Farm Land Declared Closed Military Zone by Israel

Beit Omar Villagers’ Land Continue To Be Declared Closed Military Zones

Saturday, 9th of May, 2009 10am: Around a dozen farmers from the village of Beit Omar with lands in Saffa close to the illegal Israeli settlement in Bet Ayn were denied access to their fields after Israeli forces declared the area a closed military zone.

The farmers were accompanied by eight international solidarity activists and five Israeli human rights activists.

After less than ten minutes of being in the fields, farmers were ordered off their lands by Israeli soldiers and border police in four jeeps. Israeli forces showed the villagers a closed military zone order and demanded they leave the area.

As the farmers were leaving, dozens of Israeli settler children screamed, “death to all arabs” in unison from the top of the hill where Bet Ayn settlement is located.

Pictures available upon request, please email palreports@gmail.com

Over the past month, Israeli forces have continuously declared the agricultural lands close to the settlement closed military zones. On three occasions in the last two weeks, farmers accompanied by international solidarity activists have been ordered off the lands they legally own by soldiers who threatened arrest.

On the 26th of April, two elderly Palestinian farmers from Beit Omar were beaten by thirty masked settlers on the farmers’ agricultural fields close to the settlement. Abdullah Soleiby, aged 80, sustained two hair-line fractures and received ten stitches to the top of his head after three settlers held him down and repeatedly smashed his head with stones.

ENDS

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