Daily life under occupation: Settlers attacked Da’na family homes with stones in Hebron’s al-Harika neighborhood

Settlers attacked Da’na family homes with stones, 16 September 2019

On Monday, 16 September 2019, at around 8:30 P.M., four settlers were filmed throwing stones at one of the Da’na homes, about 250 meters from the fence that separates the neighborhood from the settlement. About two hours later, two buses arrived and unloaded dozens of settlers. Some joined in the stone throwing and swore at neighborhood residents. Soldiers and Border Police officers who arrived at the scene joined the attack, throwing tear gas canisters into the neighborhood.

In a testimony she gave B'Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bri on 19 September 2019, Mai Da'na, 28, a married mother of three and homemaker, related what happened:

On Saturday, 14 September 2019, at around 8:30 P.M., four settlers who were standing on a hill in the settlement of Kiryat Arba started throwing stones at one of my family’s homes. I grabbed my camera, went up to the roof of the building across from mine and started filming what was going on. In the meantime, two buses came and about 60 settlers got off. Some of them started throwing stones and swearing. The stones hit the windows of our homes. They hit them so hard that it felt like we were being fired at.

My father-in-law started yelling at the settlers, trying to get them to back off and stop throwing stones. My husband, Samih, made some calls to get help, including the Red Cross and the Palestinian DCO. A lot of soldiers and Border Police officers arrived, but the settlers kept on throwing stones right in front of them and the soldiers did nothing to stop them. Instead, the soldiers started throwing tear gas canisters at neighborhood homes. The gas spread and I couldn’t keep filming from the roof, so I went down to one of the apartments, where I could see what was going on outside. My kids, Jasser, 4, and Shawak, 2, were with me. The settlers’ shouting and the thuds the stones made on the windows scared them. I tried to reassure them and keep filming at the same time.

The settlers kept throwing stones for about an hour. Right after that, the military raided houses in the neighborhood until after 11:00 P.M. Settler attacks on the neighborhood happen all the time, and the military always backs them up and attacks us with tear gas. It’s become almost a daily routine. People here often get hurt from gas inhalation and have to be taken to hospital.

Because of the settler attacks, my husband and his brothers installed screens on all the windows, which is why, fortunately, no windows were broken in the attack.

Settlers assaulted a Da’na family home with stones, 6 July 2019

On Saturday, 6 July 2019, beginning at around 7:00 P.M., B'Tselem volunteer Mai Da’na, filmed about five settlers throwing stones at one of the Da’nas’ homes and an adjacent sheep pen. A soldier who was there did nothing. Neighborhood children began throwing stones at the settlers in retaliation. At that point, the military stepped in, and about 20 soldiers started chasing the children while throwing tear gas canisters and stun grenades in the streets. The soldiers only left the neighborhood at around 11:00 P.M.

Dalal Da’na, 35, a married mother of six and homemaker who was eight months pregnant at the time, described what happened in a testimony she gave B'Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bri on 9 July 2019:

On 6 July 2019, at around 7:00 P.M., I was in our yard with my children Batul, 12, Tamer, 8, and Muhammad, 2. The Kiryat Arba fence was built right next to our house. Suddenly, a stone landed right among us. A few young settlers started yelling at us. They threw more and more stones. The children were scared and started screaming and crying. I took them inside right away and tried to calm them down.

 

Then I went quickly to our sheep pen. The settlers were throwing stones at it, too. My son ‘Udai, 17, was there feeding the livestock. Our relative, ‘Adnan, 55, ran over there and got ‘Udai out, and in the meantime, the settlers kept throwing stones at the pen and on my windows.

It went on for about half an hour. A soldier who was standing there did nothing. When some kids from the neighborhood started throwing stones back at the settlers, the settlers ran to a hilltop inside the settlement and kept throwing stones from there.

The stones hit our windows, and it really scared my kids. Luckily, after settlers broke our windows in the past, my husband Nayef installed screens on them. Yet the settlers did manage to break the bathroom window and stones got inside.

After that, a lot of soldiers, about 20, came and started chasing the kids from the neighborhood who’d been throwing stones. They also started hurling tear gas canisters and stun grenades. I’m pregnant, and a lot of gas spread through the area. I was afraid for my baby. I tried to reassure the kids, who were frightened by the thuds the stones made on the windows and the settlers’ shouting.