Palestine is Burning!

Calling for Major General Tamir Yadai, Head of the Central Command and Commander of the Military Forces in the West Bank, to uphold his duty under international and Israeli law, to protect the freedoms and properties of the Palestinian communities of Madama and Burin in the occupied West Bank which are under attack from Israeli settlers.


Time is running out for the Palestinians in the West Bank villages of Madama and Burin whose Human Rights are being eroded and livelihoods destroyed with an alarming increase in daily arson attacks, assaults on farmers and thefts of village land by Israeli settlers. When the fires are started on hillsides below the settlements, Palestinian fire fighters are forbidden to go and tackle the blaze, thus leaving the olive groves to be reduced to ashes. (1)

Increased attacks and land thefts during the current period

Throughout the Coronavirus pandemic there has been an exponential increase in arson attacks, physical assaults on farmers and land grabs by the Israeli settlers who want the land for themselves. There is no protection for the Palestinian farmers if they try to take back their land. Instead, they are subjected to even more violent attacks. The upcoming harvest in October 2020 is going to be one fraught with danger for the farmers from Madama and Burin. The absence of Protective Presence groups is leaving the door open for the settlers to do their worst. (See witness video below)

https://youtu.be/rwu5Nc6tvgo

The Israeli army presence

Rather than preventing the Israeli settler violence from happening, Israeli soldiers stand and watch, usually forcing the Palestinian farmers to leave their own olive groves rather than the settlers. Access by farmers to their lands located near the settlements to tend their trees is often denied by the military occupation authorities and sometimes is restricted to just two weeks a year, for harvesting. Madama and Burin also suffer night raids from the Israeli army when soldiers make arrests in the early hours of the morning.

Israeli Supreme Court rulings ignored

The Israeli High Court has made a number of rulings, in line with international law, to protect the rights and interests of the Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, which include: -

26 June 2006 : for the army to prevent Palestinian farmers access to their own property is an infringement of their rights and freedom and that “They shall at all times be humanely treated, and shall be protected especially against all acts of violence or threats.” (2)

9 June 2020 : the court annulled the Settlement Regularization Law, which means that the theft of privately-owned Palestinian land is illegal.

Neither of these rulings have been observed to date.

We call on Major General Tamir Yadai, Head of the Central Command, Commander of the Military Forces in the West Bank, to use the power and responsibilities invested in him through the Israeli Supreme Court's rulings, to uphold the rule of law and bring law breakers to justice so that Palestinians in Madama, Burin and elsewhere may go about their lives peacefully without fear or hindrance. In this way Israel may be seen as a state that respects the supremacy of law and justice.

(1) See https://www.yesh-din.org/en/reaping-with-sorrow-a-summary-of-the-2019-olive-harvest/ (2) http://www.hamoked.org/search.aspx?sq=HCJ+9593%2f04 Case HCJ 9593/04