Violation: setting 19 dunums of olive fields ablaze.
Location: Habayel abu Ismael.
Date: July 12, 2012.
Perpetrators: colonists of Yizhar.
Victims: Rifat al Najjar, Fahmi Qadus, Abdul Khaliq Qadus, Ra’fat al Najjar.
Details:
The Palestinian lands are an arena for an Israeli race of destruction and barbarism. In the southern countryside of Nablus, Burin faces daily aggressions committed by Israeli colonists; turning the village into a symbol of suffering. On July 12, 2012, a group of Israeli colonists broke into Habael abu Ismael in the southern part of Burin and set 19 dunums of olive fields alight.
The flames consumed a total of 188 olive trees property of Rifat al Najjar (46 trees), Fahmi Qadus (51 trees), Abdul Khaliq Qadus (44 trees), and Ra’fat al Najjar (37). It must be noted that the area has been a target for several Israeli attacks in recent years; attacks included ravaging and torching trees as well as theft of yields.
Ali al Najjar of Burin Village Council said: ‘targeting olive trees has been going for years; it is obvious that the Israeli Occupation have realized the importance of the olive trees for Palestinians and that is why not an olive-picking season is aggression-free. The purpose of such attacks is the destruction of the agricultural sector in order to facilitate capture of Palestinian lands for colonial activities‘.
Yizhar:
The colony of Yizhar was established in 1983 on Palestinian lands belonging to the villages of Burin and Asira Al Qiblia south west of the city of Nablus. The colony has expanded multiple times ever since as additional tens of dunums were confiscated for that purpose. The additional dunums were taken from the villages of Burin, Asira Al Qiblia, Oreef, Madama and Huwwara. The built-up area of the colony was 158 dunums as of 2005 while the area of land under its jurisdiction is about 1,800 dunums located in Parcel 8. The confiscated lands were from the locations of Salman Al Farisi, Al Marj, Jabal Al Nada and Khalil Salameh Al Muhr.
The number of Israeli colonists in the colony has grown over the years; in 1983 there were 64 colonists while in 1998 the number grew to 291. In 2004 around 534 colonists lived there. Around 90% of them are from the Israeli extreme right.
