.
Nov. 10 report: Settler attack in Yannun
yesterday
My friend Hallil, from Yannun Tachta, was attacked
yesterday while picking his olives at his grove West of Yannun (on the hill,
East of the "Tiltan"). I spoke to him several hours ago by the cell
phone. The settler, Amos, age 20, from Avri Ran's ranch-illegal settlement,
ambushed Hallil, and saving his words just confined himself to delivering a
single powerful blow with his M16 gun - to Hallil's face near the eye, and
escaped away. Bleeding Hallil fell to the ground. He was then taken to Rafidiia
hospital in Nablus where he was operated today, to bind the eye barrel bone
fractured at three places. He will remain in the hospital for 10-15 days. His
eye was not lost, so far. The young apprentice of Avri Ran (the record holder
of violence and the torch bearer of the settler's violence) was identified
today at Ariel's police station by Hallil's Son, Fares, and arrested today.
Two years and even one year back, most likely the police would
"investigate" and "maintain the law" in a manner that would
hardly disturb the attacker's peaceful life routine. There is some change with
Ariel Police.
is that for many years they employ the technique of striking the face with a
rifle. In such a manner the left eye of Raleb Nasser from Akrabe was uprooted
three years ago, his cousin's brow was punctured, their aunt's skull fractured,
another's skull was slammed last March (the direct reason that Avri Ran is now
jailed), and even the writer of this message had the privilege of his nose
nearly removed from its original location by Avri Ran's rifle's barrel (Avri
Ran was acquitted at the trial that followed, soldiers present at the event
told the judge it was "not him" but another person they knew nothing
about).