WEST BANK "MISTRESS OF THE HILL" CHALLENGES JEWISH SETTLERS

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Om Ayman Sufan, a woman over 50 years old from the Borin village, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, rarely sleeps at night in order to protect her house from Jewish settlers' assaults.

Situated on a hilltop that confronts the Jewish settlement of Yitzhar, Om Ayman's house is often attacked by Israeli settlers. Residents of the village called her the "Mistress of the Hill."

As the Palestinians mark the Land Day on Wednesday, Om Ayman, who became well-known for confronting and challenging Israeli settlers in her village, renewed her pledge to keep resisting them and refused to leave her house and the village.

The Palestinians mark March 30 as the Land Day to remember the deaths of six Arabs in the hands of Israeli forces when they were protesting the annexation of Palestinian land in 1976.

The village of Borin is surrounded by the three settlements, Yitzhar, Brakha and Jiv'at Arousah, in addition to an Israeli army training camp. The village has lost most of its land, while the settlements still eager for more expansion.

The house of Om Ayman was built up by her husband's family 50 years ago, while the Yitzhar settlement, very close to the hilltop, was set up around 27 years ago. Om Ayman said she was assaulted by the settlers "almost daily."

"They (settlers) attack my house everyday to force me to leave, " Om Ayman said, adding "whatever they do, I will not leave my house, I will die here."

She said that the settlers had one day cut her olive trees, just a few days before the harvest, "they restrict our movement and prevent us from leaving the house to pick up the olives and other vegetables, and they steal the products."

The season of harvesting olives is considered to be one of the most important seasons, and it is the basic income for most of the farmers in the West Bank.

"They throw stones at my house every night," Om Ayman said.

Her daughter Iman said "they (Israeli settlers) keep us living in fear. They attack the house in midnight to terrify us and press us to leave our house in order to expand their settlement."

"We got tired and bored. We don't visit our relatives or our neighbors, the social relationships are disconnected," said the daughter, adding "only very few relatives come to visit us only during the day, and the settlers sometimes prevent them from reaching the house."

"I can never forget when the settlers painted the walls of my house and threw Molotov cocktail at the house," Om Ayman said, adding "11 years ago, the settlers managed to burn the house when the whole family were in, my husband died of a heart attack then."

One week ago, "a group of settlers beat up my son," Om Ayman said, adding "the setters attack everything, even animals."

Abdel Mohaymen Jassas, an activist in the Association Against Settlement, said that Om Ayman is a symbol of resistance, "without her, the settlers would have seized the whole area."

XINHUA