Burin in Corona days - Yitzhar is closed by the army and Burin can relax
Report in Corona days
In a conversation with M. from the village of Burin.
M. tells us that the families are in detention at home and that this is “natural” for them. They are even immune against the economic situation without means of income.
“Because poor people what do they need? Flour, rice, oil and this they have… Chicken and doves are outside and some garden vegetables – and they are fine!”
“They don’t need to deprive themselves from outings to the cinema, to restaurants, to trips abroad… This is not their way of life. Therefore it’s easier for them.”
“They are used to curfew, closure, barriers. The worst memory is from the Intifada time, and afterwards three years when the village was closed and people were shot at”…
In the meantime there is quiet since Thursday, when people from Yitzhar threw Molotov cocktails on the security vehicles.
The army now watches and closes in on Yitzhar, and the Burin inhabitants have peace both from the settlers and from the army too.
In the village of Bido there is a serious outbreak of the Corona. 30 people got sick from a worker who returned from Israel. His mother died from the disease.
In the surroundings of Ramallah and Jerusalem too there is an outbtreak of the epidemic. In the region of Nablus it is quiet in the meantime. Workers who return and withdraw the barriers on their way home, are caught by the security forces of the Palestinian Authority and are put in confinement.
There is anger at the Joint List because it didn’t stipulate its support of Gantz against the assurance that he wouldn’t team up with Netanyahu. We reached the conclusion that we are nothing but connected vessels in the processes that take place in the region. We tried to predict and wished for the best.
M. sends greetings of peace and health to the women of Machsom Watch and the Sea Days.
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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