Mohammed Shubaita from the village of Azzoun to the east of Qalqilia to the north of the West Bank picked up and read a pamphlet thrown by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) which entails threats against Palestinians in the village. The pamphlet included hidden threats to make the lives of Palestinians even worse over what the IOF claims to be stone-throwing at its soldiers by residents of the village.
The Israeli occupation forces have distributed pamphlets on Palestinians in the village of Azzoun on 5 February 2017 in which it claimed an increase in the number of Palestinian stone and Molotov cocktails thrown at its soldiers in addition to shooting at Israeli cars passing by the main road located next to the village which resulted in taking further security measures in the recent days making the lives of the residents of the village even harder.
Shubaita told the PIC that the village of Azzoun is subjected to a fierce assault from the IOF which gets worse and better depending on the ongoing events but it is always unstable.
Shubaita like the rest of the village’s residents faces a great deal of suffering when attempting to get in and out of the village as the Israeli occupation soldiers open the main gate of the village and close it depending on the mood of the on-duty soldiers while Palestinians find themselves forced to follow up the news of its opening and closure minute by minute.
Real reason of the tension
For his part Ahmed Badwan comments on the continuing Israeli occupation’s threats by saying: the Israeli occupation justifies its ill-treatment of Palestinians by citing alleged stone-throwing incidents against its soldiers forgetting that the village is surrounded by settlements and settlers the real reason behind this tension.
He added “Azzoun village was surrounded by settlements as the settlement of Ma’ale Shomron surrounds it from the east and the settlement of Tsufim surrounds it from the west while the settlement of Jinat Shomron suffocates the village from the south. These settlements confiscated 8000 dunums of the village’s lands.”
These Jewish-only settlements are surrounded by wires cameras while barbed wires isolate the village from the north thus completely isolating it with its residents left with very small exits that connect them with the outside world.
Badwan believes the settlers’ assaults and their continuing presence and what it entails of permanent presence of the Israeli occupation forces result in inevitable clashes in the area.
The village’s houses
In the past few months the Israeli occupation forces almost stormed every single house in the village subjecting the owners to various forms of harassment and interrogation.
May Abu Haneyya told the PIC reporter that this situation left a big psychological impact on the children of the village. She also pointed to the incessant arrest campaigns which target dozens of children from the village and which required initiating a permanent psychological support program.
She noted that the confrontations in the village is not the only reason behind arresting the children as there is an IOF order that bans approaching the barbed wires surrounding the settlements. Surrounding the village with settlements from all directions means arresting Palestinian children once they get closer to those settlements she added.
The Israeli occupation forces have also established a rubbish disposal site for settlements’ refuse in which dangerous and poisonous materials are dumped thus threatening the health of the villagers.
Residents of Azzoun complain that the village has turned into a permanent flashpoint while lacking the basic fundamentals for steadfastness such as emergency health centers an ambulance and resident doctors and other necessary needs to support their steadfastness.
