Who are Mary, James, Robbie and Omer - and, more importantly, who would do this to them?
James, Mary, Robbie and Omer are all volunteers with Grassroots International Protection for Palestinians (GIPP), a group of international volunteers who come to the Occupied Palestinian Territories in an attempt to protect Palestinian villagers trying to harvest their olives from attacks by Israeli settlers determined to stop them from exercising this basic right.
In their determination, the settlers have launched violent attacks against
defenseless Palestinian villagers - ranging from stoning and beatings to
murder. Women, children and the elderly have not been exempted from the
"punishment" meted out by the heavily armed settlers - of the 48 Palestinians killed by armed Israeli settlers in the last two years, five were female, eight were children and two were 80 years old.
The determination to rid the West Bank of Palestinians on the part of the
Israeli settlers is particularly evident in - although certainly not confined to - the area where Yanoun village is situated, near Nablus.
Nearly all of Yanoun's residents were forced to flee their village after suffering years of abuse at the hands of nearby Israeli settlers - ranging from thefts to violent beatings and even the contamination of their water supply.
James, Mary, Robbie and Omer are all volunteers with Grassroots International Protection for Palestinians (GIPP), a group of international volunteers who come to the Occupied Palestinian Territories in an attempt to protect Palestinian villagers trying to harvest their olives from attacks by Israeli settlers determined to stop them from exercising this basic right.
In their determination, the settlers have launched violent attacks against
defenseless Palestinian villagers - ranging from stoning and beatings to
murder. Women, children and the elderly have not been exempted from the
"punishment" meted out by the heavily armed settlers - of the 48 Palestinians killed by armed Israeli settlers in the last two years, five were female, eight were children and two were 80 years old.
The determination to rid the West Bank of Palestinians on the part of the
Israeli settlers is particularly evident in - although certainly not confined to - the area where Yanoun village is situated, near Nablus.
Nearly all of Yanoun's residents were forced to flee their village after suffering years of abuse at the hands of nearby Israeli settlers - ranging from thefts to violent beatings and even the contamination of their water supply.