A’isha abu Ali, 75, Mikhmas My family owns a 2.5 dunam plot of land that is about two km west of Mikhmas and 2.5 km south of the outpost Migron. There are 27 large, ancient olive trees that are scores of years old. We’ve had problems accessing our land since the outpost Migron was built. The settlers from Migron drive us away from our plot. Three months ago, they attacked my son and he was hospitalized for a long time because of the blows he received.
On October 31, 2011 at 7 am I went to our plot. To reach the plot I had to pass through a tunnel that is a huge concrete drainage pipe to cross under route 60. It’s by the descent to Allon road.
After I got out of the tunnel and walked about 200 meters west, I felt someone was behind me. I turned and saw a young settler, about 23, he was about five meters away and holding a large rock. I realized that he was going to attack me. I talked to him in Arabic, I told him I was old and showed him my white hair. He threw three large rocks at me but didn’t hit me. Then another settler appeared behind him. I guess they saw me from the road on the way to harvest olives and followed me. I thought the second one had come to help me, but he came to participate in the attack. He was also in his 20s, he had light skin while the first guy had dark skin, both were about 1.70 meters tall. They both threw rocks at me, the first hit me on the thigh and the second hit me on my head by my ear. I bled a lot.
I sat down on the ground and waited to die. I begged them in Arabic to leave me alone because I hadn’t done anything to them. They spoke Hebrew and I couldn’t understand a thing they said except a word in Arabic – “go back”. I told them I’d go back. They left me alone, but they didn’t leave the area. They sat down close to the drainage pipe tunnel.
I managed to leave on my own, my head was bleeding hard. I walked through the tunnel, by them, and they didn’t say a word.
On the way, I met someone from my village. He saw that I was bleeding and I told him that settlers had attacked me. he told me that the army was here, and suggested that I walk towards the soldiers. Three jeeps stood by the road (route 60), because there had been coordination for the army to escort the harvesters to their land, and the soldiers were waiting. They asked me what happened, and I explained where I had been attacked, about 300 meters from where they were standing. The soldiers gave me first aid and called a Palestinian ambulance as well as an Israeli ambulance.
I explained that the settlers were still there, but they didn’t go check. We waited for an ambulance for half an hour, and in the meantime settlers from Migron came down to the road and threw rocks at the cars on route 60 and the soldiers went to see what happened. The Palestinian ambulance took me to the government hospital in Ramallah where I was treated and then released. They gave me record of my injury and the next day my daughter filed a complaint on my behalf because I didn’t feel strong enough, she took my ID and the police noted me as the complainant. We still haven’t managed to harvest our 25 olive trees because we’re afraid to go to the plot and the army doesn’t protect us.