On Friday, 15 October 2021, at around 9:30 A.M., I was on my land with three laborers from the town of Salfit whom I'd hired to help me harvest. I own two dunams of land [1 dunam = 1,000 sq. meters] with eight olive trees.
About two hours later, a lot of settlers, more than 30, suddenly arrived. They were masked and had slingshots. They swore and threw stones at us. When I tried to gather the olives I'd already picked, one of the settlers suddenly sprayed me with pepper spray. He was holding a canister in one hand and a gun in the other. I couldn't see a thing. I could only hear them shouting and swearing at me, and stones falling on the ground in every direction. A stone hit me in the shoulder and I fell down. I tried to get away, part walking, part crawling, without seeing anything. I walked and fell. I felt like a blind chicken chasing its own tail.
I crawled until I reached the road. My face burned like fire, and when I got there, I lay on the ground, exhausted. I couldn't stand. My whole body was shaking. I suffer from diabetes, hypertension and irregular heartbeat. I felt a terrible dryness. A bus driver stopped and gave me a glass of water.
I refused to get up from the road until the police gave me back what the settlers had stolen from me. They took everything: my medicine, cell phone, six tarps and a ladder. Then soldiers and Border Police officers arrived. I stayed there until 2:30 P.M., but it didn't help. They didn't give me back anything from what the settlers stole. Having no choice, I went home. To this day, I can't forget what happened there and don't know how I managed to get away from them. They're like wild animals. My whole body still hurts. I felt burning and pain in my face for a few days. Because of my physical and mental state, I couldn't return to the land.
I heard that we could go to the land in a few days with coordination. But who will come with me after what has happened? None of the workers will agree to come. I still have nightmares from it. What did I do? I simply went to my land, my only source of income. I have no provider but God. They ruined me. I'm in a terrible mental state.
