HEBRON, July 30, 2010 (WAFA)- Jewish settlers damaged a Palestinian field of vegetables in Um Al Kher, a Bedouin village located next to Karmel settlement, in the South Hebron Hills, Operation Dove announced today in a press release.
During the night between July 28 and the 29, a Palestinian farmer heard some noises from his garden in the valley right below his house. Even though there is a fence surrounding the field, the farmer thought there were animals inside. When he went closer he witnessed a few settlers walking through his garden, but he didn't go any further because he was afraid that they could be armed.
Only in the morning, upon inspection, the farmer realized that his vegetables had been damaged, the water pipes slashed and the fence partially destroyed. The damaged field, that measures about 1 dunum (1000m2), provides vegetables that are the primary food and economic resource for the Bedouin community, comprised of 85 people, including about 30 children.
When Operation Dove members arrived in the area at 2:30 p.m., the farmer was at Kiryat Arba police station to file a complaint, but his wife reported that they are all skeptical about doing so because they have filed complaints in the past and have never received justice.
A Bedouin neighbor in the village said 'It's the fourth attack against this field in the last two years. We set the fence up less than one year ago to protect the vegetables from damage done by settlers several times in the past.”
This property damage, directly affecting the livelihood of the entire Bedouin community, is just the last of several ongoing provocations carried out by the Israeli army and Israeli settlers which South Hebron Hills Palestinian communities have undertaken to respond to with nonviolent struggle.
Only in the last month the Bedouins of the village have remained without water for consecutive six days, because the settlers, the only ones with access to the water system, had closed the pipe that supplies water to Um Al Kher.
Operation Dove and Christian Peacemaker Teams have maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.
