Yasuf, Za'tara (Tapuah)

09:30  We left from the Rosh Ha’ayin train station.

No military presence anywhere along the way, nor at the Za’tara/Tapuch junction.

10:15  Yasuf.  Evidence of vandalism by the settlers from Kfar Tapuach is visible along the road from Tapuach to Yasuf:  trees cut-down; burned, charred olive trees standing dead. Piles of branches from the toppled trees by the doors to the homes.  They’ll use them to heat their homes in the winter.  All that remains of their efforts.

Posters at the entrance to the municipal offices:  On one a small, wounded boy from Gaza, his face twisted in weeping, receiving medical attention.  On another – boycott of Israeli products.  A black “X” on each item, photos of weapons surrounding them.  We meet the treasurer and secretary at the municipal building.  Neither speaks English or Hebrew.  Nadim plays an active role in the conversation and translates, and we hear the account of harassment by their settler neighbors from Tapuach, under the auspices and with the blessings of the police and/or the army, or simply ignoring it.

 Yasuf has about 2000 inhabitants.  Two thirds of their land is near Tapuach settlement, which keeps expanding.  Most of that land is defined as Area C.  The residents are allowed access only twice a year:  one or two days for plowing, and five days to harvest the olives.  This year, after six (!) postponements, they received permission to pick their olives.  But only for four days.  The harvest will begin on Sunday, October 26, though most of the villages have almost completed their harvest.  The army is supposed to protect the residents during these four days.  But, if to judge by what soldiers say, “I’m here to guard the settlers, not you,” or “these trees belong to Tapuach, not to you,”  not much good will come to the villagers because of the army…

Here’s the vandalism chronicle of the last few days:

The “traditional” cutting down of the olive trees began this year in the middle of Eid el Adha, on October 6.  Settlers from Tapuch cut down ancient, venerable olive trees and left a message:  “Happy holiday.”  This was the eleventh time olive trees had been cut down in that area.  A police investigator arrived.  The tracks of five people led to Tapuach.  But the investigator and the policemen accompanying him didn’t bother entering the Tapuach to catch the culprits because they’re all in cahoots.  The policemen, however, thoughtfully suggested the landowners sue…

On October 10 the settlers cut down five more trees, set a fire and fled.  Who gave them the gasoline?  Tapuach’s military security coordinator was seen dragging a tank of gasoline, passing it through the fence to those cutting down the trees.  It’s important to remember:  immediately after the end of the Gaza war most of the military security coordinators in the localities surrounding Gaza were fired because the Ministry of Defense no longer had enough money to pay their salaries.  But security coordinators on the West Bank don’t get fired.  So Tapuach’s security coordinator, an active collaborator with lawbreakers, will continue to receive his salary as an employee of the Ministry of Defense and be in no danger of losing his job.

On October 11 a man and wife went to pick olives on their land in Area B.  The long arm of seven settlers reached them also:  they attacked the woman with iron rods and destroyed their car.  The woman was hospitalized.  This time the area commander was determined:  four settlers were caught immediately, then a fifth.  The secretary said the arson of the Aqraba mosque was a “price tag” retaliation for the arrest of the five settlers from Tapuach.

Many visitors arrive after the incidents to see for themselves.  Members of Yesh Din come regularly.  A group from the Peres Center for Peace, accompanied by journalists, only managed to approach the fence of Tapuach when the settlers attacked and chased them off.  While we were at the municipal building a journalist from the BBC in London arrived accompanied by a photographer and a group from B’Tselem to report on what was happening in the village.  The secretary of the municipality, for his part, makes sure to document the attacks.

He displays photographs of the hostile slogans settlers left where the trees were felled.  He has films showing the settlers in action, some showing their faces.  The police are able to definitely identify each of them and bring them to trial.  But who’ll risk confronting this settler crime family.

“Twelve settlers turn the lives of 2000 villagers into a living hell, and no one cares,” says the secretary.

On our way back we see a huge electric pole, three structures and a red prefab located on a hill near Yasuf.  Tapuach’s new “neighborhood.”

Unlike this morning, there’s a Border Police jeep with four soldiers at the Za’tara/Tapuach junction.  Eight more soldiers – six male and two female – are at the hitchhiking station and in the guard tower.

12:30  Back to Rosh Ha’ayin.

And that’s not all:  Some of the land is categorized as Area B; residents are entitled to access it at all times.