CPTnet
22 February 2005
AT-TUWANI: Update 6-15 February, 2005
Sunday, 6 February
At-Tuwani laborers installed windows and doors in the
health clinic they have been building.
Fifteen children came from the village of Tuba to
At-Tuwani for school. CPT member Art Gish and an
Operation Dove member observed settlers above the road
below the Israeli Settler outpost during afternoon
school patrol but there were no problems. After the
school children passed, a young settler on horseback
rode toward the two team members. Gish walked toward
the settler and greeted him with "Shalom." When the
settler asked where he was from, Gish said he lived in
At-Tuwani. The settler then rode back to the outpost.
Operation Dove members went to the police station in
Kiryat Arba to follow up on the death threat of 27
January. Shepherds from the area were with them. The
shepherds saw that the settler they had come to make a
complaint about was in the police station.
Wednesday, 9 February
CPT members Sally Hunsberger and John Lynes
accompanied Imfakara shepherds near
the Avi Gail Israeli settlement. A security guard
watched them. The shepherds did not run.
Thursday, 10 February
The school was closed because of the Muslim New Year.
Barbara Martens and Hunsberger accompanied shepherds
and four flocks of sheep close to the Ma'on
settlement. They were joined by approximately
twenty-five residents of At-Tuwani. A settler security
person came to the group and asked a shepherd and his
son to leave but no one left. Soon soldiers and
police arrived. They said there would be a meeting of
Israeli officials on the weekend to decide on
boundaries for grazing. The military officials did
agree that the land belonged to the Palestinians.
Saturday, 12 February
No children came from Tuba because of cold rain and
predictions of snow. Matthew Chandler and Gish
accompanied shepherds. Two settlers came nearby but did not cause problems.
Sunday, 13 February
Shepherds and their flocks returned to an area near
the Ma'on settlement where they had been on Thursday,
10 February. An irate settler came out, and soon
Israeli soldiers and police arrived. There were
sixteen armed Israelis and about the same number of
unarmed Palestinians.
The settler ordered Gish, "take your people back to
Tuwani." Gish said, "These are not my people. I am a
guest and this is their land." The settler replied,
"This has been Jewish land for over three thousand
years. The Arabs have no right to be here. They have
to leave."
Instead of following the settlers' orders, soldiers
and police had a lengthy dialogue with the shepherds.
They repeated that Israeli authorities would meet soon
and tell the Palestinians where the new borders would
be. The shepherds told Gish, "It doesn't matter what
they say. This is our land and we will go on it."
Chandler and two Operation Dove members were heading
to a hilltop for school patrol when they saw a settler
vehicle driving south away from the Ma'on outpost.
They then heard shouting and ran toward where the
vehicle seemed to be heading. They saw one settler
harassing three or four shepherds in the distance
while two other settlers watched.
Chandler and one Operation Dove member filmed the
confrontation. Later, the two Operation Dove members
engaged the settlers in conversation. One of the
settlers told a shepherd, "I know where you live. If
I see you here again, I will come to your home and
kill you."
Monday, 14 February
Chandler accompanied a shepherd to the Kiryat Arba
police station to file a complaint. As evidence, they
had the video tape of the man who issued the death threat the day before.
Shepherds from Imfakara and At-Tuwani coordinated
grazing together on land south of the Ma'on outpost
where they have been forbidden to go. Team members
accompanied them, but encountered no problems.
Someone in a white car watched from near the outpost
for twenty minutes and left. They saw no police or soldiers.
CPT members note that the shepherds create a dilemma
for the settlers. If the settlers do not call
soldiers, they are conceding the land to the shepherds
at least temporarily. If they call the soldiers, they
understand that Israeli authorities may officially
allow Palestinians to be on their own land.
Team members heard continual bombing from military
training south of At-Tuwani and saw many helicopters
and jets in the air.
Tuesday, 15 February
Operation Dove members accompanied the shepherd who
received a death threat on 13 February to the Kiryat
Arba police station to file a complaint.
Shepherds from At-Tuwani and Imfakara again went to
graze their sheep south of the Ma'on outpost, but went
even closer to the outpost. A settler vehicle came
into the area after the shepherds left.
Representatives of an Italian funding organization met
with Yatta area officials in the new clinic. This was
the first public use of the nearly completed clinic.
They discussed funding for Yatta area projects.
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