Saturday, January 2 2010 Planting olive trees in Safa
In the morning a group of 20 people, Ta’ayush activists and Anarchists Against the Wall, went to plant olive trees in Safa, an activity which in many cases the Palestinians are prevented from carrying out because of settler violence or army orders. After we had been working for a short time soldiers arrived in order to remove us, maintaining that there is a valid order declaring the area a closed military zone. They refused to let us photograph the order or to study it. The Palestinian stated that one of […]Saturday, June 27 2009 Accompanying farmers in Khirbet Safa
After the destruction of the plot of fruit trees and grapevines this week, about fifty Israeli and international activists gathered in Safa to join the farmers who set out in the direction of their fields. Today, instead of meeting us in the valley, like in the previous months, large army and police forces were waiting for us at the exit from the village on our way to the fields. No explanation or struggle succeeded – once again our entrance to the fields was denied through the use of an arbitrary […]Monday, June 22 2009 Settlers destroy over 120 fruit trees belonging to farmers from Khirbet Safa
Thanks to a broadcast on the Arabic version of “Kol Israel” radio at 5 am, the farmers of Khirbet Safa discovered that an entire plot of more than 120 fruit trees adjacent to the settlement of Bat Ayin were destroyed. Some of the trees were cut and the rest were burned down. An army investigation found that during the previous night, the battalion commander had identified a fire and extinguished it. He did not report anything to the farmers. Farmers and activists who arrived in the morning to the plot […]Saturday, June 20 2009 Accompanying farmers in Khirbet Safa
We arrived in Safa a bit after 7 am and were informed that many settlers were waiting for our arrival in the valley. Indeed, as we descended towards the plots of the farmers we saw about 10 settler youths on the opposite hill, most with their faces covered. They began throwing large stones, some with slingshots. An army jeep stood further away up the hill and didn’t intervene. We informed the army about the situation and descended in a small group into the valley to begin working, rocks landing all […]Friday, June 19 2009 Another attempt to damage the plots of Khirbet Safa’s farmers The farmers of Safa discovered an attempt to burn their lands, in the area of Mukhtar Hill, above the valley from the Safa side. The damage was minor. In the morning signs of fire were also visible in some of the plots further down the valley.
Saturday, June 13 2009 Accompanying farmers in Khirbet Safa The activists who arrived in Safa today were attacked by settlers who threw stones at them. Soldiers stood next to the settlers, did not attempt to prevent the throwing, and found it sufficient to yell at the farmers and their volunteer companions: “There is a closed military area order, get out of here”. When more forces arrived, the border police began to forcibly evacuate the farmers and their companions (Israeli and international activists). Three international activists were arrested while questioning the soldiers’ beating of a farmer. The rest were brutally […]
Saturday, June 6 2009 Susya and Khirbet Safa
By David Shulman It never, and I mean never, rains in the south Hebron hills in June. Days are counted on a simple continuum of hot-hotter-hottest. But here I am standing in the steep road at Khirbet Safa at 9:30 in the morning under an almost cloudless sky, and raindrops are splattering against my skin. It’s no storm, but still a kind of miracle. I put it down to Obama’s visit to Cairo this week and to his speech which—probably for the first time in decades from an American president—spoke […]
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