Sinjil - settlers have been trying to set up two new illegal outposts on private land
As usual, M. is very busy. Yesterday morning he was working on a tractor, and asked me to call after 3 pm. but I couldn’t reach him. So I called today. He was busy farming, but he asked his wife, who was near him and speaks English fluently to serve as his translator.
Covid 19: only a few people are sick, so it’s not a problem.
SETTLEMENTS. Their main problem now is that for the last month, about 70-75 settlers have been trying to set up two new illegal outposts on Sinjil private land—one group in the North, near Maale Levona, and another in the West, near Givat Harel. They keep trying to clear this private land and grab it; naturally, the Palestinian owners try to stop them, but the invaders refuse to leave. To prevent this daily conflict from escalating, our friend M. then phones up the Army and asks for their help. Military police come and order these unruly people to stop their illegal activity. They leave, but only for a few hours: they return the next day and it starts all over again. So M. now has another chore in his busy daily schedule: to phone the Israeli military police every day, for the sake of peace and quiet in his village.
OLIVE HARVEST. The usual seasonal period is October 1 to November 10. This year, in Sinjil it will start in 1 week. They think this year it won’t be as plentiful as last year. I ask whether they need any help. M. says yes, he needs a buffer group to keep peace. He expects the harvest to be a very hard time this year. Mainly because, as we all know, in protest to the announced annexation program, the Palestinian Athority broke off all relations with Israel. So there is no cooperation, no DCOs are available. That is, no buffer group to keep the settlers from attacking or threatening to attack the harvesters with firearms.
So M. has been trying to call in international groups like the Red Cross to ensure that farmers can harvest their olives safely. But no one dares come to this dangerous area.
I promised to ask the Harvest Coalition to send them volunteers.
He and his wife both thanked me very much, and asked me to phone and tell them whether vounteers will come.
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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