Duma: Settlers destroy and steal from Bedouin communities
We reached Duma around 11 a.m.
Hussein and Satira Dawabsha hosted us for a cup of tea with freshly picked sage. We spoke about the situation there and the feeling of the kind of acceptance. We asked whether Hussein would accompany us to the residence of the Bedouin community where Protective Presence takes place. Hussein readily agreed.
The way there is not paved, but good will enables access. At the entrance to this compound, the residents raised a gate crowned with barbed wire hoping that it would not enable unwanted entry. Above our heads we saw the settlers of the new outpost watching us. The gate has a key and one of the residents came to open it for us. We left the vehicle and began walking the rocky road, with thorns and mud and other obstacles,
But we finally got there. In the residence, we were met with the “owner” and 18-19 years old youngsters protecting the residents with their voluntary presence. When we asked them how they got here, they answered, smiling “by word of mouth”. There was also a young American woman volunteering there, very good looking, who came out of a moral duty to protect the needy.
A.H. told us he has been there for about 10 years. Before this he had lived around the Dead Sea and left because the weather had become too harsh. Here he was an all-trades man, and finishes now saying, “until October 7th.” “Since then, no work, no sheep, no possibility to graze them” for fear of the settlers who settled the outpost on the hilltop.
“Since October 7th I have been watching out over the house.” A.H. took us to see the theft and destruction wrought by the settlers in this residence including everything – the fridge, electricity, furniture, even clothing. Outdoors they also vandalized the water tank.
In the midst of everything is a corner of sanity – an improvised playground and several volunteers playing football with the boys – many children ages 3 to 6-7. There is life in this place, but so hard. Existence and uncertainty, tomorrow unknown. Still A.H. concludes: “This is my land; I don’t leave it.”
Location Description
Duma
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Duma
A village in the Nablus governorate, with 3,000 residents. They owned some 18,000 dunams, 500 dunams of which the village itself was built. However, after the settlement of Migdaleim annexed a large part of their land, their area was reduced to only 2,000 dunams.On July 31, 2015, two houses in the town were torched with petrol bombs. Sa'ad and Riham Dawabsha, and their infant, Ali Sa'ad Dawabsha, were burned to death. Another son was seriously injured. "Revenge" and "King Messiah" were spray painted on the walls of the house. The trial of the arsonist, the settler Amiram Ben Uliel, is still underway (2019), and a plea bargain was signed in May 2018 with the minor who participated in the planning of the arson.
The closure imposed by the army, the poor roads that they are forced use due to the lack of paving permits from the Civil Administration, along with the lack of public transportation, all these difficulties cut off the village from nearby Nablus and Ramallah.
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