Ma’an news is reporting on the video above which disproves a widespread report quoting Israeli settlers that Palestinian farmers and Israeli leftists have been destroying Palestinians olive trees in an attempt to frame the settlers.
Ma’an reports:
Ynet news and Arutz Sheva, two Israeli media outlets, reported Sunday that “leftists” and “foreign anarchists” were caught in an arson attempt near an illegal settlement between Bethlehem and Hebron.
“Residents who witnessed the incident said they [believed] the group was planning to blame the arson attack on the Jews,” Arutz Sheva reported alongside video footage it and Ynet broadcast as evidence.
A dozen people “can be seen wandering around the field, stopping occasionally to bend over and set new fires. The group does not appear anxious, and does nothing to extinguish the flames,” the report continued.
Those present, however, have dismissed the reports as nonsensical and point to new footage, filmed on the ground rather than the hillside where settlers taped and later edited their “arson” evidence.
In reality, the farmers were just conducting a controlled burn of brush that is a typical part of maintaining the olive groves. Here is a first hand account from one of the activists who witnessed the events shown in the video above:
On Sunday (November 7th, 2010), we joined several Palestinian farmers who own land in the Saffa area of Beit Ummar as they headed to clear all of the weeds on the land and prepare it for replanting. We were 8 internationals from around the world and aged 18 to 82. Folks brought gloves and shovels/picks so that we could chop away at and gather the weeds (brush) and make way for the farmers to plant new trees.
The farmers’ land was located in a valley just below the Israeli settlement of Bat Ayin, labeled by Israelis as part of the “Gush Etzion bloc” (another larger settlement). We gathered and began chopping away at the roots of the various weeds or brush, piling them atop one another, and then having the farmers set them ablaze to burn them away (this is presumably how Palestinian farmers get rid of weeds/brush to prepare the land for replanting). After working for an hour or more, I began noticing activity up in the settlement… Earlier I had heard a settler yell something at us but it was brief and wasn’t repeated. We all generally ignored the settlers as they were a higher up and a good (read: safe) distance from us. However one of the farmers who knew there might be problems began zooming in and caught footage of exactly what was taking place up above the valley we were in.
As we finished up about an hour and a half of work, all of us reasonably exhausted, we began heading back up the hill toward the village. As we did this, we spotted Israeli soldiers popping out of jeeps above and heading our way. We all sort of walked in the same direction, continuing as they approached us. At the point that our paths crossed, we put down our farming equipment and soldiers threatened us “not to leave.” We began asking what the problem was, but all they said was “Do not leave. The police will tell you what the problem is.” At one point, a soldier repeatedly stated “you was definitely doing something wrong.” A lot of these exchanges are in the video above. Eventually we were led, as a group (Palestinian farmers & internationals together), to another area as they told us the Israeli police could not come onto the land. When pushed for explanations, you will see in the video, soldiers could not provide any. Presumably the reason has to do with their lack of a mandate to govern the area we were in, and so in typical sly fashion, the Israeli army was taking us up to an area the Israeli police (as an occupational authority inside the Palestinian West Bank) is supposed to have authority inside of. In the video, you might not be able to differentiate between Israeli police & the Israeli army as they both dress in similar uniforms.
Eventually, back toward the village, individuals who had been communicating with settlers up in the hills, presumably military or other intelligence individuals (as identified by individuals in the village), showed up with a camera and photos they had taken. They called for all of the land owners to come and, in the photos on the digital camera LCD, point out what they owned. The farmers (land owners) also had their ownership deeds with them. What ensued was the arrest (what Israelis call “detainment” – being held for several hours) of 6 of the 8 internationals. Despite earlier comments by the lead soldier, none of us was provided an explanation of why we were arrested, but rather just told to get in the jeeps by aggressive soldiers. At one point, in a jeep, an international (still recording) can be heard asking a soldier why he’s detained (yes, we were still with soldiers, not police when taken away it seems). The exchange that ensues is telling. We were taken to a police station inside of the same “settlement bloc” (Gush Etzion) that the Bat Ayin settlers are from, later learning that Bat Ayin is trying to annex the farmland we had been working (this would be the “natural growth” that they speak of in terms of settlements). After nearly 3 hours of detention, where various police officers (some seemingly high ranking) entered and asked us why we were there, to which we said “We don’t know – can you please tell us?” Nearing the end, no charges were pressed against us and we were told we were being “warned” for being on “unregistered” land and threatened not to return. We asked maybe 10 minutes after first being told, for the allegation to be repeated, and the same police officer couldn’t remember it to which one of the internationals said “unregistered land” and he said “oh yes, yes, unregistered land.” We were released, but not before copies of our passports were made. Thankfully in all of this, none of the Palestinians were arrested.
