Bourin: “We have been feeling like this for the past 75 years!”
An old friend from Bourin village called me, wishing to tell me what was happening. No one is taking any interest in them. The entire West Bank is controlled by the Israeli army and the settler-colonists. The Palestinians are not allowed out of their villages. These are under closure. No entry into Huwara town. Whomever is seen by the army is sent home or seriously threatened. The colonists are violent, breaking shop windows.
In Madama colonists entered the main street and ran wild. “… Revenge acts of colonists again Palestinians continued throughout the West Bank. Last night, past midnight, dozens of armed colonists invaded the village of Madama, incinerated vehicles and threw stones at homes and cars. Soldiers were present and did nothing stop this.” (out of the Facebook page of Yesh Din human rights organization)
Shops are open, but prices have skyrocketed because transport has become complicated and one can no longer use the normal routes. People sit at home, there is no work, and soon food will no longer be affordable.
The olive harvest season which should have been at its height now – is non-existent. One is not allowed into one’s olive groves. I understood it is not even allowed to harvest the trees next to one’s home, naturally not near the colonies. If this goes on, the fruit on the trees will rot and fall. Furthermore, the colonists have been cutting down olive trees galore.
Now the Palestinians have declared a three-day strike following the Gaza hospital catastrophe. I asked him who bombed it. He was shocked at my question. Naturally he believes the version that is running through the scope of damage caused there and the conclusion that is so evident. As for the anticipated ground offensive: “Israel is so hurt by the horrors of October 7th that it must now kill 10,000 people in order to calm down.” In fact, these words sounding from all directions are so totally contrary to what we are told in Israel, that I no longer know whom to believe. It no longer matters what is heard and who says it. What one wishes to believe is what really matters.
The man tells me again that the armed settler-colonists and the soldiers really scare the Palestinians, and threaten Israeli volunteers as well. He went on and on and told me to look at various websites and see exactly what is going on. He spoke endlessly and I couldn’t stop him. My memory is not what is used to be. What I heard from him is scary as hell.
Today I drove out to bring things to Azoun (I didn’t enter the town). Azoun has been shut down for many months now, and when opened, it is dangerous for Israeli-license-plated cars to enter. We pass our goods from one vehicle to another and hurriedly take our leave. The nurseries road was entirely empty. All the nurseries are shut. There is no one around
Burin (Yitzhar)
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Burin (Yitzhar)
This is a Palestinian village in the Nablus governorate, a little south of Nablus, on the main road passing through the West Bank. The settlements: Yitzhar and Har Bracha, settled in locations that surrounded the village, placed fences so it is cut off the main road.
There are around 4000 inhabitants. Most of them are engaged in agriculture and pasture, although many graduates of the two secondary schools continue to study at the university. Academic positions are hardly available, they find work as builderd, or leave for the Gulf countries.
The village lands were appropriated several times for the establishment of Israeli settlements and military bases, and as a result, Burin's land and water resources dwindled. lSince 1982, more than 2,000 dunams of village land have been declared "state land" and then transferred to Har Bracha settlement.
Over the past few years and more so since 2017, the villagers have been terrorized by the residents of Yitzhar and Har Bracha, the Givat Ronen outpost and others. Despite the close proximity of soldiers to an IDF base close to one of the village's schools, residents are suffering from numerous stone-throwing events, vehicle and fire arson, also reported in the press.
In 2023, the prevention of the olive harvest in the village plot was more violent than ever. Soldiers and settlers walked with drawn weapons between the houses of the village and demanded that people stop harvesting in the village itself and in the private plots outside the village. The settlers from Yitzhar and Giv'at Roned raided the olive groves and stole crops. 300 olive trees belonging to the residents of Burin, near Yitzhar, were uprooted. The loss of livelihood from the olives causes long-term economic damage to the farmers' families, bringing them to the point of starvation.
(updated for November 2023)
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Madama
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Madama
This village is situated in the Nablus district, about 5 kilometers south of the city of Nablus, at an altitude of 517 meters above sea level. Madama was founded 400 years ago and its villagers originate from the Arabian Peninsula. It numbered 1,728 inhabitants in 2007. 62% of the village area is categorized as Area B, and 38% as Area C.
Over the years, hundreds of dunams have been robbed of the village for the purpose of building settler-colonies, army bases, and paving roads:139 dunams were sequestered to found settler-colony Yitzhar south of the village, and the land was also confiscated for paving road 60. The road and its buffer zone (75 meters on each side) lined by barbed wire fences separate the village’s farmlands to the north and the village farmers are denied access to tend them. The road also separates Madama and Burin, two villages with close neighborly ties, and now not able to access the road directly.
The settler-colony Yitzhar has become a daily threat to the village. The settler-colonists planted trees in fenced-in groves, steal crops, burn, uproot and vandalize Palestinians’ trees, and harm both holy sites and property. They also attack the Palestinian landowners in order to terrorize them and prevent them from accessing their lands.
For further information: http://vprofile.arij.org/nablus/pdfs/vprofile/Madama_vp_en.pdf
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