Ishaq Jabarin, 47
I live in Khirbet Shu'b al-Buttom, which is about one kilometer from the Avigail settlement. Our farming land is in a wadi that lies between the settlement and our house. There is no fence around the settlement, and people from the Civil Administration, who have been here several times because of disputes between us and the settlers, told us that the electricity poles around the settlement mark its border.
Last Saturday [4 July], my son Khalil, 21, went to graze sheep on our land in the wadi. Salem Yusef Jabarin, 23, was grazing his sheep in the same area. After Khalil left, I sent another one of my sons, ‘Issa, 12, to tie our three donkeys in the same area. A bit after 9:00, ‘Issa came running home in panic and told me that settlers were attacking Khalil and Salem and the sheep, and that one of the settlers had pushed him and forced him away.
I ran to the wadi with others from my family, including my two wives, to help Khalil and Salem. When we got there, we saw five settlers. One of them was standing on a high spot pushing sheep down. The others were throwing stones at the sheep. I went up to one of the settlers and asked him, in Arabic, “Why are you doing this?” He pushed me and told me to get off their land. I told him it was our land and that he could ask the Israeli authorities.
The settlers continued to chase the sheep. I tried to block them and shouted at them to stop, but it didn't help. Four of them had pistols, so we were frightened and didn't dare fight with them. They forced us back to the village. When we arrived, all the villagers - men, women, and small children - came out and threw stones at the settlers, to get them away from our homes and to stop attacking the sheep, but it didn't help. The settlers went into the tent we use as a kitchen. We didn't stop them. They threw the utensils onto the floor and began to destroy the kitchen. I couldn't believe they were doing this. Then they tried to go into other tents, but we blocked their entrance. This encouraged the villagers and they threw stones and shouted to make them leave. After that, for a long time, they pushed us and we pushed them, until they finally left.
Khalil and Salem told me that the five settlers had assaulted them, especially Salem. They said that the settlers had thrown him to the ground and jumped on him, and then they had attacked Khalil when he had tried to help him. The two of them were bruised.
During the incident, several people tried to call the police and the Red Cross. I called at least 15 times, but either nobody answered or the call was cut or a woman answered and said it wasn't the police. Finally, after lots of attempts, they told us the police were on the way. Around 1:00 P.M., two patrol vans arrived, one belonging to the Civil Administration and the other to the police. At first, two policemen and a policewoman didn't believe us, and said we were lying and causing problems. When Salem and I showed the official from the Civil Administration the video we had filmed with our cell phones, the police officers were convinced. Two of them asked Salem and Khalil to go to the Kiryat Arba police station to give testimony, which they did the next day.
The following day, one of Salem's sheep that the settlers had attacked died.
Ishaq Mahmud Ibrahim Jabarin, 47, has two wives and fifteen children, is a farmer, and lives in Shu'b al-Buttom, Hebron District. The testimony was given to Musa Abu Hashhash on 8 July 2009 at the witness's home.