For the third time this week a group of about 10 Palestinian and international activists accompanied Sheikh Mohammed Aady to his land near the Bat Ayn settlement. The army has been preventing the farmers in Saffa from accessing the land, which is marked for annexation.

Soldiers arresting an international activist in Saffa Valley near Beit Ummar. Picture credit: PSP

The volunteers worked for nearly an hour clearing the land before they were stopped by a group of soldiers. The soldiers informed the group that they were all under arrest, took the IDs of several of the activists, and escorted the group back to the houses at the edge of the land. All five international activists were put into military jeeps and taken to the police station in the Gush Etzion settlement, where they were held for 7 hours. One of the activists was hit in the head by a soldier while being arrested, and sustained minor injuries.

The activists were charged with being in a closed military zone, despite never being informed of this prior to their arrest, and were banned from entering Saffa for two weeks. According to statements made by the Israel Attorney General's office in court, close military zones are not to be arbitrarily used to prevent farmers access to their agricultural lands. However, in reality, it is common practice to for soldiers to seal off areas of land and declare them closed military zones solely for the purpose of preventing the Palestinian owners from reaching their land.

Today's arrests are a continuation of recent military efforts to prevent farmers from reaching their lands in the Saffa Valley. Six  international activists were arrested last Sunday while accompanying farmers to their land there, and a much larger group that joined farmers this Saturday was attacked with tear-gas. Farmers who went to their land in Saffa without international accompaniment on Tuesday were detained in their land for five hours and threatened with arrest if they returned.

Despite the fact that all the farmers have documents proving their ownership of the land, the military has been claiming that the land is “unregistered,” indicating their intention to annex it to the Bat Ayn settlement.