Yesterday morning, as a farmer and two paid workers came to plough the farmer’s land, an Israeli military jeep arrived. Two of the four soldiers approached and demanded the farmer, who is also a local teacher, to leave his own land and apply to the Ministry of the Interior any time he wishes to be there.
The farmer, who had already paid three hundred NIS to his workers, which represents ten percent of his monthly income, informed the soldiers that he would provide them with both his and his worker’s identification cards and leave upon completing his work but the soldiers, who had dogs with them, demanded that he leave immediately.
In the vast area around the Revava illegal settlement, farmers have been repeatedly harassed and intimidated into abandoning their land, including a man in his eighties who was attacked by Israeli Occupation Forces and tied to a tree- where he was left until villagers searching for him found him later that night.
Palestinian farmers who own land around Revava are familiar with these IOF intimidation tactics. Contacting the Ministry of the Interior each time they work their land makes farming impossible. Many farmers have fled due to the harrassment and intimidation. Israeli military presence has been ramping up in the village of Dier Istiya in the past week and has involved house raids and road construction.
