Help the Yanun villagers
return home!
While Israeli public
opinion is preoccupied with the army's vacating a single outpost, the
settlers, under the protection of the army and government, are making
headway on their real task -- that of taking over land in the occupied
territories and weakening the Palestinians' hold of their land, with
deportation being the final goal. The unfolding of this process will
determine all of our fates.
Last Friday, Oct. 18th 2002, the last families left the village of
Khirbet Yanun, in the vicinity of the town of Akrabah, which is now
surrounded by Itamar settlers, and moved in with relatives in Akrabah.
Years of unrelenting harassment, destruction of the infrastructure
(water and electricity), armed patrols, threats of shooting and actual
shots on the part of the settlers achieved their goal: The primary
school of Khirbet Yanun closed down. Another abandoned Palestinian
village appeared on the map.
This is the moment of
truth: We must not let this quiet, unheralded deportation sneak past
us!
The mass participation of
hundreds of Israeli peace activists in the olive harvest in several villages on Saturday, Oct.
19th, proved the power of active solidarity, in the face of the
settlers' attacks. The settlers, for their part, proved that they do
not balk at shooting live bullets at the harvest participants. While
heartening to many of the villagers, the harvest will not put an end to
deportation.
Since Sunday, Oct. 20th, Ta'ayush activists have maintained constant
presence in Khirbet Yanun, in order to enable the villagers to return
home. Some of them have already done so, and others are following
suite.
See below photos of Khirbet Yanun.
Background
Hirbat Yanun is a small village of some 150 residents, mostly elderly,
women and children. It is located in the Nablus district near the
village of Akrabeh. The residents of Yanun have been target to violent
attacks and harassment by settlers from Itamar since the beginning of
the Intifada in October 2000, and particularly in the last seven
months. The settlers have been cutting off water and electricity
supplies to the village, arriving during the night on horseback, faces
covered, smashing windows, breaking doors, opening fire at houses and
terrorizing the residents. Some families left the village several
months ago. The rest remained in the village, but lived in constant
fear from the settlers. The attacks and harassment have intensified
during the past two weeks, since the beginning of the olive harvest.
The settlers prevented the residents from reaching their olive groves -
their only source of livelihood. In addition, they began diverting
sewage toward the village. The situation became intolerable last week,
after the settlers burnt the only power-generator that provided
electricity to the village. The remaining residents were forced to
leave the village and stay with relatives in Akrabeh. As the residents
wished to return home but feared renewed attacks by the settlers, they
asked Ta'ayush activists to accompany them to the village and remain
with them there.
Two weeks ago, on October 6, 2002, settlers (apparently from Itamar)
murdered 22-year-old Hani Bani Maniyah from Akrabeh, while he was
harvesting olives in his family’s grove. Only yesterday, settlers from
Yitzhar shot at peace activists who had come to participate in the
olive harvest in the villages near Nablus.
According to B’Tselem, the Israeli Center for Human Rights in the
Occupied Territories, 17 Palestinians were killed by Israeli citizens
since the beginning of the Intifada. No indictments have been filed.
Click Here for more information about the Israeli
colonial activity in Yanoon.
Media publications [English & German here, Hebrew below]:
Profile: Village Of Yanun's Palestinian Residents
Abandon The Town Due To Arab-Israeli Unrest, National Public Radio
[October 19, 2002]
Jewish Settlers'
Zeal Forces Palestinians to Flee Their Town, The New-York Times
[October 21th, 2002]
Palestinians 'forced to
abandon village', BBC News [October 21th, 2002]
"It's the
pits", article by Amira Hass, Ha'aretz [October 25th, 2002]
Settlers
injure five people in attack on olive-pickers, Ha'aretz [October 27th,
2002]
MASSIVE ISRAELI SETTLER ATTACK ON FOREIGN VOLUNTEERS IN PALESTINE,
Indymedia [October 27th, 2002]
The
settlers' persecution, Ha'aretz - editorial [October 28th, 2002]
Protesting Settlers’ Violence, Israeli Intellectuals
Pick Olives With Palestinians,
Islam Online [October, 30, 2002]
Palestinian olive harvest a battle zone,
The Globe and Mail [October 31, 2002]
Yanun, a small village southeast of Nablus, looks like
many other small Mediterranean villages,
Jerusalem.Indymedia [November, 1st, 2002]
Der Kampf um die Olivenbaume,
Die Welt [November, 1st, 2002]
Transfer's real nightmare, By Gadi Algazi and Azmi Bdeir
[Ha'aretz, Friday, November 15, 2002]
The Sheriff, By Aviv Lavie
[Ha'aretz, Friday Magazine, April 11th, 2003]
links to photos by the Associated Press:
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