Nafe'a Tawil, farmer

Yesterday [Saturday, 5 April 2008], I went with my father to land that that we own east of Far'ata, in an area called Wat'et Sarah, about two kilometers west of the Gilad Farm settlement. We have three dunams there, and we wanted to plow and weed them.

Around 8:00 A.M., I left my father, who was plowing the field with a donkey-drawn plow, and went to pick ful (a bean) in a nearby plot, known as a-Rahneh. My father rents this plot from somebody who lives in Tell Village. It's six dunams big and we grow a variety of crops on it. A young shepherd from Immatin called 'Issam was grazing his flock about 100 meters from me. My brother Hani was grazing animals in another area, about 150 meters from me.

While I was picking the ful, I heard 'Issam call out that settlers were coming toward us. I looked to the east and saw two settlers dressed in white. One of them had a black mask on. They got to about 40 meters from me. One of them was holding a club and the other an iron pipe. They swore at me and told me to go home.

They startled me, and I backed away from them. I stood on a boulder and said, in Hebrew, “I am not going home, this is my land. You go home. I am working my land.” Then I picked up some stones to protect myself. When they saw me picking up stones, they backed away and went up the hill. At that moment, I saw a group of about 10 settlers standing by our flock. My brother had run away and left the sheep and goats.

Two settlers began to lead away a white goat of ours, each one grabbing one of the goat's ears. They headed eastward, toward the Gilad Farm settlement. The other settlers followed them. I ran after them to get back our goat, but when I was abut 40-50 meters from them, I stopped and returned because my father called out to me that he was afraid the settlers would attack me. He said, “Come back, son. Let the goat go, you are worth more than the goat. The police will get it back for us.” In the meantime, I called my mother and my brother Tareq, who were at home, and told them what happened. I asked them to come with some others to protect us from the settlers.

I headed back to our plot. Suddenly, three settlers appeared from behind a dirt obstruction that the army built in 2003. They began to throw stones at me and to swear at me. I backed away. They threw stones at me for awhile, and then Tareq and other of my relatives arrived. It was about 9:00 by then. When the three settlers saw them coming, they ran and joined up with the settlers who had stolen the white goat. By the time Tareq and the others reached us, the settlers were already gone. I asked Hani, who had since returned, to check if other goats were missing. He found one goat that was wounded and whose stomach was bleeding. It looked as if someone had stabbed it with a sharp instrument.

At around 9:30, eight jeeps pulled up: three Hummers, one Civil Administration jeep, one belonging to the security personnel from Gilad Farm, and three police jeeps. Tareq gave a statement to a policeman who wrote down what he said. Then the policeman ordered us to leave to avoid a confrontation between the settlers and us. We agreed and went back to the field where I had been picking ful. After waiting there for more than half an hour, a policewoman from the Ariel Police Department came and told me that the police had looked for the goat that had been stolen, but had not found it. She said I could go to the Ariel police station the next day to file a complaint against the settlers.

We all returned to the village except for my brother Hani, who went and grazed the flock far from Gilad Farm, and he remained there until nighttime. The settler's action really upset us. We were on our land and weren't harming anybody when they came and attacked us.

Earlier today, Tareq and I went to the police station in Qedumim to file a complaint. This is not the first time that settlers from Gilad Farm have attacked us. Last summer, they assaulted my father, wounding him in the head, and also burned our crops. Tareq filed complaints with the police, but we don't know what happened with them.

Nafe'a Sadeq Ahmad Tawil, 41, married with five children, is a farmer and a resident of Far'ata, Qalqiliya District. The testimony was given to 'Abd al-Karim Sa'adi at the witness's home on 6 April 2006.