In July 2023, settlers set up a tent outpost southwest of Burin, on land belonging to village resident Akram ‘Umran (54).
On Sunday, 16 July 2023, at around noon, the settlers set fire to trees on ‘Umran’s land and burned dozens of olive trees. Mus’ab Safwan (26), who lives about 200 meters away from the site, noticed the fire and called the Palestinian fire department and landowners in the area. The Israeli military does not allow the Palestinian fire department to access this area without permission from the Civil Administration, which refused to issue the permit. After about 20 minutes, Safwan and the farmers who had arrived began putting out the fire, but as they were working on it, several settlers and a jeep with soldiers came from the direction of the tents, and Safwan and the rest of the farmers fled to Safwan’s home.
The settlers attacked the house with stones, destroyed a water tank and set fire to weeds near the house, which the farmer put out. The soldiers who escorted the settlers in a jeep fired tear gas canisters at the house, and one landed inside. Safwan threw the tear gas canister at the settlers, who fled. Safwan and his family members suffered from gas inhalation. After about 10 minutes, military jeeps arrived at the scene, and at around 1:10 P.M., a Palestinian fire truck came and finished extinguishing the fire. One of the jeeps remained near the house until 1:45 P.M. and then left.
Mus’ab Safwan (26), a father of two, ages three and two, spoke about the incident in a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher Salma a-Deb’i on 20 July 2023:
On Sunday, 16 July 2023, around noon, settlers set fire to trees on Akram’ Umran’s land, which is about 200 meters from our house, on the south side of the village of Burin. I called the council and asked them to call the landowners in the area, and about 15 of them came. I also called the Palestinian fire department, but the Israeli DCO did not give the fire truck permission to go to the land.
We saw the settlers putting out the fire that got close to the tents they had set up this month. I think they want to burn our lands to take over the area.
There were four soldiers there who are always with the settlers. The settlers got the fire on their side under control pretty quickly with the help of an Israeli fire truck that arrived there. It passed by us without stopping and continued towards the settlers.
At 12:30 P.M., a few settlers advanced towards us, some of them holding sticks, and then we stopped putting out the fire and retreated towards my house. The settlers started attacking the house with stones, and a slingshot too. They hit some of the windows, damaged the iron mesh screens we’d installed to protect them and broke water tanks. One of them also set fire to weeds near the house, and the fire spread quickly because everything is very dry. I didn’t know what to do. We went up on the roof of the house and looked out from there.
About 15 minutes later, soldiers arrived in a military jeep and fired tear gas canisters in the direction of the house. One of the canisters landed next to me on the roof. I picked it up and threw it towards the soldiers and the settlers, and the settlers ran away.
My family members and I suffered from gas inhalation and used onions. The gas it emits helps to breathe. I was feeling really unwell and couldn’t tell what was going on around me anymore. I later found out that the farmers went out to put out the fire next to the house, and that at 1:10 P.M., a Palestinian fire truck came and finished putting out the fire.
Ever since the settlers put up the tents, I haven’t dared go out and leave my family members at home.