- Violation: Uprooting seedlings and confiscating a farmer’s tractor.
- Date of violation: 08/04/2020.
- Location: Yatta and Al-Shuyukh / Hebron Governorate.
- Perpetrators: the colonialists and occupation army.
- Affected party: Farmers from Yatta and Al-Shuyukh.
Violation details:
Settlers from Ma’on colony uprooted olive saplings from the lands of Al-Tuwani village, east of Yatta, while the Israeli occupation forces confiscated an agricultural tractor that was working on plowing citizens’ lands in the town of Al-Shuyoukh, north of Hebron.
Uprooting olive seedlings:
On April 8, 2020, a group of settlers from Ma’on colony uprooted 15 olive seedlings whose the citizens of Al-Tuwani had planted in a plot of land east of the village designated as a public park, and called it “Freedom Garden.”
Members from of al-Harini family who reside in the village of al-Tuwani donated this plot of land to serve as a public park to commemorate the resilience and struggle of the head of their village council, the late Mr. Saber al-Harini, in defending the village lands and encountering the attacks of the colonialists throughout his life.
On the Land Day, 30/30/2020, the people of Al-Tuwani commemorated the death of their respected man by planting a number of olive seedlings in the Freedom Park, and on April 8 they returned to inspect the seedlings, but they discovered that all of them were uprooted and stolen by the settlers of Ma’on.
Confiscation of an agricultural tractor:
Also, on April 8, the Israeli occupation army confiscated an agricultural tractor owned by Mr. Hamed Mahmoud Ayaidah while he was working on plowing the lands of his relatives in the “Al-Asir” area, east of Al-Shuyoukh town.
In an interview with the field researcher of the Land Research Center, Ayaidah stated that he went with his relatives to plow their lands in the aforementioned area, and as soon as they started working there, a force from the occupation army came to the site and stopped the agricultural tractor from working, and the soldiers ordered the driver to drive it under their escort to Gush Etzion settlement. Once they have reached destination, the driver was released and his tractor was confiscated without handing the owner any the confiscation papers.
The occupation authorities claim that the tractor was plowing lands classified as “state land”, but the citizens from the Ayaidah family confirm their legal ownership of the land in which the tractor was blowing, adding that because of its proximity to the colony of Asfer the colonialists seek to seize it for future expansion of their colony.
