I'm basically putting this release on my blog, because we've already put the photos up in the photo gallery, and it may be a few days before this article appears on CPTnet. So for those who would like a preview:
http://cpt.org/index.php?q=gallery&g2_itemId=23097&g2_page=1.
27 May 2011
Settlers burn ancient olive trees in Tel Rumeida
by Esther Mae Hinshaw
At
4:30 p.m. on 27 May 2011, CPT received a call that settlers set fire to
olive orchards on the Abu Haikel property in Tel Rumeida. By the time
Paulette Schroeder, Laurens van Esch, and Esther Mae Hinshaw arrived at
the Abu Haikel house, the fire had almost gone out.
One of the
Abu Haikel sons took the CPTers to the scene of the fire. As some of the
trees were still smoldering, a Palestinian fireman from the Hebron
Municipality continued to monitor the scene. The fireman reported that
soldiers had taken all of their new fire hoses and given them old hoses
to use. Later, when the CPTers asked the soldiers to return the new
equipment to the last remaining fireman, they did not respond.
The
fire affected sixteen ancient olive trees, some more than a thousand
years old, in an area of almost two dunum (one-half acre). The soldiers
from the post nearby yelled at the CPTers to leave the field, but
CPTers called out to them that they were on land belonging to the Abu
Haikel family, who had invited them to be there. When the CPTers
continued to take pictures, the soldiers took no further action.
Asked
whether the trees would one day produce olives again, the son
responded, "No, they've burned them for the last seven years."
Photos of the Abu Heikels' burnt fields and olive trees are available at http://cpt.org/index.php?q=gallery&g2_itemId=23097&g2_page=1.