Violation:  uprooting and looting saplings

Date:  2/03/2015

Location: al-Shuyukh village/ Hebron governorate

Perpetrators: Bani Kaddim and Asfar colonists

Victims:  citizens Abdelqader and Mousa Ayaydah

Details:

 A group of fanatic colonists from Asfar and Bani Kaddim uprooted 1200 seedlings from lands owned by Ayaydah family in the Hebron village of al-Shuyukh.; the lands' owners discovered about the attack just on March 28, 2015.

 

 

Photos 1-4: signs of the uprooted trees from Ayaydah's lands

  Citizen Hani Ayaydah said that his brother, uncles and him finished planting 1000 olive saplings and 200 almond saplings on March 21 ,2015. A week later, Ayaydah members came back to the land to check on the seedlings to find out that colonists uprooted all of them and looted some. 

In the same context,   colonists from Asfar and Bani Kaddim uprooted around 550 olive sapling, which have been planted on February 13, 2015 and attacked four day later. The 320 dunum land is owned by Abdelqader  and Mousa Ayaydah in the area of al-Wasleh; the plot is edged by Bani Kaddim colony from the northeast and Asfar from the west.

Photo 5: a view of the attacked lands

Colonists of Asfar resided the area at the beginning of 1980s on lands confiscated from the villages of al-Shuyukh and Sa'ir. By the time of 1990s, colonists established the so-called Bani Kaddim colony on lands confiscated from Ayaydah family (12 dunums) and installed a number of caravans to inhabit them.

Photo 6: a view of Bani Kaddim colony

Photo 7: a view of Asfar colony

 

It should be marked that the attacked trees were gifted by Palestine Ministry of Agriculture; the land's owners pointed out that the uprooted trees cannot be re-planted again for it is too late and that olive season is over. Noteworthy, famers depended on rainwater to irrigate their trees for the area lacks irrigation cisterns.

After finding out about the attack, citizens reported the attack to al-Shuyukh municipality, Ministry of Agriculture and Palestinian District Coordination Office DCO ; one of the affected farmers submitted a complaint to the Israeli Police station in the colony of Qiryat Arbaa. Later on, an officer from the occupation army arrived to the scene, examined the lands and took testimonies and photos of the area before they had left.

Citizens also pointed out that they previously submitted many complaints against colonists violations and attacks to the Israeli police  but no results have been rendered in that regard.

Previous attacks on Ayaydah family lands:

A member from Ayaydah family named Hani narrated the following attacks on their lands in the area of al-Wasleh:

• Farmers used to reside in their lands seasonally in synchronization with harvesting  seasons but when colonists came in 1984 and established Asfar colony, lands became inaccessible to Palestinians due to their proximity to the colony.
• After the year of 1990, colonists escalated their attacks against us and our land; violations were represented in banning us from reaching our lands, sabotaging crops and looting some of the crops planted in the area.
• Colonists set up a fence and shut down the road leading to our lands; this made us take a tripled-distance route through Sa'ir village to Sa'ir valley to the area of al-Qanoub and then to our  lands.   
• Colonists attacked our vehicles and shattered their glass while parked nearby our lands at time we worked in the fields.
• In 1996, colonists from Bani Kaddim fenced our plot with barbed wire to ban us from accessing it, trying to annex it to the colony.
• At the beginning of 2000, the Israeli occupation authorities denied us access to our lands; this badly affected the trees and soil for they were left without plowing and irrigation.
• In late August 2014, the Israeli occupation authorities served a land grab order under the number of (C/21/14) on parts of Ayaydah's lands; lands' owners objected the order through an attorney. The Israeli District Coordination Office offered the owners specific permits to access their lands but farmers rejected it until they were finally granted access to their lands anytime. As a result, farmers rehabilitated their lands with help from Young Men's Christians Association YMCA, which gifted them trees to be planted in the plot.
• Colonists from Asfar and Bani Kaddim uprooted around 550 olive sapling, which have been planted on February 13, 2015 and attacked four day later. As a consequence, farmers came back and planted 1200 seedlings in the same targeted areas; colonists uprooted the saplings in a period less than a week after.

 

 

Prepared by
 The Land Research Center
LRC