CPTnet
8 July 2006
AT TUWANI UPDATE: 18-27 June 2006
DAILY ROUTINE
Each day the team accompanied local shepherds as they grazed their flocks in
the early morning and then again in the late afternoon. In addition to
Operation Dove (Doves), CPT's partner organization in At-Tuwani, CPT team
members during this period were Angela Davis, Heidi Schramm and Diana
Zimmerman.
Sunday 18 June
An Israeli settler vehicle drove through the village but did not stop.
Monday 19 June While on Khoruba hill accompanying shepherds, Israeli police
officers approached Schramm and a Dove and demanded to see their passports.
One officer told the two that when they are present with the Palestinians,
doing his job is impossible.
Thursday 22 June
Schramm and Davis observed a temporary Israeli checkpoint along route 317.
The soldiers operated the checkpoint for about ninety minutes before
leaving. They allowed the Palestinians to pass after cursory checks of cars
and ID's.
Davis and a Dove, along with a Palestinian friend, visited a family in
Karmil, a nearby town. One child from the family was killed and three were
injured last year when they found unexploded ordinance near the village of
Jinba. The father requested that in the future members from CPT accompany
him to the site of the explosion to see if any pieces remain. The family
believes it was an Israeli bomb but needs evidence for proof. The father
said that he is not ready to return yet.
Friday 24 June
A friend of the team reported that two days earlier settlers prevented
shepherds from watering their sheep near the Palestinian village of Susiya.
In the evening soldiers set up a checkpoint along route 317 outside
At-Tuwani. Soldiers allowed most cars to pass with minimal searching.
Soldiers stopped a Palestinian car for about forty minutes because one of
the men in the car did not have his ID. Eventually the soldiers allowed the
car to pass.
Saturday 24 June
Davis and two Doves attended a demonstration in the village of Imneizil. The
people of Imneizil do not have an opening in the low "security" wall that
runs along route 317. Without an opening in the wall, they can travel only
with difficulty north to Yatta and the rest of the West Bank. During the
demonstration, an officer from the District Coordinating Office (DCO) in
Hebron (the civilian affairs branch of the Israeli military) verbally
promised that an opening will be made in the wall.
In the afternoon the Israeli army again placed a temporary checkpoint along
route 317 outside At Tuwani. Zimmerman and two Doves observed the
checkpoint for an hour until the soldiers left.
Sunday 25 June
A Reuters television crew interviewed Schramm about CPT's work in At-Tuwani
and the effects of having the settlement of Ma'on and outpost of Havot Ma'on
so close to the village.
Monday 26 June
Two Doves accompanied shepherds from the village of Mufakara as they watered
their sheep. On Sunday, three soldiers prevented one of the women from
watering her sheep from Biir Jabareen, a large cistern near the Israeli
settler outpost of Avigail. The people of Mufakara are taking their sheep
to this cistern because the water level in Mufakara cisterns is critically
low and used only for human consumption.
The morning grazing and watering occurred without incident, but on the
journey back to Mufakara two settlers approached the shepherds and told them
the land was forbidden to them. The shepherds continued home. Twenty
minutes later a police vehicle, with the two settlers inside, approached the
group and told them they were leaving a forbidden area. The police stated
that an officer from the DCO would come to Mufakara to tell them the same
thing. The DCO officer never came.
In the afternoon, Zimmerman and a Dove accompanied the same shepherds. They
grazed their sheep in the previously declared forbidden area without
incident.
The team learned that settlers set thirteen large bales of animal feed on
fire the night before near the village of Qawawis.
Tuesday 27 June
Zimmerman and two Doves accompanied the shepherds from Mufakara back to the
Beir Jabareen cistern to water their sheep. A settler boy with some goats
herded his flock near the well and a soldier from the outpost of Avigail
observed the activity; no one approached the group or halted the process.
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