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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestine-israel-mughayyir-villagers-determined-fight-off-settlers">middleeasteye.net</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Al-Mughayyir: Palestinian villagers still determined to fight attacks by Israeli settlers</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By Fayha Shalash in Al-Mughayyir, occupied Palestine</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">June 16, 2023<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><font size="1"><img src="cid:ii_liyo1f6s0" alt="image.png" width="416" height="234"><br>
Israeli forces contain Palestinian protesters during a demonstration
against settlement expansion, in the village of al-Mughayyir, east of
Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, on 29 July 2022 (Abbas Momani/AFP)
</font><p>Marzouq
Abu Naim gazes out every day at the land that has long been part of his
village, al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah in the <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/occupation" target="_blank">occupied West Bank</a>.</p>
<p>It is agricultural land, planted with wheat and olives, tilled by <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine" target="_blank">Palestinian</a> farmers - Abu Naim's own ancestors - for centuries. </p>
<p>But he says he is only allowed to access it for one day every year to
harvest his crops. For the other 364 days he is forced to look from
afar. </p>
<p>"We were raised to love the land, cultivate it and take care of it,"
Abu Naim, 65, told Middle East Eye. "For my father and my grandparents
it was the most important thing because it was the source of their
livelihood and life. But now it has been stolen from us."</p>
<p>According to villagers, more than 70 percent of the land in
al-Mughayyir has been taken by the Israeli occupation, to be used as
land for settlements illegal under international law. </p>
<p>That has placed the village in the line of fire of those settlements,
and facing the regular closure of roads leading into the village. </p>
<p>The two main entrances to the village were closed for the majority of May and into June by <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank">Israel</a>. </p>
<p>In an audio recording allegedly of an Israeli officer, the speaker
says that the pretext for the closure of the roads was to stop stones
and other projectiles from being thrown at Israeli cars. Residents
described the closure as an attempt to collectively punish them for
daring to confront continued settler attacks. </p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/west-bank-israel-settlers-attack-palestinian-farmers" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/palestinian-vhicles-settlers-torched-cropped-social-media-26-5-2023.jpg?itok=R6VFGoJs" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="400" height="250">
</a></p><p><font size="1">West Bank: Israeli settlers attack Palestinian farmers and torch vehicles </font><br></p></div>
<p>Abu Naim says that the closure of the roads has greatly affected the
lives of the Palestinian residents, forcing students and workers
traveling to and from the village to take unpaved roads, adding hours to
their journeys. </p>
<p>"We have 36 teachers who come from outside the village to work in its
schools. When the entrances were closed, we had to bring a minibus that
would travel along the dirt road to transport them to the schools," Abu
Naim said. "The journey took three hours instead of 10 minutes."</p>
<p>The eastern entrance to the village remains closed, with vehicles owned by Palestinians not even allowed to approach it.</p>
<p>MEE asked the Israeli defence ministry for comment but did receive a response by the time of publication.</p>
<h3>The long hand of the settlers</h3>
<p>In marked contrast to the restrictions imposed on Palestinian freedom
of movement, residents of al-Mughayyir say Israeli settlers from the
outpost Adei Ad, and others nearby, are able to attack Palestinian homes
and agricultural land without any pushback.</p>
<p>The settlements were established on land belonging to al-Mughayyir several years ago. </p>
<p>According to al-Mughayyir's village council, 30 sq km of the
village's 41 sq km of land have been seized by Israel since the 1970s,
under various pretexts, including the establishment of a road
exclusively for the use of Israeli settlers. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>'We planted the land with wheat and now the Israeli occupation is preventing us from harvesting it' </p>
<p><em>- Marzouq Abu Naim, villager</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>"We have a lot of land behind the road that we are prevented from
reaching," Abu Naim said. "We planted the land with wheat and now the
Israeli occupation is preventing us from harvesting it. But they allow
the settlers to burn it and steal our crops without any deterrence."</p>
<p>In May, <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/west-bank-israel-settlers-attack-palestinian-farmers" target="_blank">settlers from the outposts gathered and attacked the village</a>,
burning several vehicles and assaulting residents who had tried to
confront the attackers. Israeli soldiers arrested a number of the
Palestinians, but none of the settlers, according to villagers. </p>
<p>The villagers of al-Mughayyir have become used to the attacks, which
have taken place for decades. But they have increased in recent years,
with the UN saying that this year there have been an average of three
attacks by settlers per day, the highest since 2006. That is potentially
because settlers feel increasingly emboldened as a result of Israel's
far-right government, which includes several settlers. </p>
<p>Israeli settler groups have long openly called for the seizure of
more Palestinian land for outposts, deemed illegal even under Israeli
law, in an attempt to prevent Palestinians from building and expanding
villages.</p>
<p>Amin Abu Aliya, the head of al-Mughayyir's village council, said that
the village was one of the first areas in the occupied West Bank to
have its land seized for the establishment of Israeli settlements in the
1970s. </p>
<p>Since the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, Israel has
appropriated Palestinian land through various methods, such as seizing
land for self-professed military purposes, manipulation of old records
to claim that land was now Israeli 'state land', and the seizure of land
deemed to have been abandoned by refugees, who are not permitted by
Israel to return. </p>
<p>On 28 May, 17-year-old Muhammad Abu Aliya was a victim of a settler
attack. Sat in a car with friends near the eastern entrance to the
village, Muhammad says they were attacked by a group of settlers. When
they tried to flee, they say they were fired at by Israeli soldiers
stationed at the entrance.</p>
<p>"We were just in the eastern area of the village and the soldiers
started shooting at us," Muhammad said. "It's an area subject to a lot
of attacks from settlers, and soldiers provide them with full protection
and attack us if we defend our village."</p>
<p>Muhammad and a friend were shot in the incident, while another friend
was arrested after falling out of the vehicle during the shooting.
Muhammad himself was transferred to a medical centre. </p>
<p>"I was hit by four bullets - one that penetrated my back and exited
my chest, the second in my pelvis, and two in my legs,” Muhammad said.
"I stayed in intensive care for two days, then my health improved... I
seriously thought I was going to die."</p>
<p>Muhammad, still in hospital, says he has been threatened with arrest upon his release. </p>
<h3>Mass arrests</h3>
<p>On 5 June, around a week after the attack described by Muhammad,
55-year-old Rabiaa Abu Naim, Marzouq Abu Naim's sister-in-law, woke up
to the sound of the door of her house being slammed open. She
immediately knew that Israeli soldiers were entering her home.</p>
<p>Rabiaa said the soldiers destroyed the contents of the house,
rummaging through clothes and overturning furniture under the pretext of
searching the property. They asked after her youngest son, who was
accused of being the driver of the vehicle that transported Muhammad to
hospital. He was not in the house, so they arrested another son instead,
a tactic often used to pressure wanted Palestinians to hand themselves
in. </p>
<p>"There were dozens of them storming the house with apparent
barbarism," Rabiaa said. "When I told them that my son wasn't here, they
shouted at me, pushed me back and then arrested my other son. After
several hours, they released him and sent a threat to his brother that
he would be arrested as soon as possible."</p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-settlers-second-nakba-launching-how" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/palestine-settler-violence-2022-afp_0.jpg?itok=CS3rsKId" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="400" height="250">
</a></p><p><font size="1">'Silent transfer': How Israeli settlers are launching a second Nakba</font></p>
</div>
<p>According to the village council, more than 45 people from
al-Mughayyir have been arrested in less than a month, including a woman
and her son, and fathers with their children, with the aim of pressuring
them to stop confronting settler attacks.</p>
<p>According to Amin Abu Aliya, most of the detainees have been released
after paying fines, under the threat of re-arrest. But others have
spent years in prison for their actions defending the village. </p>
<p>But that hasn't stopped villagers from trying - in any way they can - to hold onto their land. </p>
<p>"The people [of the village] gather and try to confront the settlers
[when they attack]," Amin explained. "They transport the wounded in
their own vehicles because ambulances are obstructed. And when the
settlers start burning agricultural crops, every person in the village
carries water to put the fires out."</p>
<p>"All of the villagers have turned into a beehive, joining hands
together in the face of this permanent danger," he added. "They're
trying to preserve what is left of their land and prevent more of it
from being confiscated."</p>
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