The Palestinian village of Nu'man is unique within East Jerusalem. While it lies within the city's municipal borders on the map, the vast majority of its residents haven't been granted permanent Israeli residency the way other Palestinians in East Jerusalem have. Instead, Israel considers them West Bank residents. Consequently, in Israel's view, they are illegally present in Israel when they are in their own homes.
The residents' situation has gotten even worse since the separation fence was built and a new road was paved that links the settlements east of Jerusalem to the capital. The road and the fence hemmed the village in, forcing its schoolchildren to leave the Israeli schools they attended in East Jerusalem for schools in the West Bank town of Beit Sahur.
Two weeks ago, a group of Jewish teens showed up. Some of them said they were from Har Homa, a neighborhood of East Jerusalem near the hill that separates Nu'man from the neighborhood of Umm Tuba. Others apparently came from West Bank settlement outposts.
The teens set up a large tent a few dozen meters from Nu'man's houses and cleared new paths. On the tent, they spray-painted the word "revenge" and the name of their outpost – Homat Yehuda.
On Sunday, the Palestinians said, the teens attacked a group of village residents who approached the outpost. Using clubs, stones and tear gas, they wounded four of the Palestinians, who needed medical treatment. The Palestinians responded by throwing stones as well.
Israeli activists who were present in Nu'man called the police repeatedly, but officers finally showed up only after the violence had died down. When they did, the officers arrested three Nu'man residents. Then they came back again that evening and arrested a fourth. They also went up to the outpost, and an Israeli activist who was present said they promised to see to its evacuation.
The police said one of the offenses they suspected the three of committing was being present in Israel illegally – though officially, as noted, Israel made their presence in their own homes illegal when it included them within East Jerusalem without granting them residency rights.
Umm Tuba residents, all of whom have permanent residency in Israel, have been pasturing their sheep for years in the wadi below the hill. But since the outpost was established, they said, the shepherds have suffered threats and violence from the Jewish residents.
On Monday, when the shepherds arrived at the wadi with their sheep, a large number of police officers showed up and told them to leave. One even threatened Umm Tuba's mukhtar, Aziz Abu Tir, and cursed him with expletives, residents said.
"We've been neighbors of Har Homa for 30 years now, and there were never any problems," said Sameh Abu Tir, an Umm Tuba resident. "On the contrary, our children would go down and tend the sheep. But now, every time we get near, they threaten us."
The mukhtar, Aziz Abu Tir, added: "It's the government's policy to pressure us. It's pure racism."