sampicksolives (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} sampicksolives) wrote,@ 2006-11-16 14:28:00 |
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Settlers, police and near miss
Still without a clear place to pick in Sarra or Tel the group decided to join one of the IWPS team and three French accompaniers going to the village of Kafr Qudiem, which lies to the west side of the illegal Israeli settlement of Quedumim, inside Qualiquilya district. The settlement has encroched over the hill into the land owned by village farmers and this week these farmers were picking the groves close to and in somecases over the settlement fence.
Once we got there we split into two groups, with me and a fellow volunteer joining Ayam's family, who had already started picking further up the hill. Ayam’s land is inside the settlement and we picked with him, his aunt and two cousins. A playground encroached into their land on one side, the settlement houses came right up to the groves and one settler had built a chicken and goat shed inside the grove and had tied two large dogs to the trees.
The settler came out after we were picking for about an hour and spoke to Ayam in Hebrew. Due to language problems it was difficult for us to know what the problem was, but it seemed to be our presence that he was most annoyed about. After he left the family began picking again, but he returned about ½ hour later and more discussion began with the family. After about 10 minutes he left again and returned half an hour later with the settlement police. We were asked to show our passports and then told we had two choices: leave the land or be arrested. Apparently we were picking inside a ‘blue zone’ which meant the area was closed to Israelis and Internationals. The Palestinians could stay he said, but the presence of accompaniers created too much tension. He couldn't explain why people might be annoyed by our presence. I can only imagine its because they have less free rein to attack and intimadate the Palestinians whose land they are trying to steal.
We argued with them for about an hour whilst making phone calls to the house and Rabbis for advice. No one was very clear about what the ‘Blue Zone’ really meant. The police were then joined by both settler and settler security. They showed us a map showing the zones, which were in Hebrew so we couldn’t read them.
As neither of us spoke Arabic we had to get translation over the phone from the house team and pass the phone back between us and the Palestinians. The army then arrived, at which point the police said, ‘once you internationals leave, the army will hang the Palestinians from the tree,’ at which all the Israelis laughed.
We decided we would leave but would stay nearby in case of problems. We tried to get guarantees from the policemen who seemed to be in charge (he told us his name was Guy Carter - doesn't sound all that Israeli doe it?!) would protect the Palestinians should there be any problems with the settlers but they were clear that was ‘not their role’ and that couldn’t guarantee they would respond to problems. They also refused to give us a direct line number for reporting complaints. When asked how long they would take to respond to a complaint they said 3, 5 or 10 hours depending on what else they had to do.
We went down the hill and tried to keep in contact with the family by phone. We found another family further in the valley who we picked with some time and spoke to the Rabbis to try to get more advice and to arrange for accompaniment the next day. They asked us to get photos of the dogs tied to the trees as this was something that hadn’t been reported before. We agreed with the family that they would call us as they were finishing and we would go up to help them pack up and come down and take photos of the animals and the buildings. We did this and got some photos, although this once again brought the settler out of the barn. He began yelling at us as we walked down the mountain and we ignored his yelling. Unfortunately it seemed the donkey had gone lame and was refusing to carry the olives, which meant we had to wait with the olives whilst they took one bag at a time.
The settler then came down again and began yelling at the Palestinians, taking photos and pointing. Again it was difficult to know what was happening but the farmer seemed to be asking us to go down the hill. It seemed wrong for us to go all the way back and leave them to deal with the settler alone, at the same time it seemed it was our presence that was most aggravating the settler. They told us the police were on their way (obviously not very busy) and they were worried we would get arrested so we went someway down the hill where we could still see what was happening and an Arabic speaker from the house phone kept in constant contact.
The settler told them he would bring more settlers the following day and they would bring guns to prevent the Palestinians from going to their land. The police told them that if we came with them tomorrow they would arrest us and the two male farmers and that we would face 10 years in prison once we were deported.
After about half an hour the team of internationals in the Kafr Qudeim area was reunited and joined the family in carrying their olives down the hill. We walked with them back to their house. Until that day they hadn’t had any major problems so we were concerned our presence had actually made things worse for them. They said they still wanted accompaniment but were really worried for our safety. They didn’t want to be responsible for getting us into trouble with the Israeli officials. We agreed that people would come the next day, but it would be different people and that they would stay further down the hill if it appeared they would face arrest.
We made more phone calls to the house, Arik and to the DCO, all of whom appeared willing to try to make more arrangements to ensure the family’s safety. However we didn’t hear that evening what if any arrangements had actually been arranged, partly because of bad phone service and running out of credit. I spent a sleepless night worrying that we had actually made the situation worse for this family and that we had been unable to do much to rectify the situation. We did hear that two members of one of the other groups had agreed to go there, along with someone from the house team which made me feel better. I really wanted to go as well, but knew that if they saw the same faces again this could make the situation worse.
Tomoorow we are picking again in Sarra, once again by our beloved watchtower. The arrangements seem a little shaky but we at least get a lie in. It being Friday we can't get our taxi until 7am!
Still without a clear place to pick in Sarra or Tel the group decided to join one of the IWPS team and three French accompaniers going to the village of Kafr Qudiem, which lies to the west side of the illegal Israeli settlement of Quedumim, inside Qualiquilya district. The settlement has encroched over the hill into the land owned by village farmers and this week these farmers were picking the groves close to and in somecases over the settlement fence.
Once we got there we split into two groups, with me and a fellow volunteer joining Ayam's family, who had already started picking further up the hill. Ayam’s land is inside the settlement and we picked with him, his aunt and two cousins. A playground encroached into their land on one side, the settlement houses came right up to the groves and one settler had built a chicken and goat shed inside the grove and had tied two large dogs to the trees.
The settler came out after we were picking for about an hour and spoke to Ayam in Hebrew. Due to language problems it was difficult for us to know what the problem was, but it seemed to be our presence that he was most annoyed about. After he left the family began picking again, but he returned about ½ hour later and more discussion began with the family. After about 10 minutes he left again and returned half an hour later with the settlement police. We were asked to show our passports and then told we had two choices: leave the land or be arrested. Apparently we were picking inside a ‘blue zone’ which meant the area was closed to Israelis and Internationals. The Palestinians could stay he said, but the presence of accompaniers created too much tension. He couldn't explain why people might be annoyed by our presence. I can only imagine its because they have less free rein to attack and intimadate the Palestinians whose land they are trying to steal.
We argued with them for about an hour whilst making phone calls to the house and Rabbis for advice. No one was very clear about what the ‘Blue Zone’ really meant. The police were then joined by both settler and settler security. They showed us a map showing the zones, which were in Hebrew so we couldn’t read them.
As neither of us spoke Arabic we had to get translation over the phone from the house team and pass the phone back between us and the Palestinians. The army then arrived, at which point the police said, ‘once you internationals leave, the army will hang the Palestinians from the tree,’ at which all the Israelis laughed.
We decided we would leave but would stay nearby in case of problems. We tried to get guarantees from the policemen who seemed to be in charge (he told us his name was Guy Carter - doesn't sound all that Israeli doe it?!) would protect the Palestinians should there be any problems with the settlers but they were clear that was ‘not their role’ and that couldn’t guarantee they would respond to problems. They also refused to give us a direct line number for reporting complaints. When asked how long they would take to respond to a complaint they said 3, 5 or 10 hours depending on what else they had to do.
We went down the hill and tried to keep in contact with the family by phone. We found another family further in the valley who we picked with some time and spoke to the Rabbis to try to get more advice and to arrange for accompaniment the next day. They asked us to get photos of the dogs tied to the trees as this was something that hadn’t been reported before. We agreed with the family that they would call us as they were finishing and we would go up to help them pack up and come down and take photos of the animals and the buildings. We did this and got some photos, although this once again brought the settler out of the barn. He began yelling at us as we walked down the mountain and we ignored his yelling. Unfortunately it seemed the donkey had gone lame and was refusing to carry the olives, which meant we had to wait with the olives whilst they took one bag at a time.
The settler then came down again and began yelling at the Palestinians, taking photos and pointing. Again it was difficult to know what was happening but the farmer seemed to be asking us to go down the hill. It seemed wrong for us to go all the way back and leave them to deal with the settler alone, at the same time it seemed it was our presence that was most aggravating the settler. They told us the police were on their way (obviously not very busy) and they were worried we would get arrested so we went someway down the hill where we could still see what was happening and an Arabic speaker from the house phone kept in constant contact.
The settler told them he would bring more settlers the following day and they would bring guns to prevent the Palestinians from going to their land. The police told them that if we came with them tomorrow they would arrest us and the two male farmers and that we would face 10 years in prison once we were deported.
After about half an hour the team of internationals in the Kafr Qudeim area was reunited and joined the family in carrying their olives down the hill. We walked with them back to their house. Until that day they hadn’t had any major problems so we were concerned our presence had actually made things worse for them. They said they still wanted accompaniment but were really worried for our safety. They didn’t want to be responsible for getting us into trouble with the Israeli officials. We agreed that people would come the next day, but it would be different people and that they would stay further down the hill if it appeared they would face arrest.
We made more phone calls to the house, Arik and to the DCO, all of whom appeared willing to try to make more arrangements to ensure the family’s safety. However we didn’t hear that evening what if any arrangements had actually been arranged, partly because of bad phone service and running out of credit. I spent a sleepless night worrying that we had actually made the situation worse for this family and that we had been unable to do much to rectify the situation. We did hear that two members of one of the other groups had agreed to go there, along with someone from the house team which made me feel better. I really wanted to go as well, but knew that if they saw the same faces again this could make the situation worse.
Tomoorow we are picking again in Sarra, once again by our beloved watchtower. The arrangements seem a little shaky but we at least get a lie in. It being Friday we can't get our taxi until 7am!
