A RAMADAN HORROR STORY DIRECT FROM THE OCCUPIED WEST BANK September 29, 2008 at 7:49 pm (Ethnic Cleansing, Israel, Occupied West Bank, Palestine, Settler Violence)
The settler and the shepherd: an unfair tale
This Saturday, Yahya Atta Riahin, an 18 year-old shepherd from the town of
Aqraba, in the Northern district of Nablus, was executed by Israeli settlers
while grazing his sheep in the fields surrounding his village.
That night, Yahya was suppose to get back from the fields, like any other
Palestinian teenager during Ramadan, to share Iftar -the fast-breaking meal-
with his family. As they didn't see the boy coming back and started being
anxious, knowing the risk of an - unfortunately common- settler attack in the
Region, they alerted the neighbours and the entire village organised a search
to find the missing boy.
The body of the young shepherd was found with gunshot wounds late Saturday
night, in the fields between the neighbouring settlement of Itamar and the
villages of Aqraba and Awarta.
According to eyewitnesses, the teenager has been attacked by a group of
settlers from Itamar and Jettit, the illegal Israeli settlements that surround
Al Aqbraba village. To the witnesses, the boy was pursued by a settler's car
before they heard gunshots but did not see him being shot. >From a first
forensic report, the settlers shot at him at least 20 times, from close range.
"We are examining the bullets and type of gun, trying to find out who was
behind (the shooting). Everything is open at the moment," said Micky Rosenfeld,
Israeli police spokesman.
Recent months have seen a spike in violence by West Bank settlers against
Palestinians, and in some cases against Israeli security forces. The settlers
from Yitzhar and Itamar settlements, built on southern Nablus lands, have
routinely attacked the neighbouring Palestinian villages.
But since the beginning of September and the holy month of Ramadan, attack as
such as the burnings of fields and beatings of residents villages are have been
increasing. Earlier this months, settlers from the same area stabbed to death a
9 years-old Palestinian kid, burned olive trees and crops, and destroyed a
water well.
According to Haaretz, in the first half of 2008, particularly in the Nablus and
Hebron governorates, there has been an increase in "disturbances of the peace"
- the minimalist term used for harm caused by Israeli citizens to Palestinians
and their property- as well as harm to Israeli security forces. Data presented
by the newspaper indicated that there were 429 such incidents in the first half
of this year, compared with 587 incidents in all of 2006 and 551 in 2007.
The settlers' violence has always been a disaster for the living conditions of
the Palestinians surrounded by illegal constructions and outposts that already
have taken heir land away. But now, regarding the amazing increase of violent
attacks, it has become a real core issue for the Israeli society in itself as
the Israeli government has few control on the settler's behaviour as settlers
defend the violence as a tactic meant to deter Israeli authorities from
evacuating settlements.
The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"<<palestinian+shepheard.jpg>>
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