road. There are three colonies neighboring our former home: Yakir, Nofim and Revava. From the other side, there is also the Emmanuel colony. Israel did not even give us notice that our land would be taken to build this road. I had a shed there where I raised and grazed chickens. Israel ordered me to demolish it, and I did, because I didn’t want to have any problems. It was a 100 m2 [the shed]. I demolished 60 or 70 meters of it and kept the rest as a storeroom, but then they told me to demolish the rest of it. I really felt pressured to leave my house. I lost half a dunum of my land and another five or six dunums and a fig tree because of the by-pass road. Another road was built behind my home for the electricity generators for the colonies. Because of this, I lost another 250 to 300 m2 and they [Israel] made me demolish a stone wall fence as well as uproot two of my big olive trees. Of course, the displacement has had an impact on my economic situation. Now I pay 700 Shekels [193 USD] monthly for the rent, but I used to live in my own home on my land before I was forced to move. This has cost me a lot. But, what really kills me is having to leave my home. It really breaks my heart. Colonies bring fear and violence Our land is cultivated with olive trees. In the olive picking season we only go to our land on Saturdays,165 and stand on the sidewalk of the street to pick our olives. We are always afraid when we go because there is always a threat [of violence] when we have to cross the road to get to our land. I don’t feel afraid, but my wife and son do, and sometimes they are sick with fear. They are afraid because of the risk of violence from the colonizers. My nephew’s son was run over and dragged 100 meters by a colonizer’s car.166 My nephew’s son is now disabled. My nephew left that area after what happened to his son. Another time, my other nephew was beaten and shot at when he was coming home from school. Israel wants to confiscate the land and expel the Palestinians from their homes, and the Israeli soldiers protect the Israeli colonizers here, and in other areas as well. In Wadi Qana, Israel and the colonizers deny Palestinian owners access to their lands, and Israel is confiscating the lands and uprooting the trees.” Raed Salah, 60-year old farmer from Deir Istiya. Interview: Deir Istiya, 21 March 2017 165 Jews observe Shabbat on Saturdays and usually rest during the day. This is why the chances of encountering colonizers on Saturdays on their land are significantly less. 166 According to the facts mentioned in the testimony, BADIL assumes this incident took place within the last six years. 59