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Profile: Village Of Yanun's Palestinian Residents Abandon The Town Due To Arab-Israeli Unrest
All Things Considered: October 19, 2002
 Palestinians
MADELEINE BRAND, host:
It's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Madeleine Brand.
In the West Bank today, seven Israeli policemen were injured in clashes with Jewish settlers protesting the dismantling of an illegal settlement outpost. A man from the government-approved settlement of Itamar was briefly detained for firing shots in the air as Palestinian farmers tried to harvest olives.
In the village of Yanun, Palestinians say harassment by Itamar settlers has gotten so bad that virtually all the residents have fled. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports that Yanun could become the first Palestinian village in years to be abandoned because of the conflict with Israel.
SOUNDBITE OF BIRDS SINGING
PETER KENYON reporting:
The tiny village of Yanun, southeast of Nablus, is silent, except for a few birds flitting among the olive trees. Houses stand empty of both people and belongings. On the hillside stands the Jewish settlement of Itamar and on two other hills, settlement outposts. Forty-year-old farmer Basam Beni Jabar(ph) stands in front of what used to be the town's generator. He says this summer, settlers came down from the hills and set it ablaze.
Mr. BASAM BENI JABAR (Farmer): (Through Translator) The settlers came here about--before three months, and they burnt the generator of the elected city of the--this very general village, and they told the head of the local council of the village, `We don't want any Palestinians in this village.'
KENYON: Almost all the residents of Yanun have left for the nearby village of Akraba. The latest evacuation took place yesterday. One of the last to leave was the head of the local council, Abdul Atif Subay(ph).
Mr. ABDUL ATIF SUBAY: (Through Translator) When I left my village, it was very, very tough and hard position, full of bitterness because I was forced to leave my town where I was born, where I lived, where I was raised. But what forced me to leave, the panic which was spread among my children and the children of the villagers. They are terrified. They panic.
KENYON: The villagers say the harassment began five years ago. They say a 90-year-old man was severely beaten with his own walking stick, causing him to lose the use of one eye. They say settlers bathed and relieved themselves in the village's main water source. Akraba Mayor Khaled Myadem says he has repeatedly complained to the Israeli authorities to no avail.
Mayor KHALED MYADEM (Akraba): (Through Translator) And the Israeli officials promised us to provide protection for the villagers against the settlers. It was nonsense. It was only words. Nothing happened. On the contrary, the aggressions escalated since that time.
KENYON: In June, a Palestinian gunman entered the Itamar settlement and killed five people and injured eight others before he was shot and killed. No connection between those deaths and Yanun has been established.
A spokesman for the Israeli Civil Administration confirmed that a number of complaints about Itamar settlers had been received, but they were referred to the police. After sundown today when the Jewish Sabbath ended, NPR placed several calls to an Itamar spokesman, but he could not be reached. Israeli settlers' council spokesman Ezra Rosenfeld says, in general, the police deal with every complaint they receive, and if they find misconduct, they follow up. Israeli police spokesman Gil Kleinman said he couldn't respond to the specific allegations against Itamar settlers, but he said, in general, the police receive complaints and do what they can to respond.
SOUNDBITE OF SHEEP
KENYON: In Yanun, a shepherd coaxes his flock into an olive grove where 65-year-old Khaleb Mahmoud Sbay(ph) and his 70-year-old brother Fyak(ph) are harvesting olives. The prospect of an abandoned village is deeply painful to the brothers, bringing back memories of the refugees created in the 1948 war. That's why, Khaleb says, when they're done working here, they'll return home to a village without family or neighbors.
Mr. KHALEB MAHMOUD SBAY: (Through Translator) I am owner of this land for more than 700 years from our grandfathers, and our grandfathers, we are here. We have determination to stay in our houses and the village, and we are not going to leave our houses forever, even if they slay us.
KENYON: Their families, however, have fled, and they say they pray each night for the safety of the brothers, the last two Palestinians in Yanun. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, on the West Bank.
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