Burqah, Ramallah District: Israeli settlers escorted by soldiers attack residents and set fire to a livestock enclosure. Soldiers fire live rounds and tear gas at defending village residents

On Sunday, 21 April 2024, around 9:00 P.M., a parked car was set on fire near the old road from Burqah to Ramallah, which the settlers and the military have been blocking to residents of the village since the Givat Assaf outpost was established in 2021. The settlers claim the car was set on fire by Burqah residents. About 15 minutes later, Nizam Mu’tan (50), a resident of Burqah who lives about a kilometer away from the site, and other village residents noticed more than 30 settlers and about 10 soldiers advancing towards the village. The settlers split into two groups. One of them began to attack residents who came out to defend the village with stones. The soldiers who escorted it fired live rounds at the residents. The other group, meanwhile, went to Mu’tan’s livestock enclosure, which is next to his house, set fire to it, and drew back.

As Mu’tan and other residents tried to put out the fire, the settlers approached the enclosure again, and attacked them with stones, injuring Mu’tan’s son ‘Omar, 20, in the forehead. The Palestinian firefighters residents had called could not reach the site for half an hour due to the stone throwing and gunfire. In the meantime, village youths shot fireworks at the settlers and soldiers, who responded with live fire and tear gas canisters. One of the firefighters had difficulty breathing and was treated by volunteer paramedics who were present at the scene. At around 10:00 P.M., Border Police officers arrived in the village and drove the settlers away. The residents and the firefighters eventually managed to put out the fire, but not before one sheep died, another was injured and about 30 bales of animal feed were burned, a loss of tens of thousands of shekels.

Mu’tan has been suffering from settler attacks ever since the establishment of the Givat Assaf outpost, some of which were documented by B’Tselem: On 7 April 2024, Israeli settlers attacked Mu’tan and local residents who came to his aid, and killed two goats. On 25 June 2018, Mu’tan discovered settlers had cut down 48 trees on his land. On 13 April 2018, settlers attacked Mu’tan when he was grazing his flock with his 13-year-old son.

Image

In a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher Iyad Hadad on 29 April 2024, Nizam Ma’tan described what happened that day:

My house is on the north side of the village of Burqah, about a kilometer away from the road that the army and the settlers blocked off since they established the Givat Assaf outpost. Ever since then, we’ve had to travel through a tunnel under Route 60, like mice. I have a sheep farm next to my house, with a flock of about 200 sheep, which is how I make my living.

Recently, the settlers attacked me three times:

On Saturday 2 March 2024, about 200 settlers attacked our house with stones, smashed four windows and vandalized two water tanks.

On Sunday, 7 April 2024, settlers attacked me when I was grazing my sheep near the house. They pepper sprayed me in the face and killed two sheep.

The third time was on Sunday, 21 April 2024, around 9:00 P.M. I was at home with my family, when I suddenly saw a car on fire on the road that leads to the outpost. I don’t know who set it on fire. There are no Palestinian cars on this road. I started watching what was going on from a distance with some other residents because we were worried it was a settler’s car and that they would accuse us of setting it on fire.

About 15 minutes later, the village floodlights that light up the area turned on, and I saw about 10 soldiers with flashlights with more than 30 settlers behind them, advancing towards the village.

The settlers split up into two groups. One group of about 10 settlers started attacking the village with stones, and the soldiers escorting them started shooting live fire. I was at home, peeking out the back door that leads to my farm. I saw another group of settlers who had cut through the barbed wire fence of the farm and entered the sheepfold. I saw them setting fire to animal feed bales. These bales are large, and the fire spread quickly. The flames were very high.

I called the fire department right away. I didn’t dare go out to confront the settlers on my own, so I stood in my doorway, calling out for villagers to help, and then a soldier pointed his gun at me and ordered me to go inside. I told him: “Get the settlers away! Protect us!” He answered: “Go inside, or I’ll shoot you.” I had to go inside. I couldn’t do anything.

A few minutes later, the settlers ran away, and about five or six young guys from the village came. They managed to sneak their way through the fields on the south side of the village. They joined me and my four children and we started getting the sheep out of the shack and trying to put out the fire. One sheep was already dead, and another was injured. The fire had already spread, and we couldn’t get it under control. I tried to call more residents to come help, but the army kept firing tear gas canisters near us, and the settlers threw stones, so no one could get close.

While we were trying to put out the fire, some settlers attacked us with stones from a distance of about 40 meters, and one of the stones hit my son ‘Omar, 20, in the head, as he was trying to close the farm gate. He was bleeding and residents took him home and treated his injury. I stayed outside and kept trying to put out the fire because I was afraid it would spread towards the house.

In the meantime, the fire department arrived. It took them about half an hour, even though they come from the nearby village of a-Taybah, which should take them about 10 minutes.

At this point, village youths shot fireworks at the soldiers and then the soldiers started firing live rounds and large quantities of tear gas canisters at them from a distance of only 30-50 meters. The gas spread towards us and started burning our eyes. One of the firefighters had trouble breathing and volunteer paramedics from the village treated him.

At 10:00 P.M., Border Police officers arrived in four jeeps and stopped about 50 meters from my house. I asked them to keep the settlers away, and one of them told me to go inside and said they’d get them out of there. The officers fired flares and then started yelling at the settlers to get away. The firefighters kept putting out the fire, and we tried to calm the children down. The commotion lasted until midnight.

One sheep died, and another one was injured in the neck, and about 30 bales of animal feed burned down. It’s a loss of tens of thousands of shekels. All this in addition to my son ‘Omar’s injury.

We’ve contacted the authorities, human rights organizations and international bodies many times to ask for protection, but it did not help us. We keep suffering from repeated attacks by settlers. We’re civilians trying to live our lives in peace and we’re constantly in danger. No one cares.