The West Bank villages of Hares and Yatta are among the many villages that are now facing a danger of being "transferred" as part of the Israeli "unilateral withdrawal" and the annexation of settlement blocks. This may begin any day now and especially tomorrow [15 November 2000] due to the possibility that [Palestinian leader Yasser] Arafat might declare the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The village of Hares is located near the Ariel junction and is in the centre of a "settlement block" intended for annexation. The village has been under a military blockade for weeks, no one is allowed in or out. The water supply has been cut, the olives that were not picked are rotting on the trees and those that were picked are rotting in the sacks.
On Sunday [12 November 2000] security forces entered the village and, after beating many of the residents, finally arrested one person. During this activity a 14-year-old boy was severely wounded but the army prevented an ambulance from entering the village. As a result of these events many residents fled the village and now the army is preventing them from returning (does this sound familiar to anyone?!)
A shipment of food was collected to help the villagers and a second one is being collected.
We are organizing a continues presence of Israeli and foreign citizens in the village for the purpose of supporting, protecting and helping the villagers in any way possible.
During previous presence at the village we managed to persuade the military to open one of the access roads and, while we were on site, there were no injuries. The day after we left one 14-year-old child was killed.
All the roads are currently closed to Palestinian vehicles but Israelis can still get through. This might not be the case tomorrow if events escalate. For this reason it is important to mobilize as soon as possible so we can get to the village before the roads are closed.
The first group is leaving for Hares today at 11:00 [a.m. Israel time] from the New Gate. A second group is organizing for later today.
*For further details contact Neta
on (+ 972) 050-757-504 or Noam (+ 972) 054-218-518, or email Hillel Barak.