Sinjil: report of Mate Binyamin Police
In our last visit at Sinjil to see the nearby maqam, we met ‘Ayad. He has helped us in the past with accompaniment and information about the maqam. He didn’t join us there this time. For months since the war broke out, Palestinians are prohibited from entering their grounds past Road 60. He asked us to photograph the site and the farmland around it.
The photos verified what he already knew that settlers of the area have grazed their cattle in the fields and it has damaged the crops and fences that separated the fields.
Later we sat with him in the yard of his uncle’s house and talked over a cup of tea. Suddenly a vehicle approached. ‘Ayad realized immediately that it was Michael Shamla who has taken over ground, built a ranch and tries to terrorize the Palestinian inhabitants.
The man got out of his car, came close to the fence and photographed everyone sitting there. “A bunch of idiots”, he swore at us. We didn’t react, only took his picture. Before he drove off, he muttered “Watch out for your lives”. Naturally, the atmosphere worsened.
On our way home ‘Ayad reported that Shamla sent four young settlers to photograph the house. A week earlier settlers tried to burn several houses in Sinjil. We suspected that this house has been signaled for a future attack and felt it was our duty to document and warn of this. ‘Ayad spoke with Yesh Din lawyers, and they decided he would lodge a complaint with the police about Shamla’s harassment. We were requested to accompany him and testify, if needed. When we came to ‘Ayad again to go to the police with him, we thought of lodging a complaint in our name as well, about this harassment, and add an event that took place a few months earlier, in which Shamla blocked a narrow track with his vehicle to the point of endangering Khaled who now works as deputy mayor of Sinjil and was driving his car.
We came to Mate Binyamin, at the heart of a commercial area. ‘Ayad was required to remain 50 meters from the entrance, and we were allowed in after a short security check. We felt strange. What are we doing at this place that behaves nicely to us, and we know how it treats the non-Jewish local inhabitants. We entered one by one to the policewoman/investigator to lodge our complaint. The nice policewoman heard from us about MachsomWatch and the maqam survey. Obviously, this was all news to her.
Her questions made us realize she is smart and knows what she is doing. We exited with the paper confirming that we had lodged our complaint. We discovered ‘Ayad was still waiting. We called to find out why he was left there. They told us he must call, which he did in our presence and was told he should wait for a police van to take him. We called from the road, and they still had not arrived. He was more relaxed because the deputy mayor was with him – he had come to lodge a complaint about the previous event. ‘Ayad waited about three hours until he was allowed to enter and lodge his complaint. Not everyone is that patient, and we’re not even sure his complaint will be investigated.
Location Description
Sinjil
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Singil
A town with a Maqam
The origin of the town's name is Raymond IV of Saint-Gilles, nicknamed the Count of Toulouse who established a Crusader fortress there in 1198. There is evidence of a settlement in the place as early as the Early Bronze Age.
On the mountain across from the town of Singil, east of Ramallah, the agricultural lands of its ten thousand residents spread out – The beautiful built-up terraces were renovated during the quiet period of the Corona pandemic. Each person and his fields on the way to the hilltop, location of the holy site, Maqam Abu Al ‘Uf, one the prophet Mohammad’s companions. Singil lands amount to 18 thousand dunams. Of these, 9,500 dunams are area C - where the Civil Administration forbids digging a water hole, laying pipes or building a shed to protect against the heat of the day or rain.
Maqam Abu Al ‘Uf stands in the heart of Singil's agricultural lands, on a hill from which the entire town is overlooked. It is an ancient and beautiful place that contains all the elements of Palestinian life in the past, which they embrace with longing. But they are afraid to repair and clean the site with a double fear of the settlers and the civil administration, since the site is in area C, the settlers are trying to appropriate the Muslim site to the Jewish narrative and transfer it to their control. They come and litter site with ship excrement or set up tables for a parties there.
Everything is beautiful, but there is a thorn in it: the Israeli occupation! In January 1978, a group of settlers settled near the village lands, under the guise of an archaeological dig camp in the nearby Tel Shiloh. Today Singil and its lands are surrounded by the huge settlements: Shiloh, Eli, Ma'ale Levona and their outposts: Giv’at Har’el, Giv’at Ha-Ro’eh (which the government approved to become a settlements) that more and more of the lands of Singil are annexed by one trick or another to the settlements. Another addition is the violent outpost called "Nahal Shiloh" from which a settler to attacks the Palestinian farmers, attempts to destroy terraces and send his herds to the Palestinian fields. Adjacent to the outpost is an Israeli army.
Of the 10,000 residents who live in the town, 400 people work in Israel and depend on work permits. They leave at three in the morning through four exits manned by soldiers from the nearby army camp who are held up by ID checks. 12,000 residents left over the years to other countries, mainly to the United States.
As part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, over the years there have been dozens of incidents of mutual violence between the residents of the village and Jewish residents of the area and the IDF forces. Including a settlers’ pogrom in May 2023.
Immediately after the horrific massacre carried out by the Hamas organization in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, all the village entrances were blocked with stones and piles of dirt. There is no going out and no coming except for one checkpoint in the direction of Ramallah where a military guard allows one out of ten applicants to leave.
Updated October 2023
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