The Israeli army arrested 10 Palestinians and five Israelis in the South Hebron Hills today (Saturday) while they were trying to reach Palestinian-owned land next to the illegal outpost called Mitzpeh Yair, in the southern West Bank. According to Guy, an Israeli Ta'ayush activist who filmed the video below, the Awwad family from Umm al Ara'is was accompanied by Palestinians from Susya and Israeli activists to try and reach their land, since in recent months the army has been increasingly preventing them from doing so. As soon as they got there, the IDF soldiers declared it a "closed military zone" for reasons…

In the second such incident in three days, IDF soldiers are idle as settlers exert force and damage property on local Palestinian population in the West Bank.  Soldiers did not bother to intervene on Monday when a very angry settler violently confronted Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills. Israeli Ta'ayush activists accompanied Palestinians to harvest their crops on the land of Bir el Eid, which is now adjacent to an illegal outpost called Mitzpeh Yair, home to some fanatic settlers I have had the displeasure of meeting. First the soldiers arrived and, as they normally do in these parts of…

Since the IDF cannot and will not protect Palestinians from settlers, it's time to turn over the West Bank to an international force. An incident in the village of Asira Al-Qibiliya drew media attention on Saturday, since it was captured on B'Tselem's cameras. A group of Yitzhar settlers tried to raid the village, set its fields on fire, and two of its people opened live fire against the villagers who gathered to defend themselves, severely wounding one of them. IDF gunmen present at the scene did nothing. The IDF Spokesman sputtered something (Hebrew) about "on the face of it, the…

A visit by Ta’ayush activists to the hills near Bir el Eid turns into a tug-of-war with a local settler On Saturday, a lone settler from the illegal outpost of Mitzpeh Yair prevented water access to Palestinians living in Bir el Eid.  This is not the first time this has happened. The specific water cistern – dug by Palestinians from Bir el Eid and situated on their privately owned land – has been impossible to pump water out of for months because the settlers from this tiny neighboring outpost of about 10 families are adamant about annexing it (even though…