Mustafa Najar, taxi driver

Today [Saturday, 11 October], around 6:00 A.M., I went with my wife, my two brothers and their wives, and my two nephews, aged 6 and 10, to our plot of land. It lies south of Burin, in an area called Raha Abu Haluf, four kilometers from the village’s houses, and about 600 meters from the houses of the Yitzhar settlement. The plot is four dunams in size and has 73 olive trees. We coordinated our entry with the DCO.

Mustafa Najar in Rafidya Hospital, Nablus. Photo: Salma a-Deba'i, B'Tselem, 11 Oct. 2008.

Since the beginning of the current intifada, we can’t get to the plot most of the year because the settlers are so violent. The only time we manage to enter it is during the olive harvest, when we coordinate our entry with the Israeli authorities. Settlers have cut more than 200 olive trees of the Hussein family in this area, attacked farmers and burned olive trees.

When we got to the plot, we saw that three of our trees had been chopped down at the base, and that the branches of 23 other trees had been cut and were scattered on the ground. The branches were dry and looked as if they had been cut three or four weeks ago. We began to pick olives and continued until 10:00, when we stopped to eat breakfast.

Suddenly, I saw soldiers and settlers about 500 meters from us, heading in our direction. When they were about 30 meters away, the settlers began to throw stones at us while the soldiers stood beside them. I asked my brother to take the children away and shouted to villagers who were picking olives close by that settlers were attacking us. We usually go picking in large groups because we are afraid of settlers. Then we called the Huwara DCO [District Coordination Office] and told them what was happening.
I stood and watched what was going on. The settlers threw stones and swore at us, and then a few young villagers who had been picking olives started throwing stones back at the settlers. The settlers were standing on a high spot of ground and the stones couldn’t reach them. Then the soldiers fired into the air. There were about six soldiers and they fired about 40 shots. It was clear that they weren’t firing to stop the settlers throwing stones, but to stop us throwing stones at the settlers. One of the settlers threw a stone at me from about 10 meters away. It hit me above my left eye, and I felt dizzy and couldn’t see properly. Then another few stones hit me in the right arm and left leg.

We moved away from them and hoped they would go away so we continue our picking, but they kept on throwing stones at us until 11:30, when two soldiers from the DCO arrived. One of them asked me, “What happened to you?” I told him that I had been hit by a stone. The soldiers shouted to the settlers to stop throwing stones at us, and the settlers moved back a bit. So did we. I got really dizzy and felt my condition was worsening. My brothers called an ambulance, which took me to Rafidya Hospital, in Nablus, where I was X-rayed and treated. It appeared from the X-rays that I had a cracked skull and internal bleeding and I was placed in intensive care.

Mustafa Ahmad Muhammad Najar, 47 and married with six children is a taxi driver and a resident of Burin in Nablus District. His testimony was given to Salma a-Deba'i on 11 October 2008 at Rafidya Hospital.