Sha’ab al Butum -beginning to repair the damage caused by the settlers

We were glad that our friends had come  and went to Sha’ab al Butum to visit our friends, the Jabarins.

We went because Leila had asked for some basic products of which they had run out and also to see how they were doing after the demolition and the daily threats from the settlers and the IDF. So, we went to the supermarket in Hura and bought them wheat, flour, sugar, oil and crembo to make the children happy. The tiny village was destroyed on 15.10. 2023 and now they are starting to try to restore both the homes and the vegetable gardens where they had grown their vegetables and the chicken coop where all the poultry had been slaughtered.

 Leila and her daughters come from the building where the whole family spends the night as it is far away and safer for them.

“We are afraid to sleep here at night,” she says. Since that pogrom, everyone comes home only in the morning, rebuilding little by little, and at night they go to sleep somewhere else.

"You must stay and wait for me to cook you the cabbage especially for you."

So, we waited[N1] . It was very tasty.

The family members say that on 13.12 the settlers raided them again, broke the old van that they were going to use for a while, took the identification plates and stole their water tank. They now also cover the walls of their house with stones hoping that this will make it harder to destroy it.

We went to their neighbour, their relative Ischak. From the compound of their home, the growing and expanding Abigail settlement can be seen in their direction with large villas from where they the terrorists raid them all the time.

Ischak says that in addition to everything, he is not allowed to plough his field and this is the season to prepare it for summer.

Then we also went to Khalet al-Daba’ to hear and see how Jaber and his family are doing. In the meantime, the past week was quiet and without new events. But he showed us that on the hill in front of them there is the beginning of a new settlement. Until recently the groundwork as being prepared there and suddenly, they stopped. He thinks that the Palestinian landowners complained. We add that there is also national pressure on the issue.

Maybe that helps too. Who knows

We will continue to monitor and report.

We also went to At-Tuwani and met Nasser Adara. He tells us he manages to drive the children from Ar-Rakeez, Mufaqara and Khalet al-Daba’ to school and back, thanks to the vehicle we helped them purchase.

Admittedly, in two shifts as there are more than 30 children. It says on the vehicle that it is intended for transporting children, so the authorities took pity on him and don't confiscate it. But the fear is there all the time.

The children from Tuba are now being transported by volunteers from Israel because the road to the foot of Havat Ma'on on which they walked when accompanied by the Israel Defence Forces, is blocked. If there are no volunteers, they do not go.

Nasser also tells us that they were also forbidden to plough their land which is close to the surrounding settlements. They were helped by the lawyer, Qamar, who filed an appeal against these rulings. Today he says he received a message that they would be allowed to plough from Sunday, 24.12 to Wednesday with a one-time permit. According to him, four days is enough and will solve their problem.

This ill treatment is constant.

There is a settler named Yissachar who  has a bulldozer and with it he makes blockades everywhere around them on the access roads to the villages. Yedidya Talia, son of Yaakov Talia from that infamous farm, does so too with the former’s bulldozer. Here too, they complained to the lawyer who filed a complaint with the police. And the matter was settled.

Nasser has a feeling that the complaints and the photos are helping

According to him, the behaviour of the settlers has improved. He has the feeling that the police are preventing them more recently.