On Tuesday morning, residents of Burin village reported that Occupation forces had begun creating a new settler road on their land. Work continued today on the road, which residents fear is a step toward expanding the settlement and permanently annexing more land from the besieged village.
Work began Tuesday morning, when villagers reported that heavy machinery, accompanied by settlement guards and a small group of settlers, were working on laying the new settler road. This road is slated to connected Barcha settlement, located north of the village, with a related settlement outpost that has been set up northeast of Burin.
Machinery, guards and settlers returned to work today. A farmer from Burin, Balal âEid, has a home near the outpost and reported that work was drawing close to his home. There is a fear of what the settlers may try do to him, especially given that there have been several attempts to expel him from this home and confiscate his land.
Burin, surrounded on three sides, is one of the villages exposed to ongoing settler assaults. Yitzhar cuts of land to the south, while Barcha and its related outpost have usurped land in the north and northeast. To the west lies a military base. Villagers worry that this road is the first step in the expansion of settlement activity. Following the road comes electricity lines and the permanent expansion of the settlement onto more of their agricultural land.