Testimonies

Kamal Shabaneh, father of five

In late September, there was a meeting of farmers from Sinjil, Turmusaya, al-Mughayir , al-Janiya, Ras Karkar, Ein Yabrud, 'Atara, and other villages, and the Israeli liaison official, an officer named 'Adel. The meeting was held at the Beit El DCO, and was coordinated by Palestinian liaison officials. The deputy head of the village council, Ayub Sweid, and I represented Sinjil. We demanded that the Israeli army defend the farmers from the settlers' attacks and harassment throughout the year, and not only during the olive-harvest season, because our faming is not limited to the olive-picking season. We have to clear the land of rocks, plow, fertilize, and other things involved in cultivation. It is impossible to do all these tasks in one period of time. The Israeli liaison official did not agree to our demand, and said that they couldn't protect us all year round. He said that he could only promise [to protect us] during the olive-picking season, which begins in November. It was determined that there would be coordination with the army in each area, depending on the local situation. We set Sunday, 10 November, as the first day of the olive harvest in al-Maghrabat, which lies adjacent to a new settlement between Sinjil and Ma'ale Levona. I think that the settlement's name is Givat Haroeh [the reference is to Givat Harel].

On 9 November, the day preceding the scheduled day for the harvest to begin, the Israeli liaison official 'Adel called me to verify that the arrangement we had agreed on was still in effect. I asked him to postpone the date for three days until the 13 th . He agreed. On the agreed-upon day, my family and I began the olive harvest in the al-Maghrabat area. Before we went, I called 'Adel and told him that we were going to the olive grove. He said a jeep would be there, and an officer named Gilad would be there to handle the security. An Israeli liaison jeep was indeed on patrol in the area. We picked the olives without any problems.

Around 3:00 P.M., two Israeli girls passed by on foot. They came from the direction of the Ma'ale Levona settlement and threw two bags on the side of the road, near the farmers. One of them was of medium height, heavyset, dark-skinned, and her hair was bunched on her head. She was wearing glasses, and I think she was about seventeen years old. The other girl looked about the same age. They threw the bags and left. We ignored them. After they left, two soldiers who were in the area checked the bags. They were empty. About fifteen minutes later, the two girls came back with eight more girls. They were all about 16-18 years old, and all were dressed in civilian clothes. They got out of a white car, it looked like a Ford. The car drove off and the girls went to the olive groves alongside the road, took two full sacks of olives and began to drag them to the road. We shouted at them and they left the sacks and ran away.

There were around fifteen soldiers with us. Their commander was an officer from the Israeli liaison office. I spoke with him, and he said his name was Itai, and that he had replaced Gilad. I told him that settlers had tried to steal olives. While we were talking, the girls came back to the sacks of olives. Most of them had knives, and they began to rip the sacks. The other farmers and I began to push them away, to protect ourselves and the crop. The girls threw stones at us. One of the girls took a stick used for picking olives and hit my mother, Hilwah al-Haj Sur, who is sixty-five years old. The other girls had sticks and beat other women who were with us. The soldiers tried to separate us and the settlers, but they favored the settlers. The soldiers grabbed me and the men who were with me, and released the girls, who continued to rip the sacks. I did not get the impression that the soldiers tried to stop them. The soldiers also threatened us, saying that if we didn't leave the site, they would open fire at us.

This went on for about two hours, until the girls managed to rip the sacks completely, and the olives lay scattered on the ground. I estimate that they cut open eight sacks. They also destroyed coffee thermos bottles, cups, and food that we had brought, as well as the ladders and sticks that we used in harvesting the olives. During the fracas, I called '‘Adel on the phone and told him that I felt that Itai was not seriously trying to help us. I spoke with him, but he did not come to the site.

When we realized that we were unable to stop them from destroying our crop, we backed away, because we were afraid that they would attack us with their knives, and that the soldiers would not protect us. It was about 5:00 P.M. by then. The soldiers and the settlers pushed and forced us to the main road, which was about half a kilometer from where we had the fracas with the settlers.

Just then, a police patrol van passed. '‘Adel was in the van. I told him that I wanted to file a complaint. One of the police officers wanted to take a statement from me, but I refused to give it until they arrested the assailants, who were still in the area. The police officers arrested six of them. Later, one of the officers told me to go to the Binyamin police station near Mikhmas and file a complaint. I went by car with 'Aziz 'Ali Shabaneh, age 49, 'Arafat 'Ali Shabaneh, age 55, Musa Hussein 'Asfur, age 48, Kamal Shabaneh, age 40, Hud Muhhamad Shabaneh, age 41 and Muhammd 'abd al-Qader Khalil, age 56. Itai drove in front of us. When we got to the station, we saw the girl settlers. One of them, the one that I had described, swore at us: '“You bastard, you're disgusting.'”

The police officers took us into the interrogation room. 'Aziz, 'Arafat, Musa and I gave a statement. We were there until 7:30 P.M. After that, we went home. In the two days that followed, some fifteen Israeli volunteers from a peace movement came and helped us with the harvest. The police and army also came. We didn't have any problems during these two days.

A few of us were injured by the settlers. I was struck in the leg by a stone, and my mother's arm was slightly fractured when she was hit with a stick.

Kamal 'Abd a-Rahman Ibrahim Shabaneh, 44, married with five children, is a farmer and a baker, and a resident of Sinjil, in Ramallah District. His testimony was given to Iyad Haddad in Sinjil on 17 November 2005