by the IDF a week ago
By David Nir 15/07/05
Yesterday I was in TANA, a small village of 22 houses, a school and a mosque.Meaning - it was a small village, now its gone.
Tana is located some 5 miles East of Beit Furik (or about 7 miles south-east of Salem) at the eastern slopes of the hills. I guess it was 45C when we were there.
We were some
20 activists from various groups, Israeli and internationals.
On the way
from Beit Furik we saw burnt olive groves, set afire by the settlers
some 2-3 weeks ago, so our hosts told us ."It happens every year,
during the summer".
In TANA not
one house remained intact, they were all demolished within few
hours by the IDF, with its Caterpillar heavy equipment. The houses
or shacks - very simple and modest - accommodated the villagers
who could afford only basic subsistence means. The farmer's main
subsistence came from shepherding goats. Each house had adjacent
fenced yard. Some of the yards were built around caves that sheltered
the goats in heat or cold. Some of the houses extended from the
caves or were the caves. In the ruins smashed household such as
beds or kitchenware could be seen, also food or punctured olive
oil container. From the ruins of the schoolhouse (40 pupils out
of the 170 residents) one could notice the shattered school tables
and chairs.
Why demolish? officially the army's response was that "the houses were built within the practice range of the army" (there is none in the vicinity and the village with its two wells is there hundreds of years).
What we believe
is that the settlers from the Itamar settlement's "illegal outposts" have initiated
about three months ago a campaign to overtake the Palestinian
fields and water sources in that zone, and have already began plowing
the fields. The same settlers had on several occasions attacked
Palestinians traveling alone on the paths there, in the region
located some 2 km south to TANA, across the ridge of the outposts. The
army is harassing the Palestinians as well' the police are indifferent
to say the least, and the Palestinians are helpless.
Almost
nothing of this made it to the media, except El Jassira.
Under
the cover of the "disengagement" smoke screen, the Israeli government
has initiated a renewed effort to strip away from the Palestinians
their lands and freedoms.