Violation: setting tens of dunums alight.
Location: Burin – Nablus Governorate.
Date: June 30, 2011.
Perpetrators: Yizhar colonists.
Victims: Palestinians residing in Burin.
Details:
The olive trees have been considered as a symbol of the Palestinian struggle before being considered a source of income. For that reason the Israeli Occupation soldiers and colonists consider the olives as one of their main targets. On June 30, 2011, a group of Yizhar colonists started a fire in Burin village in various areas.
The eastern winds, the dry bushes, and the Israeli obstruction of fire trucks aided in the wide spread of flames to cover more than 900 dunums and damaging more than 2500 trees. The locals described it as the worse in ten years! The lands are the property of 37 Palestinians according to the Village Council; furthermore, the targeted areas are considered the most productive olive fields.
Mr. Ali Eid, Burin Village Council President, stated to an LRC observer: ‘The attack against the olive fields is part of our survival battle against the barbarism and brutality of the Israeli colonists who are fully supported by the Israeli authorities. The Israelis know how important the olives are for the Palestinians and that is why they are targeting it on a daily basis. What has happened to the blessed tree is a proof of the Israeli disregard to our values’.
Hundreds of olive trees were uprooted, burned, and broken in recent years; such outrageous acts have become customary. Mr. Eid added: ‘the colonists tend to force the locals out by targeting their main source of income; it has become a strategy with an ultimate objective of cleansing the area from Palestinian residents and use it for colonial expansion purposes. As a result, we are battling for survival here!’
Torching 20 olive trees:
It seems like the Israeli official support of such aggressions encouraged the colonists to go further; on July 5, 2011. Israeli colonists set 20 olive trees ablaze in the southern part of the village. A group of colonists stormed the area in the early evening hours and burned the trees under the noses of the Israeli Army soldiers who offered them protection.
Burin:
The village is located about 8 km south of Nablus. Its total land area is 10416 dunums (1 dunum = 1000 M2) of which 335 dunums are built up zone imposed by the occupation authorities before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 . It has a population of approximately 3500 people , amongst them thee are about 400 refugee families whose members represent 32% of the total village population .
The Colony of Yetzhar:
The colony of Yetzhar 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 areas 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.
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.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
