On 3 August some residents of Ramallah were holding a small party for a friend’s son who had recently graduated from high school. The younger ones were dancing in the middle of the hall while the older guests tried to chat over the music. Then the news came in that the Hamayel brothers had been arrested by the Israeli army.

The Hamayels live in a village near Ramallah. Its residents and those of other villages nearby are regularly attacked, and settlers from several ‘outposts’ – one only recently established, a few hundred metres from the brothers’ farm – prevent them from accessing ever-growing areas of their olive and almond groves, springs, water cisterns and grazing lands.

‘Outposts’ are small Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, occupied since 1967, which have been established on private or public land without formal approval from the Israeli planning authorities, yet receive logistical support – openly, unofficially or covertly – from state bodies as well as private donors. The drive to establish these outposts has gained considerable momentum since the late 1990s, aiming to hinder the transfer of more West Bank territory to the Palestinian civil authority. According to the Peace Now website (peacenow.org) there are now 390 outposts, compared to 146 settlements officially founded since 1967. As many as 249 have been established in the last four years.

The day before the brothers’ arrest, around a hundred sheep were stolen from one of the Hamayel family’s farms. Fearing that there would be more thefts, the brothers, their father and their brother-in-law returned to the farm to collect cans of olive oil and a few essentials. Immediately, some Israeli Jews, perhaps residents of a nearby outpost, appeared, photographed them and called in soldiers, who arrested the brothers, blindfolded and handcuffed them, and took them away.

By the time the report of their arrest reached their relatives and me, the six-hour limit (…)

Full article: 3 698 words.

(1) World Bank data from 2023, data.worldbank.org/indicator/.

(2) World Bank data, data.worldbank.org/indicator/.

(6) World Bank data, data.worldbank.org/indicator/.