West Bank Palestinians fly kites in settler protest

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank village of Burin flew kites at an annual summer festival that organisers said was meant to send a message to nearby Israeli settlers.

The village lies below Har Bracha, an Israeli settlement established in 1983. Residents have gathered on the hillside for the kite festival every summer since 2009, on land they say has been partly lost after being confiscated by settlers.

“We want to tell the settlers that this is our land, this is our sky. If we can't reach those lands anymore, our kites can,” organiser Ghassan Najjar told AFP.

Najjar said the festival is mainly for children but also carries a political message. Families brought picnic carpets, music played and kites in Palestinian colours flew above the hill.

Residents said they checked that no groups of Israeli settlers were nearby before gathering. Fifteen-year-old Sanaa Bashar Najjar said the festival did not take place last year because settlers had attacked the village.

Another resident, Dalia Zaban, said her parents' home had been attacked, with windows smashed and cars vandalised. She said she hoped settlers would not come down to the festival.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned as early as 2008 of settler attacks in the Burin area, citing shootings targeting residents and the uprooting of olive trees. Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, the United Nations has reported an increase in violence attributed to Israeli settlers in the West Bank.