Susiya - Shem Tov Luski from ancient Susiya and Amishav Peled from Mishkan Farm keep stealing
The purpose of this shift was a visit to Susiya, after severe reports of an incident of violence against olive pickers with volunteers.
We first drove along Route 60 to see what the entrances to the Palestinian settlements along the road look like.
At the entrance to Samu’ the gate was open, the entrance to Dahariya is still closed for a year. The gate to Abde was open. Dura – al-Fawwar Junction to Dura is open, to al-Fawwar is closed. We saw people from al-Fawwar going to the junction through the fields because they are not allowed to go through the road. The entrance to Hebron, which is at the foot of Beit Hagai settlement, is closed. At the Qilqis-Hebron intersection, the gates
are closed and there are soldiers with drawn weapons at the checkpoint. People, women, old men and children of all ages go back and forth on foot. At the Sheep Crossing, the entrance on the side of Rihia to Hebron is closed, but on the side through the quarries to Hebron is open with a checkpoint manned by soldiers. At the intersection of highway 60 with 317, there is a manned checkpoint facing towards at the intersection.
As a rule, there is an increased presence of soldiers everywhere on the holiday of Sukkot, compared to other days. At the Zif junction the entrance to Yatta closed. People and cars work back-to-back. We bought groceries at the grocery store at the Zif junction for Azzam and Wadha, and continued to Susiya. The entrances to Yatta are still closed and the piles of stones and dirt prevent entry to the town, except for the road to Khalet al-Mai, approximately in front of Dirat. There the way is open.
We reached Azzam and Wadha and he told us about the event that took place on Saturday. The incident happened when settlers arrived while the Palestinians were working in an olive grove. The settlers tried to prevent them from picking the olives and beat them with a stick. An Israeli volunteer who tried to protect them was beaten and an ambulance had to be called, to take her to the hospital. She refused to be evacuated by Magen David Adom and they called the Red Crescent and arranged with the hospital in Yatta to treat her, even though she is Israeli and so it was*. Now she is at home with broken ribs. Azzam says that every day the settlers come with their herds who eat all their crops and break their seedlings. “Even today,” he said, “I tried to call the police but everyone is busy with the demolitions in Tuba. Then soldiers arrived, only to keep the settlers away. No one was ever arrested or questioned. As a rule, the soldiers receive instructions from the settlers and coordinate with them in every matter.”
To reinforce this reality, he recounts an incident from two months ago, when two settlers came to him while he was in his daughter's cave which is used for storage, and started throwing stones at him. When he asked why they don't pass quietly on their way to the new outpost called Havat Mishkan, the settler named Amishab Peled came back to him with a knife and asked, "Do you want to die?" Why is this cave so important to you? and continued to throw stones. Azzam says: This is mine, in my land and they recently settled not far away and are trying to drive us out and make our lives bitter. So later the settlers went to the old Susiya where a settler named Shem Tov Luski also settled and there they called 5 more people who came with a horse and a scooter and they also threatened and tried to beat him. When he called the police, they told him to file a complaint in Kiryat Arba and so he did.
"So, what do you think?” he asks. "Did they do something? Did they stop? Did you investigate? nothing. I see them continue to hang around here and bother my neighbours too. Shem Tov Luski from Old Susiya and Amishab Peled from Mishkan keep stealing our water tanks, and the posts of the fences we are trying to build around our plots. The police know all about this and do nothing to them and we continue to be bothered almost every day."
Again, around the Nawaja'a family in Susiya, the settlers are trying to surround it with new settlements and restriction of movement, as described repeatedly in our reports.
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* A foreign activist was injured after settlers attacked olive pickers in Kfar Sousia, east of Hebron.