On the 17th of April, settlers from the settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron city attacked the car of Ibrahim Khader Alama (36) at the entrance of Beit Ommar. The settlers started to destroy his car and threatened him with violence. The group was made up of four armed settlers, who shot into the air several times with live ammunition. Ibrahim was able to escape to one of the nearby houses.

The Israeli Occupation Forces and the Israeli Police arrived at the scene. Upon their arrival, the settlers escaped in their cars. The IOF and Israeli Police did not actively pursue the settlers and the settlers were able to get away.

Unfortunately, this type of occurrence is not unusual, with … Continue reading

The Center for Freedom and Justice, a non-profit organization in the Palestinian village of Beit Ommar in Hebron District, is looking at new agricultural projects to support its inhabitants.

The Center for Freedom and Justice was established to address the lack of community development and has been organizing programs in rural Palestinian communities. Due to various problems concerning the Israeli occupation of the West Bank the Palestinian agricultural life is severely constrained. The organization aims to improve the lives of rural residents by supporting them to remain steadfast on their land so that confiscation of land and settlement expansion will be harder to accomplish.

The agricultural life of Palestinian communities … Continue reading

On the morning 10th of April Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian land in Saffa, a part of Beit Ommar village. Saffa often experience attacks like this. The settlers in question lives in the close by settlement called Bayt Ayin which is a part of the bigger Gush Eztion bloc. The settlers living in Bayt Ayin are known to be very aggressive and violent.

This morning the settlers cut olive trees in the Palestinian fields. They managed to cut dozens of trees. The land owner came to the scene and ended up being beaten by the settlers.

This incident was unfortunately not an isolated one. Both Palestinian land and people are attacked daily by settlers, throughout the West Bank.

On the 9th of April 2013 a settler from the colony of Kiryat Arba in Hebron ran down Ala’ Alami, a 23 years old university student from Beit Ommar, and two young boys with his car. The settler ran over them just outside the entrance to Beit Ommar as he was driving towards Gush Etzion. After hitting the youths the driver drove off.

The wounded people were transported to Al Ahli hospital by a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance for treatment.

This incident was not an isolated one, Palestinian people are both injured and killed by cars driven by settlers. At the entrance of Beit Ommar there are car attacks a couple of times a month. The settlers … Continue reading

Two days ago, on January 6th, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the Jerusalem District Attorney had decided not to move forward with the prosecution of an Israeli settler who threw a firebomb into a Palestinian taxi north of Beit Ommar last August, which severely wounded 6 occupants, including children. They decided to close the case even though DNA evidence was found on a glove at the crime scene. It is yet one more example of the Israeli government’s unwillingness to prosecute settlers for their crimes, leading these right-wing settlers to attack and vandalize Palestinian property with increasing frequency.

On January 1, 2013, two elderly … Continue reading

Olive harvest is upon us. Many Palestinians, as well as internationals, have been looking forward to this season. All family members, including small children and grandparents, gather to pick olives in the beautiful fields throughout the West bank.

Every autumn PSP participate in the olive harvest in solidarity with Palestinian farmers that experience harassment and attacks from either colonists or the Israeli occupation forces. Presence of internationals are also sometimes helpful in preventing or documenting such harassment. PSP contributes to the olive harvest in area C, close to either the segregation wall or Israeli colonies and the purpose of this work is to support and encourage farmers to continue to cultivate their land. It is important not to give up cultivating … Continue reading

On Sunday morning, October 14th, 2012, at 7 a.m. a farmer, Mohammed Abd Alhamid Soleibi, was arrested by the Israeli occupation forces as he was harvesting olives in his fields. His olive trees are located in Area C, in Saffa, close to Bayt Ain an Israeli colony and a part of the Gush Esion block.
Israeli
Mohammed is one of many Palestinians that have to cultivate their land in fear of colonist attacks because their fields are located close to an Israeli colony. Last year he was harassed by extreme colonists together with the Israeli occupation forces.
[caption id=”attachment_2517″ align=”alignright” width=”300″ caption=”Acording to the Israeli occupation forces it is … Continue reading

At 10 a.m. Friday, October 12th about 100 colonists, escorted by soldiers from the Israeli occupation forces, walked out of Karmei Tsur. They went in the direction of Jala at the west of Beit Ommar where several Palestinian residents have their olive trees.

Local families were harvesting their olives, but fled when they saw the group of colonists to avoid being victims of settler attacks that are common in this area. Last year a colonist killed a Palestinian boy in Saffa. The colonists were also intimidating to the people of Jala who stayed home instead of going to Beit Ommar, as they usually do on Fridays.

A local committee member, Ahmed Abu … Continue reading

On Saturday, October 13th, 2012 Palestinian, Israeli and international activists marched to protest in front of the colony Karmei Tzur in a weekly demonstration. Also former hunger striker Tha’er Halahla participated in the protest.

This week the main message was directed against the recent increase in colonist’s harassment of Palestinian farmers cultivating their land. In addition the activists protested against the terrorizing of the village of Beit Ommar conducted by the Israeli occupation forces in night raids, often to arrest children.

The Israeli occupation forces lined up and tried to stop the residents of Beit Ommar, accompanied by Israeli and International activist, from marching into their own land. The demonstrators refused to accept this and kept on walking around the soldiers blocking … Continue reading

[caption id="attachment_6060" align="alignright" width="300" caption="(Archive photo)"][/caption]
On Tuesday morning (28/08/12), Israeli occupation forces demolished 5 tents and 3 wells in Znota and two tents in Susiya, south of Hebron. Settlers also burned 3 cars near the town of Seir, situated east of Hebron.

Local sources said that a force of Israeli soldiers, accompanied by a bulldozer, demolished 5 tents and 3 wells in Khirbet Znota and, over the course of the demolition, beat a number of citizens who were protesting against this action.

According to sources, this property is owned by Oudah Abu Sharkh, Adeis Abu Sharkh, Nabil Smamrh and Mohammed Khaled Smamrh. In Susiya, two tents, which were home to Mohammed Moussa and … Continue reading