MT. CARMEL FIRE IS HUGE NEWS_ WHAT ABOUT THE ARSON ALL OVER PALESTINE?

SNIPPITS and SNAPPITS 

They laughed and clapped as they watched Gaza burning.

 What do these Hasidim think now that Israel burns?

The world has been aghast over the fires on Mt. Carmel in Israel. There has been moaning for the loss of 40 guards and the great loss of land. Media around the world is on top of this horrid situation. As harsh as it is to say, these men were guards who more than likely were involved in the brutal treatment of Palestinian prisoners most of whom are innocent.

So, as much as I sorrow a loss of life, it is difficult to dredge up much sorrow for this lot.

For years, the Israeli settlers have been waging war on the local Palestinians. Force, arms, bullying, theft, water deprivation, their tricks are many but the foremost in their arsenal has been fire, burning homes, orchards, fields, of the local Palestinian farmers.

The media has kept quite silent on these assaults; the only media spreading these stories being Arabian or Palestinian. The world is ignorant of these goings on or, when they hear of them, blame the Palestinian terrorists who are, in truth, humble farmers and people of the land, eking out their existence under ever increasing difficulties.


Israeli firemen are aided by help from
around the world as they fight this fire.

 The following post from Mondeweiss highlights this situation.

December 4, 2010

By Seham

Because, I document the news every single day and am aware of the fact that a week does not pass without settlers setting fire to Palestinian schools, homes and agricultural land, it’s almost impossible for me not make “political hay” out of the fact that while the remaining 22% of historic Palestine burns to the ground, nobody cares, except for Palestinians


A Palestinian firefighter has no water to put out fires started by
Settlers attempting to burn his people from their lands. 

Settlers torch olive trees south of Nablus



NABLUS (Ma'an) ~

Residents of illegal settlements in the Nablus district set fire to olive trees on Tuesday, a Palestinian Authority official said.

Ghassan Doughlas, who holds the settlements file for the northern West Bank, said settlers from Yizhar settlement torched trees on land belonging to Madama and Asira villages south of Nablus.

IOF troops detain 7 Palestinians, settlers set fire to cultivated land



Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up seven Palestinians in various West Bank areas at dawn Wednesday including MP Nayef Al-Rajoub in Al-Khalil and two brothers in Nablus.



Extremist settlers burned this
Christian church on Prophet Street.



More questions about the settler attack on church in Jerusalem



 A group of extremist Israeli settlers attacked and set fire to an old Christian church in Jerusalem (Al Quds) on Friday night, 30th October.The church itself was built more than a hundred years ago and has housed Christian worshipers in the Holy city of Al Quds for decades.

For the leaders of the Church, Friday night's attack was indicative of the slow but steady destruction of Al Quds itself; once a city of diverse religious beliefs and practices. Zakaria Al-Mashriqi, one of these Leaders of the Church spoke of the attack as a "sinful crime" and stated in a press conference that the destruction of the Church was in line with the attempts by the Israeli army, the settler force and the Israeli government to expel Palestinians from the Holy city.

A torched mosque.

Palestinians say settlers torched their olive trees (AFP)
 
SALEM, Palestinian Territories – Palestinians said that Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank burned about 200 of their olive trees on Sunday and also torched surrounding grazing land. Settlers denied the allegations. The alleged attackers were seen heading in the direction of the nearby Elon Moreh settlement after setting fire to the trees on land owned by the Palestinian village of Salem, village council spokesman Adli Ishtayeh said.
 
Settlers Destroy Trees in Surif

Like Palestinians for centuries before them, Shaban Atiya Al-Hur and Ahmed Atiya Al-Hur have farmed the Al-Hajahat area of Surif. This morning both men attended their land to find that settlers from the nearby Bat Ayn settlement had destroyed 85 of their olive and fig trees. The trees were destroyed by deliberately lit fires and amount to around half the trees in the area. The fires were started at approximately 9:30am and lasted for around half an hour.

Residents say settlers behind torched grove

HEBRON (Ma’an) ~ Fires ravaged agricultural lands in the southern West Bank near Hebron on Monday afternoon, destroying 15 dunums of fruit grove and greenhouses. Beit Ummar farmers, whose lands were affected, said they believed setters from the nearby Bat Ayin colony were behind the arson, which destroyed dozens of fig, olive and pine trees.

Settlers set Saffa ablaze, 3 Palestinian youth arrested

17 Nov ~ Palestine Solidarity Project ~ Last night [Tuesday] settlers from the Bat Ayn settlement set fire to 70 olive trees in the Saffa region of Beit Ommar. The trees belonged to the Thalji Aady families, who have been subject to frequent settler violence and military harassment. The fire was lit around 9:30 pm, and burned for 3 hours before fire trucks from the village were able to extinguish the flames. At 11:00 pm 3 military jeeps arrived and attempted to prevent villagers from extinguishing the fire, arresting 3 Palestinian youth in the process.



Settlers burned out her orchards and crops.
Where was the international community?
Where were the firemen?

Settlers blamed for fire near Nablus

Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian farmland between the West Bank cities of Nablus and Qalqiliya on Tuesday, officials said. Ghassan Dughlus, the Palestinian Authority official monitoring settler activity in the northern West Bank, said Israelis from the settlement of Givat Gilad set fires in the village ofJit. He said about 100 trees were burned in the blaze. Mayor Nasser As-Sida told Ma'an that Israeli soldiers bared villagers from going to the land in order to put out the fire.

Israel settlers start fires amid West Bank harvest (AFP)

FARATA'A, Palestinian Territories (AFP) ~ Thick black smoke billows from the olive grove under the gaze of Israeli soldiers as Palestinian farmers use branches to try to beat out the fires lit by Jewish settlers. It's olive harvest time in the occupied West Bank. The fire bombers swooped down from Havat Gilad, a wildcat Jewish settlement unauthorized even by the Israeli government. Encircled by barbed wire, the makeshift dwellings glower down on the surrounding Palestinian olive plantations from a hilltop in the northern West Bank.

Settlers have burned this family's olive grove
and they are helpless to put the fire out.

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