CPTnet
January 10, 2005
AT-TUWANI: Israeli authorities halt road improvements in the south Hebron
district
by Cal Carpenter
On 1 January 2005, members of Christian
Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove, who are based in At-Tuwani, observed
and documented as Israeli authorities forced Palestinian workers to halt
improvements on roads in the South Hebron District and arrested the manager
of the work crew.
In the morning two Palestinian men operating machines (and their
supervisors) were working on road improvements in the village of At-Tuwani
and on the roads just to the south of the village. They were doing
much-needed leveling work with a bulldozer and bagger on the mountain
roads that connect the small Palestinian villages in the region.
A settlement security vehicle arrived at the work site south of the
village, accompanied by an Israeli military jeep. The manager of the road
work approached the soldiers to talk to them. The officer then consulted
with the settlement security person before saying that everyone should
return to the village of At-Tuwani to speak there.
When the workers arrived in the village with the soldiers and the
settlement security the soldiers ordered the work underway in the village
to stop as well. During the next hour two more military jeeps, a police
jeep and a Civil Administration jeep arrived on the scene. The soldiers,
police, and Civil Administration talked with the manager of the work and a
village leader. The village leader produced paperwork, including a letter
from the military saying that roadwork would not be a problem. The soldiers
threatened to confiscate the machinery used in the work, the bulldozer and
the bagger, and to arrest and fine everyone at the site.
Then the police loaded the work manager into their vehicle and took him to
the jail inside the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba. They ordered that
the work not resume without a permit from the Civil Administration.
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