Nabi Saleh residents reported that on the 8/9th May, Israeli settlers attempted to sneak into the village to attack the houses. However, village youth confronted the settlers in an attempting to stop them.
translated Jo MacNiven and Annie Hasan
When I was a little girl, I didn’t understand anything in the world except for laughter, and playing games. I used to adore my small village that was of one family, united in its happiness and sorrows. I used to adore every inch of that land. I used to adore the season for the olive harvest and waking up early to prepare food for the entire day, since we were to spend our day picking. I adored getting up at 6 in the morning to go with our neighbor and his children to pick grapes and figs from his vineyard, for there is nothing in life which compares to the taste of grapes and figs in the early morning, coated with water from morning dew. I adored going to the spring in the valley to pick wild mint during the winter to make mint pastries. There are no other pastries that even compare in taste to that of a mint pastry.
As I grew up, so grew my love for this land and the large passion for its soil, its trees, and its stones. I grew and so grew my worries as the settlers reached the heights of the mountain that stands before my house. It is the place that contains all my worries. I used to go there to scream, cry, laugh, and then sit under a carob tree and I would look at the valley with its water and wonderful green color. I would gaze at the hills on the opposite side covered in olive, grape and fig trees. Just looking and staring at that mountainous landscape, I would forget my worries and sorrows. It would gladden my chest as though it had been washed with soap and water, restoring me back to life and making me active again.
Today everything has changed. Our land had already been stolen and colonial Zionist settlements have been built upon it. I am no longer able to reach the vineyards and fig trees. They have now been taken by the settlements and we are prevented from going there…but even more than that, they have uprooted and taken down the grape vines and fig trees to keep them from us. They stole our olive orchards and have uprooted the olive trees, which have existed since Roman times (thousands of years). I believe they are trying to kill/destroy our roots from our lands and break our glory. The worst part is that they have planted new olive trees they claim began growing on their land, which they inherited from their forefathers. When I sit on the mountain and look out in front of me, I no longer see anything but hills which have been deformed, robbed of their beauty by the hideous white houses with red roofs. I look into the valley to see the color has turned from vibrant green to pale yellow as if the earth has also felt the disaster that affected us and killed it, so that these thieves can take full advantage of it. When I look at the water, which was once clear and brought back life, I see it has now turned to green as if it too was hit and turned into toxic water that kills anyone who drinks it…as if it now knows we can no longer reach it.
No one can reach it except the aggressive settlers.
Today, at the height of our struggle to recover our land, we drown in our sorrows after we have lost, in less than a year, two of the most precious and dearest of our youth while they were defending their land and their dignity, sacrificing their lives in the process. Now we have received breaking news that settlers are digging up more of the land and have placed/set up 50 trailers for 50 new homes in the settlement.
Fifty more homes means 50 more families who occupy our land.
Fifty more homes means more pain and suffering.
Despite the grief over the loss of land, despite the pain we feel from our separation from loved ones, despite the humiliation, we will stay loyal to our land, we shall hold to the land just as the olive tree spreads its roots deep into the ground. We will raise our issues/concerns/worries high and loud and we will scream with our loudest voices, so that the world can hear us.
We are here and here we will stay. For this is our land and no one will remove us from it.
Settlers and Israeli forces arrived at dawn with trucks and bulldozers and set up 50 mobile homes on land belonging to Nabi Saleh, a village near Ramallah, witnesses told Ma’an.
Nabi Saleh is a center of popular resistance in the West Bank, and holds weekly demonstrations against the confiscation of its land and the takeover of its natural spring.
Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land are illegal under international law.
State tells High Court that settlers begin removing recreational structures near disputed Nabi Salih well.
Yesh Din said that recently a new pool was excavated near the well, whose walls were lined with concrete, ignoring the impact on any potential archeological finds.
In the first petition, Yesh Din said the land was private Palestinian land and the new recreational facilities were an attempted land-grab, preventing Palestinians from accessing their land.
Following Yesh Din’s filing of the first petition, the settlers and the state responded by having the site declared an archeological site in March 2011.
According to Yesh Din, the March 2011 response by the state also recognized an obligation to guard the status quo on the land, to comply with Israel’s obligation under international law to preserve historical sites.
That announcement led Yesh Din to withdraw its first petition, under the rationale that the declaration of the area as a historical site meant an end to the illegal building.
But Yesh Din eventually filed the current petition saying that the settlers were building again, harming the archeological site and violating their earlier commitment with their recreational construction.
Besides the case before the High Court, the controversy has led to weekly demonstrations by the Nabi Salih villagers, frequent altercations between the villagers and the IDF, and even some deadly incidents.
Eventually, the IDF started to prevent Palestinian villagers from approaching the well, as well as a newly created security zone near the well.
In November 2012, during Operation Pillar of Defense, Rushdi Tamimi was killed while the IDF was trying to do crowd control of an anti-war demonstration.
The Tamimi family is one of the most important in the village, and includes protest leader Bassem Tamimi, who has been arrested repeatedly by Israel, and Mustafa Tamimi, who died after being hit in the face by a tear gas canister while chasing an IDF jeep during a protest in December 2011.
At an earlier hearing on September 5, 2012, the court issued an interim order prohibiting the Halamish settlers from doing any additional building in the area of the well.
Recently, the settlers filed a formal request to build recreational structures around the well, but the request was denied.
According to Yesh Din, the state itself said in hearings related to the current petition that the settlers had failed to prove that they owned the land where they wished to build.
It also said that the land was outside the designated area for building relating to the Halamish settlement.
Yesh Din attorney Shlomi Zachariah praised the state for starting to enforce the law “regarding the illegally built structures” that were pushing more “Palestinians off their land.”
Zachariah criticized the state for what he called the delay in enforcement, but added it was “better late than never.”
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this article.
Video notes from film website: http://www.holylandfilm.com/
“Mohammad is an active member of the resistance group in the village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah. He is also manages the Tamimi Press, the web and social media extension of the Nabi Saleh protests. We interviewed him in Feb. at the natural spring near Nabi Saleh, an area that local settlers from Halamish have confiscated from Nabi Saleh, according to Tamimi and the Nabi Saleh protesters”/
Israeli settlers uprooted and burned olive trees on Palestinian land in the village of Nabi Saleh on Wednesday.
According to the Palestine News Network, a spokesman for the Palestinian Popular Resistance Movement in Nabi Saleh said that the Israeli military escorted a group of settlers to the area and watched passively as the settlers destroyed Palestinian property.
The land’s owners were not present at the time the destruction began but villagers rushed to the area as soon as smoke was spotted. The settlers ran away before the farmers could reach them.
Settler activities are illegal under international law and violate the Fourth Geneva Convention. Additionally, arson and destruction of private property are violations of Israeli law.
The Israeli military took no action against the settlers despite being present throughout the incident.
Dozens participated in this week’s demonstration in Nabi Saleh against the theft of its lands and spring by the Halamish Israeli settlement and the Israeli occupation that sustains it. Nabi Saleh residents, other Palestinians, and international and Israeli supporters marched peacefully from the center of the village.
This demonstration followed days of Israeli complete siege over the village and a massive night raid, resulting in the arrest of three people from the village.
As always, a peaceful demonstration met with Israeli army attack. Volleys of tear gas canisters were shot on the entire demonstration from a cannon installed on Israeli military jeeps. Sole canisters were also shoot by Israeli soldiers directly at people, in violation of their army’s own regulations. Israeli forces used their “skunk” track, carrying a foul-smelling water cannon. This time the “skunk” wondered around the village and sprayed houses in a blatant unlawful repressive measure.
Few people also threw stones to ward off the Israeli army’s incursion. A group of people managed to approach the soldiers, despite threats of arrests.
One youth was injured in the forehead by Israeli rubber coated bullet. He was helped into an ambulance that took him to hospital.
video by Bilal Tamimi
Video by Tamimi Press
Nabi Saleh Solidarity 