Tractors face collective punishment

At 7 am this morning the Israeli army entered the village of Al Jiftlik, central Jordan Valley, in the occupied West Bank. Soldiers went door to door ordering all tractor owners to bring their farming vehicles to the closed military zone between Massu'a settlement and a nearby Israeli army base, where they had set up a temporary inspection point in a disused bus shelter. Flying checkpoints were set up on roads in the area, presumably to ensure that no tractor escaped uninspected.





The Palestinian farmers and their tractors were forcibly escorted to the inspection point by army vehicles. There they were kept under the surveillance of Israeli soldiers, police, and a private military company. Approximately forty tractor owners were questioned, and their ID’s and vehicle ownership were checked. They were made to stand next to their tractors, after which soldiers photographed and filmed the men with their vehicles. Everyone was informed that their tractors would be confiscated if they were unable to provide proof of ownership.

The forty farmers had to wait in the sun for up to 7 hours to find out the army’s decision on the fate of their farming vehicles, without being given any reason.  During this slow and humiliating process the famers feared they would lose their tractors, which are vital to farm their land and generate income to support their families.

 The military police finally said that a settler had had his tractor stolen, and at 3 pm four owners were ordered to drive their tractors into the military camp (next to Al Jiftlik), escorted by military police and police vehicles.  The settler clearly only had a vague idea of what his tractor looked like, since the confiscated vehicles were of different makes, models and colours. When one of the farmers refused to do so he was arrested, but released several minutes later on the condition that he would drive his tractor to the camp, which he subsequently did. The four tractors were then confiscated and held inside the military camp.

Faris, one of the farmers who had to bring his tractor into the military camp, said his tractor cost him 40,000NIS; “all the money I collected from farming, I put into the tractor.” He also indicated that he will be unable to continue farming his land without his tractor.