Colonists of A’adi A’ad Outpost Torch 40 Dunums in the Village of Al Mughayyer – Ramallah Governorate

Violation: The burning of 40 dunums in the village of Al Mughayyer

Perpetrators: Colonists from the outpost of A’adi A’ad.

Victim: Mr. Akram Kamal Abdallah Na’asan

Date: June 17^th, 21011.

 

In a new terror campaign organized and carried out by the colonists of the outpost of A’adi A’ad, a group of such colonists set a field of wheat ablaze on Friday June 17^th, 2011. The field was located northwest of the village of Al Mughayyer. The Palestinians of the village were not able to reach the field due to the rugged terrains and the hard road conditions leading to it.

 

Moreover, the Israeli occupation forces made it even more difficult to access the said area under ridicules security arguments that was meant only to provide a cover for the colonists.   Lands of Al Mughayyer overtaken by colonists. The Start of David indicated colonists control over the land.

 

 

 

The torched land was worked at by Mr. Akram Kamal Abdullah Al Na’asan of Al Mughayyer, Ramallah.  It is becoming a yearly ritual for the colonists of A’adi A’ad outpost to form criminal gangs to attack Palestinians and their crops especially during the olive and wheat harvest seasons.

 

The goal is to fight the Palestinian farmer in his livelihood in an effort to uproot him from his land which would, then, become an easy prey for further colonial expansion. In the past few years, tens of arsons, tree damaging and uprooting and physical violence against Palestinian farmers and their properties by the said colonists were reported and documented. Most of these attacks were carried out in the presence of Israeli occupation soldiers who played the role of providing protection for the colonists during their rampages.

 

The outpost of A’adi A’ad was established in 2001 with the support of the Likud government at the time when the then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called for the occupation of the hilltops in the West Bank. In turn, colonists overtook large areas in the villages of Jaloud and Al Mughayyer including the hilltop used to establish the said outpost which currently forms an on-going source of harassment and violence against Palestinians living and working in its vicinity.

 

 

The village of Al Mughayyer is located 22 kilometers north east of the city of Ramallah. Its population is about 2900 Palestinians according to the PCBS’s 2010 estimations. Most of the villages’ lands are located in the east of the village and reaches as far as the Jordan River. Its area before the Israeli occupation in 1967 was about 33,000 dunums.

 

Upon the occupation, however, Israeli forces declared more than 27,556 dunums of the villages’ lands to be “Closed Military Area” in which mines were planted with a high presence of occupation forces. These forces usually prevent Palestinian herders from being present on their lands for any purpose.

 

The village is surrounded by Israeli colonies from all directions which makes it a target for further Israeli colonial expansion; the colonies of Tomer, Jiljal, Bitsa’el and Nateif Hagdood overlooks the village from east while the colonies of Shivot Raheil and Shilo and their associated outposts overlooks it from the western direction. As for the colonies of Niran, Yataf, Kokhav Ha Shahar they overlook the village from its western direction while the colonies of Ma’ale Efrayem and Mijdaleim overlook it from the north.