Einabus, Urif, Burin: Fields set afire and shattered windows
Self-defense measures employed by two residents of Einabus to protect against settlers throwing rocks:
- A pail of rocks sitting opposite the façade under attack, in a place that’s hard to reach
- A sturdy, tightly woven metal screen protecting the windows facing the hill from which vandals throw rocks
We drove to Einabus because we’d heard that on Sunday, 7.6.20, settlers had attacked the village and set fire to one of its northern fields. A man we encountered near the municipality building took us to see it and reported that owners of land near the outskirts of Yizhar aren’t able to work it because the settlers keep attacking and there’s no one to protect them.
When we arrived we learned that two buildings had also been attacked the previous day, at 15:30. Vandals came from the hills above the buildings, threw rocks, and broke the windows. D., our friend from Burin, brought us to one of them. The owner invited us to the courtyard and the roof to show us the damage. He was interviewed on video, explained where the settlers came from and how they damaged his home. On one occasion they’d been accompanied by two soldiers. He feels helpless. He showed us a pail with stones for protection, to chase away the attackers if they come closer. The pail sits in a low area that’s hard to reach, next to the opposite side – it’s clear to him that he hasn’t a chance. The settlers watch his home from above, throw the rocks, and flee. We sat with them for a long time. His son, who lives with his family on the second floor, told us their situation has been deteriorating during the past two years as harassment by their settler neighbors grows increasingly bold, and they feel their land is being stolen.
His neighbor lives in a new house; he’s just begun to move into the ground floor. He’s taken other protective measures. Before he replaced the windowpanes he installed a sturdy metal screen on all the windows facing the hill overlooking the house. You can imagine that it feels like to sit in the room opposite that scene.
We also drove to Urif, to the home of a family who is friends of D, but they told us there had been no problems in recent days. On the way home, we stopped at D.’s in Burin and then returned to Israel. At the junction beyond Huwwara we saw a large sign announcing a road bypassing Huwwara.
'Einabus
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'Einabus
A village in the Nablus district, west of Hawara, numbering about 3,000 people. 85% of the village's land in Area B, 15% in Area C. 114 dunams of its land were expropriated to establish the violent settlement of Yitzhar and its outposts. Due to the proximity and violence of the settlers sitting on the top of the mountain to invade the village lands, the inhabitants of Einabus regularly suffer from harassment by settlers throwing stones, smashing windows, cutting down olive groves, as well as arson of vehicles and fields. All these were intensified in the second decade of the 21st century.
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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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