Seven Palestinians injured in clashes after army demolishes village near Hebron

March 29, 2011

Ramallah: Seven Palestinians from the village of Umm Nir, south east Yatta near Hebron, were injured in clashes with the Israeli army which raided their village for the third time and demolished a big portion of it that the colonists plan to replace with a public park for a nearby Israeli settlement.

Rateb Al Jobour, general coordinator of the Public Resistance against the Wall and Settlements in Hebron, told Gulf News that the Israeli army raided the village and the entire area and declared it a military zone, bringing in military bulldozers under heavy armed protection to demolish several houses, barns, cottages and agricultural installations, and the tents of families whose houses were demolished earlier in the first and second raids.

Al Jabour said all the villages in the entire area east of the town of Yatta have been targeted by the Israeli military, and Israel has plans to turn these areas into various facilities to serve the nearby colonies.

When the Israeli military started the demolition work, clashes erupted with the Palestinian residents of Umm Nir village. Seven villagers were injured and at least ten others, who were arrested, were severely beaten up by the Israeli forces before being released later.

Abul Aziz Abu Fannar, a spokesman of Yatta municipality, told Gulf News that ambulances from the Palestinian Red Crescent managed to get to the injured Palestinians, including three women, and took them to the Yatta Public Hospital for treatment.

The Israeli colonists of the nearby settlements, mainly that of Sosia, have their own plan to turn the entire village of Umm Nir to a public park, and the Palestinian side is fully aware of those plans, Abu Fannar said. The residents of the village are engaged in a struggle to defend their land, he added, while the colonists aim to force them out.

He added that the Palestinian residents of Umm Nir village owned a total of 3,600 donums of lands as private property, which the Israeli colonists were working to seize.

Abu Fannar said the colonists are conducting a violent and aggressive campaign against the residents of Umm Nir, claiming that they owned these lands and had the documents to prove their claims.

The villagers lodged a complaint at an Israeli court against the colonists, he added, and the court ruled in favour of the villagers, who submitted official documents issued by the Turkish government proving their ownership of the land.

The Israeli court recognised the documents and issued an order giving the village residents the right to stay on their land, but the Israeli colonists refused to abide by the court ruling and announced that they were determined to get the villagers out and seize the lands.

Abu Fannar said the Yatta municipality provided tents to those whose houses were destroyed bringing them out into the open. The municipality also reported the case to the Palestinian Authority (PA) through the Hebron Governor, he said, but the PA has been slow in providing assistance to those whose houses have been demolished.

Abu Fannar added that the capabilities of the Yatta municipality were limited and it could not meet the needs of all the Umm Nir residents who were in need of many items for day-to-day survival.