Turmus Ayya - The settlers harass every day in different ways
Rachel interviewed A., of the Turmus Ayya Council, with whom we all talked several months ago before the lockdown, and who was willing to talk with her. A pleasant, well-spoken man who speaks English well—he worked in the States for many years. His older sons still live there with their families. He and his wife came back to Turmus some time ago to ensure their youngest son receives a traditional Palestinian education.
SETTLERS bother them every day in different ways. They attacked a young boy who was riding a bicycle; they burn trees; two days ago they stole a fence. They all come from the same area, a new place [an outpost?] near the valley. They are bolder now because of the corona. The soldiers of course defend them, and as to the police—“when we call them to complain about these attacks, they don’t always answer the phone,“ he says.
COVID 91. People take great care. So far, there isn’t a single case in their town.
ECONOMY. A difficult situation, there is a high rate of unemployment and no income.
Israeli Government: A. thinks they are tough, full of hatred, and they keep fighting among themselves. He doesn’t see that they aspire to peace.
Rachel suggests that any hope for a change lies in the belief that Trump won’t stay on. A. also thinks he will fall. He is, he says, “the worst that ever happened to the USA.”
Location Description
Turmus Aya
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Turmus Aya is a beautiful and well-kept Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bira governorate, located in the Shiloh Valley, about 22 km north of Ramallah. Near Highway 60 at an altitude of about 732 m. In 2016, 4,781 residents lived in the town. After the 2nd intifada in 2001, hundreds immigrated to the US, but they come in the summer to visit their families and live in the nice houses they built.
Israel expropriated 752 dunams of the town's land for the establishment of the Shiloh settlement, in 1978, and another 372 dunams for the establishment of the Shebot Rachel settlement in 1992. According to the Oslo Agreement, the built-up area of TAos Aya was classified as area B. This area constitutes 64.7% of the town's land, and the rest, 35.3%, is area C.
Starting in 2015, the town's residents often suffer from harassment from the settlers of the Adi Ad outpost, which include the uprooting and cutting of olive trees, the burning of wheat fields and the spraying of anti-Netzka inscriptions.
On June 21, 2023, dozens of young people from outposts and surrounding settlements carried out a pogrom in broad daylight after the funeral of the victims of the attack that occurred two days earlier at the gas station in the settlement of Eli. The attack took place after the Israel Defense Forces' invasion of Jenin and the killing of innocents in the process - an invasion that took place after a previous event... and so on, deep into the non-stop blood equation that is always presented in Israel as terror attacks without context. They set fire to about 60 cars and about 30 houses with their occupants and threw stones, fire grenades and even shot from guns.The IDF soldiers watched the attack but didn't intervene. A villager was killed by soldier fire. Only 3 settlers were arrested after a few days, but charges have not yet been filed against them.
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