“UAWC”: Colonizers from “Ma’ale Levona” settlement try to control the lands of Al-Lebban Ash-Sharqiyah village
Ramallah – The farmer Khaled Samih Daraghmeh (45 years) was subjected to the worst forms of torture practiced by colonizers in order to seize his land, which is adjacent to “Ma’ale Levona” settlement built on the village’s lands, south of Nablus.
Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) indicated that Daraghmeh, the farmer, is exposed to daily harassments by colonizers. Daraghmeh pointed out in an interview with the Union that the purpose is seizing the land with everything in it, especially the old Ottoman prison and the artesian well established at the time of the British mandate. Daraghmeh was attacked by colonizers more than 200 times during the current year. The attacks included destroying his property, taking off the doors and windows, beating him, not to mention cutting olive trees, demolishing the retaining walls and destroying the water network.
Daraghmeh declared that: “I’ve been suffering in this land since 15 years. Colonizers tried their best efforts including money, temptations, threats, pressure, and beating. However, they failed to displace me and whatever they do I will stay here, and I have the official documents of the land issued at the time of the Ottomans.”
Furthermore, Daraghmeh tells the story of the repeated attacks of colonizers: “The colonizers destroyed everything. Before two weeks at 9:30 PM 12 military vehicles carrying colonizers arrived from “Ma’ale Levona” colony while I was sleeping in the area to protect it from vandalism. They attacked the area, and then I locked the door and hid to observe what they will do. They called my name several times to get out of the Ottoman building, and then they broke down the door, began breaking and smashing windows, uprooting plants, destructing the basin water, and destroying the water network. Then they carried flashlights to search for me, where they spent three hours in the area. After that, I headed to the village that is close to the area to tell people what had happened.”
Daraghmeh announced that colonizers are trying every way they can to control the land and turn the Ottoman building into a synagogue after changing its features. He insisted that he refuses all these methods saying: “I am ready to die and not to sell a handful of soil to even an Arab not to a colonizer; because selling a land means losing a son. I am not regretful, I am a man who has one foot in grave and one in jail.”
Daraghmeh insisted that he is offering his property to any Palestinian who want to built or live in this area without paying in order to protect it from colonizers. He urged everyone to stand in his land and not leave it, whatever the consequences.
It is noteworthy that a staff of UAWC visited him, where they newly began working on land rehabilitation activities on his land despite the colonizers’ attacks on the workers in the area.