Voices from the Occupation: Soufan family - Settler violence

Names: Hanan, Baha’, ‘Attalla and Hala S.
Date of incident: 27 February 2012
Ages: 11, 7, 6 and 4
Location: Burin village, occupied West Bank
Nature of incident: Settler violence
On 27 February 2012, a group of 40 settlers from Yitzhar attacked the home of four children in Burin, Nablus, throwing stones and shouting at them to leave. Such attacks are a frequent occurrence in their lives.
53-year-old Hanan Soufan lives just outside the village of Burin, approximately five kilometres south of Nablus. She lives with five of her sons and four grandchildren: Hanan, Baha, Attalla and Hala. The Israeli settlement of Yitzhar, built on village land, is about one kilometre away from their house.
According to Hanan, “the house is frequently attacked by settlers from Yitzhar, who have been trying to kick us out and get our house demolished since 2000. They throw stones and Molotov cocktails at the house, and we had to install a metal net to protect the windows. Our house has been set on fire twice by Molotov cocktails and gasoline since 2000. Both times we were trapped inside the house, because the settlers were outside, armed and ready to shoot.” The settlers have also cut down many of their olive trees, and have killed around 20 of their sheep. “Since the beginning of the second Intifada,” explains Hanan, “most of my children, if not all of them, have been beaten and had stones thrown at them by settlers and soldiers. My grandchildren live in fear.”
On Monday, 27 February 2012, they suffered yet another settler attack. “At around 3:00 pm, we were in the house when we saw around 40 settlers coming down the hill from Yitzhar settlement, with their faces covered, only their eyes were visible,” Hanan explains. “They all seemed young - from 20 to 25 years old -, and were carrying sticks, stones, metal pipes, pliers and knives. When they got near they started throwing stones at the house. We were inside, and got ready to defend ourselves. The settlers kept shouting things we did not understand in Hebrew. They were also saying things in broken Arabic like ‘Get out of the house. It’s our house.’ I shouted back and said: ‘It’s our house. Go away!’ They kept throwing stones at us and we keep stones on the roof to be able to defend ourselves.”
During the attack, “my grandchildren kept crying and shouting because they were terrified. They wet themselves, as they do every time we are attacked,” says Hanan. At some point, men from the village arrived to help Hanan and her family confront the settlers. The confrontations lasted for about an hour. Some settlers “also cut down olive trees.” Then the Israeli army arrived and the settlers retreated back to Yitzhar.
According to Hanan, the villagers often clash with the army, because “the soldiers come to protect the settlers and fire tear gas canisters at us to prevent us from throwing stones at the settlers. Every time there is an attack, we file a complaint at the Israeli District Coordination Office (DCO), but it is useless. According to the Israeli organisation B’Tselem, we have filed around 120 complaints as a result of settler attacks, but to no avail.”
Hanan says that the children live “in a state of constant dread, waiting for the next settler attack. They are always watching the settlement, trying to be careful in case the settlers come.” In fact, the whole family lives like this. “When some of us go to bed,” she continues, “others stay up to keep watch and protect us all in case the settlers attack us. They often take us by surprise and attack when we are asleep, making us very tense and constantly waiting for the next attack. This affects the children; they live in fear and have bad dreams all the time.” In addition, they have to walk long distances to school because the settlers burned three of the family’s cars and there is no point in buying another. Hanan concludes: “We are always thinking of ways to help the children and we keep encouraging them not to get worried or scared. Eventually, they will get used to our way of life. We have no other place to go. We will stay in our land, in the house we inherited from our ancestors, no matter the price we have to pay.”
 
Hanan’s story was covered by The Telegraph in December 2009 and by CNN and various other international media outlets.