Discussion in the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee following the Violent Assaults in Burin.
It was an informative meeting (on Zoom). Committee chairperson Gilad Kariv clarified the question: Why do the soldiers, who are present throughout the West Bank and who witness the violence, not stop the assailants nor detain them until the police arrive.
What is it that stops them from fulfilling this duty? The top brass of the army and police mumbled. They promised to bring the data to the next meeting in two or three weeks. Kariv also asked why there are no police positions accessible to the Palestinians.
Yesh Din reported that 91% of the files that have been opened for Palestinian complaints against Jews have been closed. Gilad Kariv moderated the discussion respectfully and everyone noted that this was the first time that such a subject had been brought up for discussion in the committee.
At the beginning of the discussion, right-wing members of Knesset tried to present contradictory data and note that many settlers suffer more from Palestinian violence.
Gaby Lasky facilitated the civilian side of the discussion at the end of the meeting. The speakers were the director of Yesh Din and Avi Dabush of Rabbis for Human Rights, who described the series of assaults on the volunteers just recently, in Bat Ayin, Awarta, and Burin, which suffers all year round from Jewish terrorism. He called the assailants an organized, blood-curdling militia and demanded they be brought to justice in accordance with their being declared a terrorist organization. He demanded that the Jewish and Palestinian victims be compensated as victims of acts of terrorism and called for the dismantling of the violent outposts.
The rabbis are organizing a demonstration next Friday. This time they will surely be surrounded by the finest of the army of occupation.
There was no time for the victims of Buran to speak. They were promised time at the next meeting. Kariv declared that he had not called the meeting simply as a one-off event, but that he would hold several follow-up meetings.
If you can, please join us for the next meeting, on Zoom, in your pajamas with a coffee. It’s easy. It is absolutely at the heart of our activities in the Territories, and of course, what is happening in Hebron and the South Hebron Hills.
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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