- Violation: a farmer beaten by colonists.
- Violation date: February 8, 2022 AD.
- Location: Al-Qanub – Sa’ir / Hebron Governorate.
- Perpetrators: the settlers of the Asfar settlement.
- Affected party: citizen Mohammed Al-Shalaldeh.
The violation details:
A group of settlers from Asfar settlement, which was built on the confiscated lands of Palestinian citizens east of Sa’ir town, assaulted an elderly citizen, Mr. Muhammad Abd al-Fattah Tohma al-Shalaldeh, 75, inflicting on him injuries, fractures and bruises in different parts of his body.
The field research team at the Land Research Center met with the injured citizen at the surgery department of Al-Ahly local Hospital in Hebron, shortly after leaving the operation theatre, as he was unable to give a full statement of what happened to him, but he stated the following:
“The settlers attacked me, beat me, smashed my head with stones, and I suffered fractures and bleeding in my face. They tried to kill me, burn my house, and attack my grandchildren.”
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Photos 1-3: The injured citizen, Mohamed Abdel-Fattah Al-Shalaldeh, on the recovery bed
In her testimony, Mrs. Zohour al-Shalaldeh, 70 years old, who is the wife of the injured man and who witnessed the assault on her husband and accompanied him to hospital, said the following:
“At about four o’clock in the afternoon on Tuesday, February 8, 2022, whilst my husband was sitting near our house in the Al-Qanub area, east of Sa’ir, petting our grandchildren, and my daughter-in-law and I were close to him, a group of 10 young colonists attacked him. They arrived at our house shouting bad words at us in Hebrew language, and carrying axes and sticks, so my husband called op on this grandchildren to flee away, so my daughter-in-law and I moved away with the children and entered our house, but we were watching the colonists from the doors and windows whilst beating my husband with stones and sticks. They, also, began smashing my husband’s head with stones and hit him all over his body. I saw blood flowing from his face and all over his body, so I thought he was dead. In the meantime, another group of about 20 colonists joined in, and spread among the dwellings and were trying to burn down our homes and attack our livestock. The, also, chased our neighbors and terrorized the children, and they beat one of our relatives, Ya`qub Shalalda, 45 years old, and broke his hand. Then, they left the site after they thought they had killed my husband. I was screaming and asking for help, so that someone might come to help her husband, and finally a neighbor called the occupation police, and after about half an hour, they arrived at the site accompanied by a vehicle belonging to the so-called Civil Administration and an ambulance belonging to the Magen David Adom. The paramedics provided first aid to my husband at the site, while the police interviewed us. Then the ambulance transported my husband to the nearby town of Sa’ir and then handed him over to a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance, and then he was transferred to Al-Ahly Hospital in Hebron”.
The initial diagnosis indicated that Mr. Al-Shalaldeh suffers from fractures in the face and head, and he needs a surgical intervention the next day. Further medical assessment confirmed that Mr. Al-Shalaldeh suffers from a broken nose, a fracture in the right jaw, a fracture in the right hand, and bruises in the head and various parts of his body, as he is unable to move or walk.
Mrs. Al-Shalaldeh stressed that that the colonists residing in the “Asfar” colony carry out continuous physical attacks on them and chase them while grazing their livestock, and while tending their land with the aim of getting them out of their land, and all their complaints to the Israeli police go unheeded.
The grand mom went on to say that her grandchildren suffer from bad psychological conditions and fear as a result of the colonists’ attacks, as the children expect at every moment the colonists to come and attack them, especially after they had witnessed them severely beating their elderly grandfather.
It should be noted that citizen Al-Shalaldeh has been living on his land in the Al-Qanub area east of the town since very long time. He and a number of citizens work in raising livestock and cultivating the land, and they use caves and tents as their homes, because the occupation authorities prevent the establishment of any construction in the area, while the colonists are constantly expanding the Asfar settlement, which faces the Al-Qanub residential community from the south, in addition to the “Masad” settlement, which overlooks the same community from the west.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
