Yanoun Village

Looking out over yanoun villageWe visited a small village near Nablus called Yanoun. The village has only 9 families living in it and their ancestors have lived there for hundreds of years. In 1996, the village was invaded by fundamentalist Jewish settlers, who wanted the villagers out. They surrounded the villagers in the valley from outposts in the hills and stole their land, poisoned their animals, and beat and harassed the villagers. By 2002, the locals had enough and fled to a nearby town. This was the first time an entire village had been evacuated by settlers and it caused the international community to take notice. They set up an “International House”, where volunteers live 365 days a year to help International house Yanoun villagemake sure no more shenanigans take place. The villagers have moved back but still have difficult lives, always watching over their shoulders, tending to the little land they have left. We spoke with an old woman who invited us for some coffee and told us about getting harassed by the settlers. Her husband was in a wheelchair after being beaten defending his father during a scuffle with them. The young boy in the photo is her son. When our guide Mahmoud asked him if he was fed up living here, he amazingly was not angry about his situation and said “No, it’s not that bad.” He said he could deal with the settlers, because this was his home.

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