[News] Coronavirus: Israeli settlers exploit lockdown to annex Palestinian land

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/coronavirus-palestine-israel-settlers-exploit-lockdown-annex-land
Coronavirus:
Israeli settlers exploit lockdown to annex Palestinian land
By Akram Al-Waara - March 27, 2020
------------------------------

Israeli settlers are exploiting a lockdown, imposed in the occupied West
Bank to slow down the spread of the coronavirus pandemic
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/www.middleeasteye.net/topics/coronavirus>,
to
annex Palestinian land and launch attacks against Palestinian civilians and
their homes.

Over the past week, there have been at least three incidents of residents
of illegal Israeli settlements razing Palestinian lands and paving roads in
the districts of Nablus, Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

'The settlers know that people are staying in their homes because of the
coronavirus, so they are trying to use it as an opportunity to attack us
and take more land'

*- Ghassan al-Najjar, Palestinian activist*

There has also been a spike in attacks against Palestinians and their
properties, with Middle East Eye documenting abuses in the villages of
Madama, Burqa and Burin.

“We experience attacks from the settlers a few times a month,” Ghassan
al-Najjar, a 30-year-old activist in Burin, a village 5km south of Nablus,
told MEE.

“But ever since we were put under lockdown because of the coronavirus, it
has increased tenfold,” he said, adding that settlers, under the protection
of Israeli soldiers, have been raiding the village daily.

According to Najjar, settlers from the Har Brakha settlement have been
attempting to seize more land on the outskirts of the village, close to the
settlement.

“The settlers know that people are staying in their homes because of the
coronavirus, so they are trying to use it as an opportunity to attack us
and take more land,” Najjar said.
A clear increase

While settler attacks in the West Bank are a common occurrence, activists
from across the occupied territory have reported a spike in attacks since a
state of emergency was declared due to the coronavirus pandemic earlier
this month.

In the southern West Bank district of Bethlehem, the centre of the
coronavirus outbreak in Palestine, activist Mahmoud Zawahreh, 48, told MEE
that settlers were enacting similar tactics over the past few days in the
rural village of Khallet al-Nahleh.

The Israeli settlers’ attempts to seize a hilltop in Khallet al-Nahleh date
back to 2013. Over the years, Zawahreh says, settlers from the nearby
mega-settlement of Efrat have tried to reestablish the outpost after it was
dismantled by Israeli forces.

“A court ruling proved that the land was privately owned by Palestinians,
and the settlers’ tents were dismantled,” Zawahreh said. “They haven't
attempted to come back here in years, until a few days ago.”

In the past few days, the settlers have returned, this time with more
tents, water tanks and power generators. On Monday, the settlers began
paving a dirt pathway in order to create an easier access route to the
outpost.

“The coronavirus crisis is limiting the movement of Palestinians,
specifically around Bethlehem, because of the quarantine and curfew imposed
by the government,” Zawahreh said. “The settlers know that, and are taking
advantage of it.

“They know the people will be too scared to come in large numbers and
protest against them, like we did before, so it’s an ideal situation for
them to take over the land.”
Settlers 'using virus to their benefit'

With the coronavirus pandemic showing no signs of abating, Palestinians
told MEE that they were left to decide between protecting their health or
protecting their land.

“Because of the settlers and the occupation, we cannot follow the
guidelines set by the World Health Organisation or by our own government to
protect ourselves against coronavirus,” Najjar told MEE.

“If we stay inside our homes, then we protect ourselves from the virus, but
then we end up losing our land,” he continued.

'In Palestine, we are stuck between the rock of the occupation, and the
hammer of coronavirus'

*- Mahmoud Zawahreh, Palestinian activist*

In an effort to defend the village while minimising the exposure of people
to one another and to the settlers, Najjar and fellow young men from the
village have established a small group in charge of protecting their lands
during the coronavirus lockdown.

“Usually the whole village will come out to defend the lands, but now we
are working as a small group, and rotating in shifts to minimise potential
exposure,” he said. “It’s all we can really do for now.”

In Khallet al-Nahleh, Zawahreh urged the international community to
pressure the Israeli government to stop “the crimes of the settlers” in the
West Bank.

“It is sad and frustrating for us as Palestinians to see that during this
pandemic, humanity is uniting all over the world to defend and protect one
another from this virus,” he said. “But the Israeli settlers are doing the
opposite. They are using the virus to their benefit, to hurt the humanity
of others, and steal the land of others.

“In Palestine, we are stuck between the rock of the occupation, and the
hammer of coronavirus.”
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20200327/0aab3b84/attachment.htm>