Violation: torching agricultural lands
Location: Al-Jab’a- Bethlehem
Date: May 18, 2015
Perpetrators: Beit Ein colonists
Victims: residents of the village
Details:
A group of Beit Ein colonists on May 18, 2015 set fire to lands owned by residents of the Bethlehem village of Al-Jab’a.
Citizen Nabil Hamdan (50) received a phone call informing him that his agricultural lands in the area of Heelit Qidis, which are located next to Beit Ein colony, are on fire. Fire reached out vast area of lands, Hamadan said.
Photos 1-5: the olive groves destroyed by the fire
Citizen Hamdan also said that he couldn’t reach his land easily because of it being far from the main road and that the road leading to the lands is closed by a military order. Noteworthy, the Israeli occupation authorities banned the citizen from plowing the lands, which increased the area of hay that in its terms helped spreading the fire at time.
The only time the Israeli fire department interfered was when the fire reached out the lands located next to the colony.
It should be marked that fire damaged 35 agricultural dunums and 250 olive trees aging over 60 years each. Also, 15 dunums of pastures and arid lands were burned down.
The affected lands belong to the following;
- Mohammad AbdelRahman Hamdan
- Mohammad Hamdan Hamdan
- Ali Hamdan
- Ibrahim Hamdan
Citizen Nabil Hamdan asserted that around 80 members of the lands’ owners benefit from those lands. The citizen also pointed out that the perpetrators are colonists from Beit Ein colony.
In 2009, colonists shot citizen Hamdan while working in his land and looted the olive fruits. Also, Hamdan reported that colonists are used to chaise farmers and close agricultural roads leading to their lands in order to divert them from using the lands.
It should be marked that citizen Hamdan submitted a complaint to the Israeli Police Station in the colony of Kfar Etzion. Some policemen asked the affected to accompany them to the attack scene but he refused, taking into account that the police already know the place but will not open any serious investigation in that regard.
Most of the complaints submitted by Palestinian against colonists’ attacks are ignored.
Such attacks are meant to push Palestinians away from their lands so that colonists can take them over and expand the colony of Beit Ein, which has no fence and that the space between its houses is big.
Annexing 10 colonial units in Beit Ein colony:
Since the beginning of 2015, the colony of Beit Ein is going under a notable expansion that is represented in land ravaging and residential units’ establishments. Ten house were reported annexed to the colony ever since.
Photo 6: the new colonial units in Beit Ein
About Al-Jab’a:
It is located 16 km to the north of Hebron edging the villages of Nahhalin and Wadi Fukin in Bethlehem and Surif in Hebron; it also edges the armistice line; it has a total area of 7345 dunums. The village is totally surrounded by the Israeli segregation wall except from Surif side. Al-Jab’a is 668m above sea level; its name is derived from the Canaanite era meaning “the hill” and was once named “Jabata” during the Roman time.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
