Sinjil, Ramallah District: Israeli settlers planting trees on Palestinians’ lands attack the farmers with clubs and pepper spray

On Sunday, 26 March 2023, at noon, residents of the village of Sinjil found out settlers were planting trees on land privately owned by a local resident and located northwest of the village. At around 1:30 P.M., about 10 residents went to the site and found about seven settlers armed with clubs, slingshots and pepper spray. Some of them were masked. The settlers waved their clubs in the air, threatening the farmers. When the farmers continued advancing, they got into a shoving match with the settlers. The settlers began beating the farmers with clubs and sticks, and after about five minutes, seven or so more settlers joined them, one of them armed with a rifle.

Five of the settlers attacked Subhi al-Fuqaha (58) with clubs. ‘Imad a-Din Masalmeh (59) approached and tried to help him, and then one of the settlers hit him with a stick on the right hand, and another settler pepper sprayed al-Fuqaha in the eyes. As this was underway, another settler hit Hussein Shabaneh (40) on his foot with a large stone. At that point, about 15 more settlers showed up, and the Palestinian residents fled back to their car and returned to the village, where the wounded received medical attention at the clinic.

Image

B’Tselem field researcher Iyad Hadad collected testimonies from some of the residents who were attacked by the settlers:

‘Imad a-Din Masalmeh (59) said:

On Sunday, 26 March 2023, at 1:30 P.M., a village resident by the name of Subhi al-Fuqaha (58) called me and told me settlers were planting in our lands northwest of the village. We gathered about ten people and drove there in a large four-by-four vehicle. We parked the car about 500 meters away from the lands and proceeded on foot. None of us are young guys, and some of us have trouble walking, so it took us some time. I went in the front with Hussein Shabaneh (40) and Muhammad Abu Sheikhah, and the rest were behind us. I saw about seven settlers working in the fields. When we approached them, we saw that some of them were masked and that they were holding clubs, slingshots, stones and pepper spray canisters, which they waved about to scare us. They shouted at us in Hebrew: Get out of here. This is ours. We didn’t leave, and then they came up to us and started pushing us and hitting us with the clubs. We got into a shoving match.

Within five minutes, more settlers started arriving, and their number went up to about 14. One of them was holding a rifle. In the meantime, Subhi al-Fuqaha came from the village through the orchards, and five settlers jumped him and beat him with sticks and clubs. I pushed the settler who was standing in front of me and advanced towards Subhi to protect him, and then one of the settlers hit me hard on my right hand with a stick. It was very painful. Another settler pepper sprayed Subhi, who was next to me, in the eyes, and some got in my right eye too. I couldn’t open it. Hussein got hit in the left leg, and we all tried to get away a little to get some air.

By then, there were as many as about 30 settlers. Some of them were chasing us, and others started dancing and singing in the middle of the lands, as if they’d won. The settlers who chased us threw stones at us with slingshots, but we managed to get to the car and get away from there.

I went home, but then my hand started swelling, and the pain got worse, so I went to the village clinic. They gave me an X-ray, and it turned out one of my right wrist bones was cracked. They put my arm in a cast and gave me antibiotics and painkillers.

In his testimony, Subhi al-Fuqaha said:

At around noon, a village resident who is a farmer and a shepherd called me and told me that about seven settlers were taking over a plot of land that belongs to Muhammad Abu Sheikhah (40) from the village and planting trees there. I talked to the municipality and some landowners, and at around 1:30 P.M., we gathered about ten people ranging in age from 30 to 60 and went there.

We parked and proceeded on foot. ‘Imad Masalmeh (60), Hussein Shabaneh (40), and Muhammad Abu Sheikhah got there first. The rest of the people, including me, were various distances behind them. When I got closer, five settlers pounced on me and beat me with sticks on my hand. I wasn’t armed. I tried to defend myself and got hit by a pipe one of them was using to beat me. ‘Imad and Hussein tried to get the settlers off me and help me, and then the settlers attacked them. One of the settlers pepper-sprayed me right in the eyes. It stung badly, and I was exhausted. ‘Imad was also hurt by the pepper spray. Hussein got hit and limped. We ran away, and then more settlers came, and there were about 30 of them already. We kept retreating, and some of the settlers chased us and threw stones at us with slingshots, but we were far by then. We managed to get to our car and return to the village. As we drove away, we saw them dancing and singing to taunt us and celebrate their victory.

At around 2:30 P.M., I went to the village clinic. I had bad bruises, my eyes were stinging, and I had trouble breathing. They gave me oxygen for half an hour and treated my eyes. Luckily, I didn’t have any fractures, so I was told to just rest at home. I work at a tire repair shop, and I’m the sole breadwinner for my family of eight, but I was out of commission for two days after the attack.

In his testimony, Hussein Shabaneh (40), one of the residents called to the scene, said:

Image

Five of the settlers attacked Subhi with clubs and beat him. ‘Imad Masalmeh and I tried to protect him, and they beat us with sticks and clubs. One of the settlers hit me with a large stone on the foot. It hurt a lot, and I retreated. Subhi and ‘Imad retreated, too, after the settlers beat them and sprayed them with pepper spray. We backed away about 30 to 40 meters to catch our breath and get organized, but then more settlers came, also armed with cold weapons, and there were about 30 of them. We were frightened, and we ran away from there. Some of the settlers chased us and threw stones at us with slingshots but missed. We managed to get to the vehicle and get away from there.

In the evening, I went to the clinic in the village. They gave me an X-ray, and it turned out my right foot was cracked. I got treated and went home.