Violation: burning down vast areas of land
Location: Urif, Burin, Huwwara villages
Date: October 01-03, 2015
Perpetrators: Yizhar colonists
Victims: farmers from the area
Details:
A group of fanatic colonists from Yizhar on October 01, 2015 sneaked into the area of AL-Tira, northeast Huwwara village and set fire to an area of 15 dunums of olive groves. Israeli Forces provided protection for colonists at time of carrying out the attack. Damage followed a vast area where help couldn’t reach the spot due to the hard natural conditions of the area.
Same group of colonists on October 03, 2015 sneaked into the area of Al-Khallet and set it on fire; flames reached out an area of 10 dunums. Noteworthy, the Israeli soldiers hindered the Palestinian fire department from reaching the place, which helped spread the fire.
According to the data of Huwwara municipality, the attacked lands belong to farmers namely (Hamid Shihada, Mohammad Shihada, Jihad Huwwari, Ahmad Oudeh, and Mohammad Oudeh)
Photos 1-4: at time of fire
Burin under the target spot:
Since the establishment of Yizhar colony in the seventies, the natural resources of the area have been sapped through torching, ravaging and attacking lands and trees.
The Israeli Forces on October 01, 2015 closed the eastern entrance of Burin, which links it to the bypass road no.60. At the same time, colonists attacked eight houses located nearby Yizhar colony. Watchful residents foiled the attack but colonists set fire to some agricultural lands; the Israeli Forces banned farmers from reaching their plots to extinguish the fire. This caused fire to damage a vast area of land.
Fire was reported to reach out a total of 35 dunums from the areas namely (karm Salim, Ain Al-Junainih, Abu Haluf, Al-Ouqdih and Al-Brais). No specific data is available on the numbers of affected trees, taking into account that the lands belong to Al-Najjar and Eid families from the village.
A group of fanatic colonists from the outpost of Givat Ronen on October02, 2015 set fire to 13 dunums from the lands if Burin; more specifically the area called Karm Al-Shaquf. Palestinian fire department managed to extinguish the fire after it damaged vast areas.
Photos 5-7: the fires in Burin
Urif village:
It should be marked that the suburb areas of Nablus lately witnessed numerous attacks carried out by colonists. On October 04, 2015, a group of colonists set fire to 45 pastoral lands under the watchful eye and protection of the Israeli Forces. At the same time, colonists tried to attack Urif primary school but people of the area managed to fail the attack.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
