CPTnet
22 June 2007
AT-TUWANI REFLECTION: Behind the scenes of a civil war
by John Lochtefeld
Life slows down in At-Tuwani as the weather gets hotter. Both Palestinians
and settlers take refuge from the afternoon sun, reducing the amount of
confrontation that occurs. It does not, however, stop. Young settlers
still find opportunities to launch rocks at Palestinian shepherds. Bored
soldiers roll through the village in their jeeps, stopping random vehicles,
sometimes unscrewing and confiscating the license plates from Palestinian
cars, alleging they are stolen or their Israeli plates faked.
Worst of all, the nearby village of Susiya is under imminent threat of the
army destroying it, and no amount of cooperation on their part with the
Israeli civil authorities seems to be good enough. So when news comes
through word of mouth of the intensifying conflict between Hamas and Fatah,
it still seems far away, even as it spills into the West Bank from Gaza and
creeps down as far south as Ramallah.
The South Hebron Hills remain a world apart. Here the threat of violence
remains the monopoly of extremist Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers. Here
the conflict is still defined by an ever-tightening occupation and efforts
by Palestinians to go on with life in its shadow. Here a group of
villagers, shepherds and farmers, carry the struggle forward by meeting on a
hot Friday afternoon to strategize on how to prevent the dismantling of
Susiya and the subsequent loss of land.
Resistance in At-Tuwani retains a level of integrity that seems to have been
lost in not so far away cities where cousins have turned their guns on each
other, fighting over the scraps of food that fall from the oppressors'
table. Sadly, he fratricide occurring to the north and west will overshadow
the nonviolent efforts of the villagers. Cable news stations will descend
upon Gaza and Nablus like vultures, looking for sensational stories of civil
war. They will probably not pause to consider any of the underlying causes
of the strife, such as the tightening Israeli noose that reduces
Palestinians to desperation, or the crippling international sanctions levied
upon them as punishment for their exercise of democratic choice. And the
press surely will not take time to report on the people of At-Tuwani,
Susiya, Bethlehem, and Bil'in--among many other places--who carry the
struggle forward nonviolently. Their courage and commitment is on par with
that of Mandela, King, and Gandhi. Yet, they do not ask for the fanfare
these giants enjoyed, but merely a little moral support from the outside
world.
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