In the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, February 4, several units of Israeli soldiers stormed Beit Ommar, invading several houses and forcing women and children out into the rain, some standing for several hours. In the end, 9 men were arrested:

Murshid Muhammad Murshid Al-Aqeed, 35
Ayesh Ahmad Murshid Za’aqeeq, 23
Rami Bassam Khalil Za’aqeeq, 32
Muhammad Bassam Khalil Za’aqeeq, 20
Murad Amer Ahmad Abu Juda, 21
Muhammad Amer Ahmad Abu Juda, 20
Sharif Fathi Muhammad Brageith, 22
Ashraf Ali Khalawy Sabarna, 27
Jihad Khalawi

This makes a total of 16 people arrested from Beit Ommar in the last 2 weeks alone. We know that several of the previously arrested youth were taken directly to Al Mascobieh (Russian Compound), usually reserved as an Israeli intelligence interrogation center. No … Continue reading

Update: Preliminary research done by Peace Now has revealed that the area in which farmers from Saffa planted trees (to replace what was destroyed by settlers from Bat ‘Ayn) that the Israeli military announced it would uproot last week was not registered as Israeli ’state land’ in the 1970’s as they previously claimed. They are, however, in the process of declaring it state land, a legal maneuver to confiscate the land from the Palestinians who have been using it since the before the creation of the state of Israel.

Update February 1, 2010: Farmers Prevented from Accessing Land Ahead of Uprooting

On Saturday, January 30, a group of farmers from Beit Ommar and Saffa, including those from the Thalji family whose … Continue reading

Today, January 28, at approximately 10:30am Israeli soldiers and representatives of the Civil Administration (the liason body between the Israeli military and Palestinian civilians) approached farmers from the ‘Adi and Soleiby farmers in the Saffa area of Beit Ommar and handed them a military order that stated their intention to uproot trees the farmers had planted two weeks ago as part of PSP’s massive replanting Saffa project. The order stated that the farmers had planted these trees on Israeli-owned state lands and they had 48 hours to appeal in Israeli civilian court.

Lawyers with Rabbis for Human Rights, who also supported and participated in the re-planting Saffa campaign investigated the issue and found that the Israeli government claimed it had … Continue reading

On Tuesday afternoon, January 26, an Israeli military patrol of 3 jeeps entered the village of Beit Ommar and began harassing residents. After driving into the center of the village, they began shooting tear gas from the jeeps into groups of residents gathered on the street. Some local boys responded to the presence of occupation forces by throwing rocks at the jeeps. Israeli soldiers then left their jeeps and began chasing some of the boys and opening fire with live ammunition in at least one case. At one point, soldiers detained 16 year old Fathi Ahmed Mohammed Abu Maria outside his home. His grandmother approached the soldiers and Fathi and tried to prevent the detention … Continue reading

In the early morning hours of Saturday, January 23, nearly 100 Israeli soldiers and Shin Bet (Israeli intelligence) officers raided Beit Ommar, entering several homes before arresting three people: Hussein Ibrahim, age 17, Issa Mohammed Issa Awwad, age 21, and Muhanned Khaled Abu Awwad, 20. Israeli forces also entered the home of Thiab Al-Alami, 42, forcing him to strip before they would enter after which they occupied the roof of his house. Israeli forces threw a sound grenade into Muhammed’s house before invading it, terrifying several children inside. Muhanned is the son of Khaled Abu Awwad, a coordinator of the Bereaved Families Circle, a dialogue group of Israelis and Palestinians who have had family members killed during … Continue reading

In the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, January 21, more than 50 Israeli soldiers invaded Beit Ommar, entering several homes and ransacking them. In the home of Muhsen Awwad, soldiers broke the window in the front door and tore open furniture. His 35 year-old son Mohammed Awwad was then arrested. Soldiers also took 800 shekels from the home before leaving. Three other men were also arrested during the raid which lasted for over 5 hours. The others arrested were Allam Bregeith, Jamal Ibrahim Ikhlayl, and Mohammed Soleiby. All four men were taken to Gush Etzion settlement prison. Beginning at 6 am, and lasting for over 2 hours, at a time when many residents were … Continue reading

In one of the most extreme shows of force used against a tree-planting action, today around 1pm, dozens of Israeli soldiers entered the neighborhood of Saffa, in Beit Ommar. They began to attack farmers from the ‘Adi and Soleiby families, who had been planting trees they obtained with Israeli and international support as part of a larger tree-planting program of the Palestine Solidarity Project for several hours in the Wadi Arish area below the Bat ‘Ayn settlement. Soldiers fired rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas at the farmers and amongst the … Continue reading

Three farmers from the Soleiby family, Jabber Soleiby, 42, his brother Hassan, 37, and cousin Fathi Soleiby, 42, were working their land in the Wadi Abu Rish area of Saffa, just under the Bat ‘Ain settlement early this morning when a crowd of approximately 40 settlers descended on them from the settlement, throwing stones, some with slingshots. The farmers fled the area, fearing they would be harmed. All three men, sons of Mohammed Soleiby and Abdullah Soleiby, know all too well how dangerous large crowds of settlers can be: Abdullah Soleiby, 82, had his skull fractured in April, 2009 by settlers who attacked him and his brother, holding Abdullah down as they bashed his head in with stones.

Israeli … Continue reading

At approximately 2am Monday, December 21, 10 Israeli military jeeps entered the center of Beit Ommar. For the second time in 3 weeks, Mohammed Abu Ayyesh, brother of murdered teen Mehdi Abu Ayyesh, was arrested. Mohammed, who was originally arrested on December 3, was released last week. His brother, Tha’er, who was arrested on December 11, is still in Israeli custody. Last night, the home of Sa’id Abu Ayyesh was raided for the third time this month as Israeli soldiers tore apart the home and again arrested Mohammed, 24. His male and female family members were beaten as they tried … Continue reading

On December 20, 2009 at 9am four farmers from Beit Ommar, Mohammed Ikhlayl, ‘Ayed Ikhlayl, Kalil Ikhlayl, and ‘Ali Nayef, were plowing their agricultural land approximately 700 meters from the Bat ‘Ayn settlement, alone. Suddenly, they were shot at four times from inside the settlement. No one was hit but Israeli soldiers arrived shortly after, acknowledging that they knew settlers had shot at the farmers, and demanding that the Palestinians leave in order to “avoid problems”. The farmers refused, and remained on their land for another 2 hours before they were finally forced to leave by the Israeli soldiers. At no time did the Israeli soldiers, in theory in charge of security for the area but … Continue reading