were allbuilt onlandconfiscated from Beit Ommar. the area. Thesettlements of Karmei Tsur, , , andBat Ayin from thePalestinian residents inorder to establish Jewish-only settlements in of theoccupation in1967,Israel has confiscated thousands ofdunumsland mar’s farmland, ontheotherhand,islocated in Area C.Sincethebeginning B andishometo most ofthe16,000Palestinian residents. Most ofBeitOm T Young resident ofBeitOmmarbeingarrested by IDFsoldiers in Violence Settler and Arrests, Confiscations, Land intheoccupiedWest Bank.Thebuiltup part ofthevillage isinArea he Palestinian village ofBeitOmmarissituated 10kmnorthofthecity • • • • • •

Beit Ommar of Karmei Tsur 600: Numberofdunumsconfiscated from BeitOmmar to expand the on 18June2012 7: Numberofnew demolitionorders given to BeitOmmar residents down by theIsraeli military 6: Years theBeitOmmarfruitandvegetable market hasbeenshut 9: Age ofyoungest BeitOmmarresident to bearrested 8: NumberofIsraeli settlements ina5kilometer radius ofBeitOmmar under theage of18 74: Percentage ofcurrently imprisonedBeitOmmarresidents whoare MA'AN Development Center - 17 Spotlight In the early 1980s, Israel confiscated up- vated.This land can then be converted for wards of 2,000 dunums of Palestinian land settlement usage. . to create the settlement of Karmei Tsur. The settlement was further expanded in 2006, Additionally, the Hebron district, which when settlers confiscated another 600 includes Beit Ommar, sees some of the dunums to construct a fence, and again in highest rates of settler attacks against Pales- 2012, when settlers built two new caravans tinian people, crops, and property. Settlers on private Palestinian land.1 Karmei Tsur take an active role in attacking the residents is not the only settlement that is currently of Beit Ommar on a regular basis, and are infringing on Beit Ommar’s land. In Febru- often joined by settlement security forces, ary 2011, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud who shot at a six-year-old Beit Ommar 4 Barak approved the expansion of a religious resident in 2010. Settlers have also attacked school in the settlement of Efrat.2 Palestinians working in a cemetery and have put wastewater on Palestinian crops in After the confiscations in 2006, the Lo- order to destroy and contaminate their pro- cal Popular Committee has worked with duce. Settlers have burned and destroyed the residents of Beit Ommar to resist the trees belonging to Palestinians and are confiscation of residents’ land and the responsible for the murder of Yousef Ikhlayl, harsh Israeli control over the area through a 17-year-old Palestinian from the area. weekly demonstrations.Since the begin- Yousef’s father even has photographs of the ning of the popular resistance movement, settlers who are responsible for shooting his thousands of Beit Ommar residents have son, but the killers have not been arrested.5 been arrested. Youth and children are, per capita, the most arrested groups in the village, and they frequently report torture or threats of abuse by Israeli interrogators. Currently, there are 78 residents from Beit (Endnotes) Ommar (58 of whom are children under 1- Palestine Solidarity Project,Settlers construct two new 18) in Israeli prisons; 2.5% of all Palestinian caravans on Beit Ommar farmland, 8 February 2012. http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2012/02/08/ prisoners are from Beit Ommar although settlers-construct-two-new-caravans-on-beit-ommar- the village makes up only0.3% of the Pal- farmland/ estinian population in the occupied terri- 2- Peace Now, Barak Approves a New Campus tories. From January 2012 until May 2012 Outside the Settlement of Efrat, 16 February 2011. there were 84 arrests, including 37 children 3- Palestine Solidarity Project.,Campaign for the Release under the age of 18, and 56 youths under of Ahmad Abu Hashem and His Sons, 28 May 2012. http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2012/05/28/ the age of 21.3 campaign-for-the-release-of-ahmed-abu-hashem-and- his-sons/ Many of the arrests in Beit Ommar occur 4- Palestine Solidarity Project,6-year-old shot by settle- while farmers are attempting to access their ment security in Beit Ommar, 17 April 2012. http:// land. Much of the Beit Ommar agricultural palestinesolidarityproject.org/2010/04/17/6-year-old- shot-by-settlement-security-in-beit-ommar/ land is heavily restricted as it is in Area C. 5- Wolf, Bekah, Demanding Justice for Yousef, a Quiet Boy In restricting Palestinians’ access to their Killed by Israeli Settlers, Electronic Intifada (27 January farmland, the Israeli military is then able to 2012). appropriate the land for “military purposes” on the grounds that it is not being culti-

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