Yanun ( ar, يانون, translit=Yânûn) is a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

village in the

Nablus Governorate The Nablus Governorate ( ar, محافظة نابلس ') is an administrative district of State of Palestine, Palestine located in the Central Highlands of the West Bank, 53 km north of Jerusalem. It covers the area around the city of Nablus ...

of the

State of Palestine Palestine ( ar, فلسطين, Filasṭīn), Legal status of the State of Palestine, officially the State of Palestine ( ar, دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭīn, label=none), is a state (polity), state located in Western Asia. Officiall ...

, in the northern

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, located southeast of

Nablus Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...

, and 3 miles north of Aqraba. It lies within Area C, under total Israeli control, of the West Bank. It is divided into two sites, upper and lower Yanun. Upper or northern Yanin is considered illegal by the Israeli authorities, and development is prohibited there. ''Settlers Force Desertion of Yanun Village,''
Settlement Report , Vol. 12 No. 6 , November–December 2002,

Foundation for Middle East Peace The Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) is an American nonprofit organization. It states it promotes a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through grants, public programming, and research. The organization was established in 197 ...

According to the

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ar, الجهاز المركزي للإحصاء الفلسطيني) is the official statistical institution of the State of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures a ...

(PCBS), the village had a population of 102 in 2007. This was a decrease from 2004 when the PCBS recorded that Yanun had 145 inhabitants. The residents of the village have to travel to

Beit Furik Beit Furik ( ar, بيت فوريك) is a Palestinian town located nine kilometers southeast of Nablus, in the Nablus Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the to ...

for primary health care.

History

Pottery

sherd In archaeology, a sherd, or more precisely, potsherd, is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels, as well. Occasionally, a piece of broken p ...

s from

Iron Age II The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, and Crusader/

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...

eras have been found here.Finkelstein and Lederman, 1997, p. 822 Yanun the village is distinct from Khirbet Yanun, nearby ruins to the north-east of the village. According to Edward Robinson, Yanun corresponds to the ''Janō(Ἰανὼ)'' of

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...

and

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...

, a village in Acrabatene east of Neapolis, which, according to Robinson, these two

Church fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...

confused with the ancient frontier town of Yanoḥah(ינוחה) of

Naphtali According to the Book of Genesis, Naphtali (; ) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Bilhah (Jacob's sixth son). He was the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Naphtali. Some biblical commentators have suggested that the name ''Naphtali'' ma ...

, which belonged to the

Tribe of Ephraim According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Ephraim ( he, אֶפְרַיִם, ''ʾEp̄rayīm,'' in pausa: אֶפְרָיִם, ''ʾEp̄rāyīm'') was one of the tribes of Israel. The Tribe of Manasseh together with Ephraim formed the ''House of ...

Robinson Robinson may refer to: People and names * Robinson (name) Fictional characters * Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 Geography * Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960 ...

, 1856, p
297
/ref>

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Mino ...

argued that both Eusebius and Jerome had confused the Yanoḥah of the tribe of Ephraim with the quite distinct, homophonous village belonging to the tribe of Naphtali (p. 7) Modern researchers, following Guerin, have suggested that the Biblical Yanoḥah refers to Khirbet Yanun, as pottery sherds from lron Age I has been found there, and not at Yanun.Finkelstein and Lederman, 1997, p. 828 Several caves dot the area, which the local school headmaster claims were dwelt in by the

Canaanites {{Cat main, Canaan See also: * :Ancient Israel and Judah Ancient Levant Hebrew Bible nations Ancient Lebanon 0050 Ancient Syria Wikipedia categories named after regions 0050 Phoenicia Amarna Age civilizations ...

. There is a shrine, formerly used by villagers as a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

, believed to be of the prophet

Nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

on a hillock called ''Nabinun'' three hundred metres east of Lower Yanun.

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

, 1927, p
285
/ref>

pottery and other signs of ancient habitation including tombs carved into rock have been found at the village site.Dauphin, 1998, p. 849 There are ruins of a

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

church.

Ottoman era

In 1596, Yanun appeared in Ottoman tax registers as a village in the ''

Nahiya A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

'' of ''Jabal Qubal'', part of

Sanjak Nablus The Nablus Sanjak ( ar, سنجق نابلس; tr, Nablus Sancağı) was an administrative area that existed throughout Ottoman rule in the Levant (1517–1917). It was administratively part of the Damascus Eyalet until 1864 when it became part o ...

, with a population of 18

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

households. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olives, goats or beehives, and a press for olives or grapes; a total of 7,500

akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is deri ...

. Edward Robinson visited Yanun in 1852. He wrote that the village was mostly in ruins and only a few houses were inhabited. In the 19th century, Yanun was settled by some 50

Bushnak Bushnak ( ar, بشناق, meaning "Bosnian" or "Bosniak", also transliterated Bushnaq, Boshnak, Bouchenak and Bouchnak) is a surname common among Levantines of Bosniak origin. Those sharing this surname are the descendants of Bosniaks apprehensive ...

s (

Bosniaks The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry ...

), Muslims from

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

, after their country was ceded to the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

by the

Congress of Berlin The Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878) was a diplomatic conference to reorganise the states in the Balkan Peninsula after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, which had been won by Russia against the Ottoman Empire. Represented at th ...

. The sultan

Abdul Hamid ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd (ALA-LC romanization of ar, عبد الحميد) is a Muslim male given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Ḥamīd'', one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which gave rise t ...

gave the immigrants a significant part of the village. According to

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

, these were soldiers sent to reinforce Ottoman rule in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. Adopting a common surname, Bushnak, they later moved to nearby Nablus and leased their farmlands to villagers from Aqraba who gradually left their village to settle in Yanun themselves. The villagers are their partners and descendants. In 1870,

visited, and noted the Neby Nun east of Yanun. In the 1882, the

Survey of Western Palestine The PEF Survey of Palestine was a series of surveys carried out by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) between 1872 and 1877 for the Survey of Western Palestine and in 1880 for the Survey of Eastern Palestine. The survey was carried out after the ...

described it as "A small village on the edge of a deep valley, with a sacred place to the east (Neby Nun), and a small spring about 1 mile to the north".Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p
387
/ref>

British Mandate era

In the

1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divisi ...

conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Yanun had a population of 70; all

,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p
25
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 120, still all Muslims, in a total of 22 houses.Mills, 1932, p
66
/ref> According to the 1945 statistics, Yanun had a population of 50

s,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
19
/ref> with a total of 16,439 dunams of land, living in a built-up area of 34

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...

s. Of this, 731 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, while 3,969 dunams were used for cereals.

Jordanian era

In the wake of the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

, and after the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,Jordanian rule. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950. The

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

ian census of 1961 found 103 inhabitants.

1967 and aftermath

After the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

in 1967, Yanun has been under

Israeli occupation Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer to a ...

. After the 1995 accords, 31% of the land of Aqraba/Yanun was classified as

Area B The Palestinian enclaves are areas in the West Bank designated for Palestinians under a variety of U.S. and Israeli-led proposals to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The enclaves are often compared to the nominally self-governing black ...

, the remaining 69% as Area C. As of 2002, the village is still leased by the residents of Aqraba and payment for leasing the land could be made in the form of wheat,

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...

or cash. About three-quarters of Yanun's 16,000 dunams of land is still leased. According to Vikram Sura,

Itamar Itamar ( he, אִיתָמָר) is an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank's Samarian mountains, five kilometers southeast of the Palestinian city of Nablus. The settlement was built on land confiscated from the Palestinian villages of A ...

settlers used to trade with local farmers and visit Yanun to enjoy refreshments like cardamom-spiced coffee and mint tea there. In the mid-late 1990s, Itamar began 'annexing' hills stretching out from the settlement towards Yanun. Trailer homes from Itamar began to be set up along the ridge overlooking the village. The last outpost, Giv'ot Olam, looking down over the village of Yanun, was created by

Avri Ran Avraham "Avri" Ran (born 1955) is an Israeli settler activist and businessman, with a record for repeated criminal offenses against Palestinian people, Palestinians. He has been called the founding father and "undisputed symbol" of the Hilltop You ...

, who obtained the land by trespassing on Yanun-owned areas and on Israeli state land, and assaulting any Palestinians who approached his settlement. Though they felt surrounded, the Yanun villagers did not feel vulnerable. Relations changed with the outbreak of the

Al-Aqsa Intifada The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinian uprising against Israel. ...

in October 2000, when 13 Israeli Arabs were shot dead during the suppression of a riot protesting the visit of

Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon (; ; ; also known by his diminutive Arik, , born Ariel Scheinermann, ; 26 February 1928 – 11 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. S ...

to the

Temple Mount The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew, lit=Mount of the House f the Holy}), also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, lit. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al-Aqsa Mosque compoun ...

. Yanun lies far from the main areas where Palestinian militants and the

IDF IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces * Irish Defence Forces * Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 * Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations * Israeli Diving Federation * Interac ...

subsequently clashed, and till then grievances between the two communities were less than the norm. Over the next three years, Palestinian militants killed roughly 11 Itamar settlers. A Californian who made

aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...

to Itamar later accused Yanun of having aided these terrorists. No member of the village has been linked to any attack on settlers. The youths on Avri Ran's hilltop outpost argue that they have a prerogative to respond with violence when they feel their Palestinian neighbours are preventing them from realizing their right, as legal heirs of God's bequest, to work the land. Armed settlers, according to local reports began to hinder Yanun farmers from harvesting their olive crops, intimidating the villagers and damaging the village's electrical generator. According to a survey reported and compiled by Yanun councilor Abdelatif Sobih, Yanun villagers have since been subjected to repeated assaults on their homes and farms; beatings; shootings, some resulting in death; poisoning and shootings of their flocks; the use of fierce dogs to impede farmer access to their lands; blocking of their access roads; pollution of their water resource; destruction of their electric generator, constructed with a donation from the Economic Development Group; the ploughing of fields sown with crops, or the burning of crops at harvest time; theft of olive trees; shooting at relatives' cars travelling to visit Yanun; and interrogation of teachers at the Yanun elementary school.Ferran Izquierdo Brichs, "El cor de la neteja ètnica: Relat d'un viatge a Cisjordània i la Franja de Gaza" in Belén Vicéns (coord.), ''L'Orient Mitjà en el punt de mira, ''

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona The Autonomous University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; , es, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona; UAB), is a public university mostly located in Cerdanyola del Vallès, near the city of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. ...

, 2005 p.132

2002 temporary exodus

Assaults and shootings by settlers at Palestinian farmers and foreign volunteers at olive harvest time took place in 2002. A Council spokesman for the

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli se ...

, in response to queries about the incidents, replied that he was unaware of claims of harassment and that settlers were trying to keep Palestinian villagers away from themselves. Another

spokesman told

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

at the time “If anyone is being terrorized it is us. Arabs have to learn that if they continue to be violent they can’t live here. There is all this talk of Arab olives, what about Jewish blood?” The village was temporarily abandoned on October 19, 2002, the first exodus in recent times of a Palestinian community abandoning a village in the wake of attacks by settlers. The last of 25 families relocated to nearby Aqraba after a reported worsening in their harassment by Itamar residents, including Avri Ran and his organization, the

Hilltop Youth Hilltop Youth ( he, נוער הגבעות, ''No'ar HaGva'ot'') are hardline, extremist religious-nationalist youth who establish outposts without an Israeli legal basis in the West Bank. The ideology of the Hilltop Youth, a derivation of Kahanis ...

. Two aged people stayed behind, refusing to accept the village decision to go.Lavie, Aviv
Avri Ran has a farm and Jewish followers in the West Bank. But for his Arab neighbours, it's a rule by force
''

Ha'aretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner ...

''. 2003-09-04. The village was re-occupied with the aid of peace activists from Ta'ayush and the

International Solidarity Movement The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led movement focused on assisting the Palestinian cause in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. ISM is dedicated to the use of nonviolent protests and methods only. The organization ...

, who came and held a round-the-clock presence there for two weeks when the villagers started moving out in response to harassment. The presence of foreign volunteers as witnesses has acted as a brake on settler assaults. Ta'ayush activist David Nir was reportedly pushed by Avri Ran in Yanun. Amiel Vardi, professor of

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

, was also shot there by a settler whom he subsequently identified and took to court. The case was dismissed. Since 2003, EAPPI has maintained a round-the-clock protective presence in Yanoun, reporting on human rights violations. On October 30, 2002, together with David Shulman, a group that included the distinguished Israeli writers

Amos Oz Amos Oz ( he, עמוס עוז; born Amos Klausner; 4 May 1939 – 28 December 2018) was an Israeli writer, novelist, journalist, and intellectual. He was also a professor of Hebrew literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. From 1967 onw ...

Meir Shalev Meir Shalev ( he, מאיר שלו; born 29 July 1948) is an Israeli writer and newspaper columnist for the daily Yedioth Ahronoth . Shalev's books have been translated into 26 languages. Biography Shalev was born in Nahalal, Israel. Later he ...

, A. B. Yehoshua,

David Grossman David Grossman ( he, דויד גרוסמן; born January 25, 1954) is an Israeli author. His books have been translated into more than 30 languages. In 2018, he was awarded the Israel Prize for literature. Biography David Grossman was born i ...

, the daughter of

Haim Gouri Haim Gouri ( he, חיים גורי; Gurfinkel; 9 October 1923 – 31 January 2018) was an Israeli poet, novelist, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. Widely regarded as one of the country's greatest poets, he was awarded the Israel Prize ...

, with Rabbi

Menachem Froman Rabbi Menachem Froman (also spelled ''Menahem'' and ''Fruman''; he, מנחם פרומן‎; 1 June 1945 – 4 March 2013) Note: Birth date is 1 Jan – 4 Mar 1945 based on 1) year known as 1945, 2) age known to be 68, 3) date of death kn ...

, co-founder of

Gush Emunim Gush Emunim ( he, גּוּשׁ אֱמוּנִים , ''Bloc of the Faithful'') was an Israeli ultranationalist Orthodox Jewish right-wing activist movement committed to establishing Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Gol ...

and a settler in Tekoa,

Ian Buruma Ian Buruma (born December 28, 1951) is a Dutch writer and editor who lives and works in the United States. In 2017, he became editor of ''The New York Review of Books'', but left the position in September 2018. Much of his writing has focused on ...

and an assortment of Israeli television camera crews and journalists visited Yanun to assist the returned villagers with their harvest and ward off settlers. According to Shulman, one of the settler rabbis had declared that Jews had the right to steal olives from the Palestinians, since the land belonged to the former. Rabbi Froman, armed with a heavy pile of books, including the

Gemara The Gemara (also transliterated Gemarah, or in Yiddish Gemo(r)re; from Aramaic , from the Semitic root ג-מ-ר ''gamar'', to finish or complete) is the component of the Talmud comprising rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah w ...

and

Shulchan Aruch The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in Is ...

, turned up to show that these texts actually forbid stealing olives from non-Jews.

Incidents

Early in 2012, the IDF began reviewing plans to revive a dormant firing range, 904A, in the area, and began forbidding Palestinians from using the area, though the ban does not apply to settlers of the Giva 777 outpost of Itamar. Over the summer, Rahed Fahmi, the head of the Yanun council, together with

Rabbis for Human Rights Rabbis for Human Rights is an Israeli human rights organization that describes itself as "the rabbinic voice of conscience in Israel, giving voice to the Jewish tradition of human rights".

and an Israeli-Palestinian association ''Lohamin Leshalom'' (Fighting for Peace) have been involved in an intense campaign to convince Israeli authorities of the right of Yanun and Aqraba villagers to their lands. They succeeded in obtaining a right to visit their fields for one week, from July 3 to July 10, by which time the wheatcrop had mostly withered.

Amira Hass Amira Hass ( he, עמירה הס; born 28 June 1956) is an Israeli journalist and author, mostly known for her columns in the daily newspaper ''Haaretz'' covering Palestinian affairs in the West Bank and Gaza, where she has lived for almost th ...

'Lambs to the settlers' slaughter, screaming and unheard,'
at aaretz 5 August 2012. On Saturday July 7, two military jeeps accompanied the farmers to their fields. According to local farmers, sheep were being beaten by settlers. According to the EAPPI and

, dozens of Jewish settlers attacked Yanun, one of 50 settler assaults in the West Bank in that month, assailed villagers and killed three sheep, with four villagers, members of the Bani Jaber family, badly injured and requiring hospital treatment. In the assault one was beaten and later handcuffed by soldiers who intervened. A fifth, Jawdat Ibrahim, was reportedly beaten, wounded, bound and left in a field, where he was found the following day. 'Settler attack on Yanoun leaves 5 injured.'
EAPPI 9. July, 2012. According to an IDF source, the Israeli army intervened in a stone-throwing fray between settlers and villagers, and used tear-gas to stop the clash. According to an official of the

, one of the victims, Jawdat Bani Jabir, was shot in the face and the foot by soldiers and subsequently stabbed by settlers. Five head of cattle were also slaughtered.Palestinian Jawdat Bani Jabir, 43 years old, stabbed and shot in settler attack near Nablus
.

Ma'an News Agency Ma'an News Agency (MNA; ar, وكالة معا الإخبارية) is a large wire service created in 2005 in the Palestinian territories. It is part of the Ma'an Network, a non-governmental organization media network created in 2002 in the Palest ...

, 7 July 2012. According to the EAPPI, "The attack began mid-afternoon, when three Palestinian farmers working in their fields were set upon by settlers armed with machine guns and knives. The settlers stabbed three of the farmers’ sheep to death. When EAs arrived at the scene at the request of the head of the village, there were also fires burning in two wheat fields and an olive grove. Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at Palestinians who were trying to reach the area to put out the fires." The day after, another 10 sheep of the flock died. The entire area reserved for their agriculture is now denied to them, but the fields are now tended by settlers permitted to live in the new firing range. EAPPI reported that Rashed Murrar, head of the village, fears that the intention of the attack was to cause the Palestinian villages to give up their wheat fields. The village, which is home to just 65 people, is surrounded by

Israeli outpost In Israeli law, an outpost ( he, מאחז, ''Ma'ahaz'' lit. "a handhold") is an unauthorized or illegal Israeli settlement within the West Bank, constructed without the required authorization from the Israeli government in contravention of Israel ...

s, which are considered illegal both under international law and Israeli law. The villagers reportedly managed to deter settlers who undertook an attack on the village during the olive harvest in October 2015.

Critical judgements

The civilian population of Yanun, along with that of

Bil'in Bil'in ( ar, بلعين) is a Palestinian village located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, west of the city of Ramallah in the central West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Bil'in has a population of 1,8 ...

, Jinba and several other places, in the judgement of scholar and Ta'ayush peace activist

David Shulman David Shulman (November 12, 1912 – October 30, 2004) was an American lexicographer and cryptographer. He contributed many early usages to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' and is listed amon"Readers and contributors from collections" for the se ...

, has been subject to practices that are "singularly cruel".

, writing for

, argues that the systematic attacks on Palestinian villagers like those at Yanun, who are

Semites Semites, Semitic peoples or Semitic cultures is an obsolete term for an ethnic, cultural or racial group.antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

, with the difference that such assaults in the West Bank are rarely if ever reported. The recent history of the village has been cited for the theory that after the

Oslo Accords The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993;

, Israel is applying a policy of slow transfer of Palestinians from villages near Israeli settlements on the West Bank. The Spanish scholar, Ferran Izquierdo Brichs, cites what has happened there as an example of

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer ...

Environment

Yanun has been described as an "idyllic village", if one ignores its recent troubles. Driving in from Aqraba, there are views of hillocks full of olive groves meet the eye, while to the right the land falls steeply down into the

Jordan Valley The Jordan Valley ( ar, غور الأردن, ''Ghor al-Urdun''; he, עֵמֶק הַיַרְדֵּן, ''Emek HaYarden'') forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. Unlike most other river valleys, the term "Jordan Valley" often applies just to ...

. It is surrounded by lush valleys, adorned in spring with anemones and cyclamens, that boast of olive groves and sheep pastures, with views down the valley towards Aqraba. The village itself holds the ruins of fortified Ottoman houses and a dilapidated castle. The site known as Nabinun, on the hillock of that name, has been identified as a former synagogue-mosque and is associated with the biblical father of

Joshua Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

.Irving, 2012, p
229
/ref>

Photos

Image:Yanoun Palestine UN emergency generator.jpg, The UN emergency generator in the village of Yanoun Image:Belgian-donated power grid in Yanoun Palestine.jpg, One of the new power lines installed and paid for by the Kingdom of Belgium's Rural Electrification Project: Northern Area West Bank Image:Water_tower_and_watchtower_near_Yanoun.jpg, Water tower and watchtower near Yanoun Image:Map of Yanoun with attack locations.jpg, Locations of the attacks that have occurred in Yanoun

References

Bibliography

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External links

Welcome to Yanoun - A Palestinian Village Under Siege by Israeli Settlers

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 15
IAAWikimedia commons Aqraba Town Profile (including Yanun Locality)

Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ; ar, معهد الابحاث التطبيقية - القدس) is a Palestinian NGO founded in 1990 with its main office in Bethlehem in the West Bank. ARIJ is actively working on research project ...

, ARIJ
Yanun, aerial photo
ARIJ {{Nablus Governorate Nablus Governorate Villages in the West Bank Municipalities of the State of Palestine