Harassment and abuse perpetrated by settlers from the Qedumim settlement against Palestinian olive farmers continues throughout the month of October, as farmers have repeatedly come under attack for trying to harvest their olives. The settlers committing the attacks have been protected by Occupation forces, who consistently refrain from intervening on behalf of the Palestinians. Some of the abuses have in fact been committed by the forces themselves, and not by the settlers.
***image2***On September 27 2008, Occupation forces patrolling Kafr Qaddum stopped a group of 25 Palestinian youth around 9:30 in the evening. The youth were socializing near a supermarket when the forces began to beat them and threatened to impose a curfew on them until the end of Eid al-Fitr.
On October 2 2008, Occupation forces and settlers from Qedumim, the settlement built on the village land, joined forces to prevent a group of youth from going to work at a construction site of the Red Cross. This is part of a deliberate Occupation strategy to economically harm Palestinians by restricting their freedom of movement and their opportunities to find employment.
On October 5 2008, Occupation forces prevented farmers from Kafr Qaddum from reaching their farmlands to harvest their olives, as the forces claimed that the farmlands were on Israeli land, and the farmers did not have a right to enter. The forces threatened the farmers with physical violence and forced them to leave the area.
On October 11 2008, settlers from Qedumim threw soil in a well in Kafr Qaddum, thus contaminating one of the villageâs water resources. Occupation forces were present when this happened, but they made no move to prevent the attack on the well. Later that same day, the settlers returned and threw stones at farmers who were harvesting their olives. Only after allowing the stone-throwing to continue for several minutes did the Occupation forces step in to stop the settlers.
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