Palestine: Hebron residents under attack
The Palestine Monitor | 12.03.2003 13:35
The Palestine Monitor
A PNGO Information Clearinghouse
URGENT APPEAL
Hebron residents under attack; appeal for international protection
10 March 2003
Residents of Hebron are today urgently appealing to the media and international community to provide them with protection, as heavily armed Israeli settlers and soldiers rampage through their community with bulldozers.
According to eyewitnesses, the bulldozers, belonging to both the army and settlers, are currently destroying more than 10 dunums of Palestinian land in Diar al Mahawer, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba – demolishing houses and barns and uprooting olive and almond trees and grape vines. 40-50 armed settlers are guarding the area so that the work can continue unimpeded by international attention.
Israeli settlers have also occupied a house in the area belonging to Mohammad Dana. According to Dana, the settlers forced their way into the house two days ago at gunpoint, beating all 16 family members – including children – and forcing them to flee their home in fear for their lives.
Abdel Hadi Hantash, an expert in settler activities in Hebron and a member of the Committee for Land Defense said, “These activities – performed in the name of ‘security’ -- are part of an Israeli plan to evacuate the area of Palestinians, pushing them into isolated cantons, so that they can gain full control of the area. The problem is that the world is not paying sufficient attention to what is happening here.”
“People keep warning of the ‘threat’ of transfer – especially in the context of a possible war against Iraq,” said Renad Qubaj, Coordinator of PNGO(Palestinian Network of NGOs). “But transfer is not a threat; it is a reality – and currently taking place in pockets all over the West Bank.”
For more information contact: The Palestine Monitor
+972 (0)2 298 5372 or +972 (0)59 387 087
http://www.palestinemonitor.org
A PNGO Information Clearinghouse
URGENT APPEAL
Hebron residents under attack; appeal for international protection
10 March 2003
Residents of Hebron are today urgently appealing to the media and international community to provide them with protection, as heavily armed Israeli settlers and soldiers rampage through their community with bulldozers.
According to eyewitnesses, the bulldozers, belonging to both the army and settlers, are currently destroying more than 10 dunums of Palestinian land in Diar al Mahawer, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba – demolishing houses and barns and uprooting olive and almond trees and grape vines. 40-50 armed settlers are guarding the area so that the work can continue unimpeded by international attention.
Israeli settlers have also occupied a house in the area belonging to Mohammad Dana. According to Dana, the settlers forced their way into the house two days ago at gunpoint, beating all 16 family members – including children – and forcing them to flee their home in fear for their lives.
Abdel Hadi Hantash, an expert in settler activities in Hebron and a member of the Committee for Land Defense said, “These activities – performed in the name of ‘security’ -- are part of an Israeli plan to evacuate the area of Palestinians, pushing them into isolated cantons, so that they can gain full control of the area. The problem is that the world is not paying sufficient attention to what is happening here.”
“People keep warning of the ‘threat’ of transfer – especially in the context of a possible war against Iraq,” said Renad Qubaj, Coordinator of PNGO(Palestinian Network of NGOs). “But transfer is not a threat; it is a reality – and currently taking place in pockets all over the West Bank.”
For more information contact: The Palestine Monitor
+972 (0)2 298 5372 or +972 (0)59 387 087
http://www.palestinemonitor.org
The Palestine Monitor
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