CPTnet
26 June 2007
AT-TUWANI UPDATE: 1 -- 15 June 2007
Almost every day, the team accompanied Palestinian harvesters or shepherds
in fields near Israeli settlements and settler outposts. The team
accompanied Palestinian shepherds from At-Tuwani and Mufakara in Khoruba
valley near the Hill 833 settler outpost. Also, the team accompanied
Palestinian harvesters and shepherds from Umm Lasafa on their land north of
the 317-bypass road across the entrance from the Ma'on settlement. On team
during this period were members of Operation Dove (the Doves) and CPTers
Diane Janzen, Joel Gulledge, Mary Yoder and Sean O'Neill.
Friday 1 June
In the morning, Yoder and Gulledge, with three volunteers from the Israeli
peace organization Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR), accompanied a Palestinian
family from the town of Yatta harvesting their land near the Palestinian
village of Maghayir Al-Abeed, close to Hill 833 settler outpost. Israeli
soldiers and police met the Palestinians in At-Tuwani and accompanied them
to the field. The group used the road that goes around the Hill 833
outpost, and when they were near one of the houses of the outpost, a settler
man came out waving his arms and spoke with the soldiers. The soldiers
continued accompanying the group to the field and the settler went back into
the outpost.
The soldiers left the area after several hours and when the Palestinians
finished harvesting the fields, an RHR volunteer called the Israeli military
and soldiers arrived in a jeep and escorted the group back to At-Tuwani.
Tuesday 5 June
The team accompanied Palestinians working on the Palestinian road leading
south from At-Tuwani to the village of Mufakara.
Wednesday 6 June
A CPT delegation spent the day in At-Tuwani learning about the situation in
the area and the work of the CPT-Operation Dove team.
Two Doves went to a court case in Jerusalem concerning the temporary
injunction granted in the fall of 2001 preventing the Israeli military from
additional demolitions in and evacuations of Palestinians from the village
of Susiya. The court lifted the temporary injunction, and ruled that the
villagers had two more weeks to present an approved map of existing
structures in the village to the Israeli civil administration. The court
then ordered that the Civil Administration must determine in thirty days
whether to allow the Palestinians to continue to live in the area and build
permanent housing or whether to evacuate and demolish the village. (See 27
June 2007 CPTnet release, "SOUTH HEBRON HILLS: Palestinians from Susiya face
threat of eviction for fifth time.")
Thursday 7th June
Janzen and Yoder accompanied a family from the village of Umm Lasafa in
their fields north of the 317-bypass road, across from the entrance of Ma'on
settlement. Family members told the CPTers that while out in the same
fields with their sheep the previous day, settlers attacked the Palestinian
shepherds. The settlers stopped their vehicle on the bypass road and came
down the valley to where the shepherds were, chasing the sheep and using
slingshots to throw rocks. An older Palestinian man was sleeping under a
small tarp roof on the top of a hill nearby and the settlers threw rocks at
him, and stole his keffiyeh (headscarf). When the man called the Israeli
civil administration office to complain about the incident, the person he
spoke with asked him if he had the license plate number of the vehicle the
settlers were using and if he had the names of the settlers that attacked
him.
Friday 8 June
After Friday mid-day prayers at the mosque, about fifty Palestinian men from
At-Tuwani and the surrounding villages attended a nonviolence meeting at the
At-Tuwani school with speakers from the Israeli-Palestinian organization
Combatants for Peace. Volunteers from the organization shared their
personal stories of moving from using violence to coming together and using
nonviolent ways to work for justice and peace in the region. The volunteers
were ex-Israeli soldiers and ex-members of Palestinian militant groups.
Before the meeting was over, Yoder and Janzen went to monitor a temporary
Israeli military checkpoint on the road from At-Tuwani to Yatta. The
soldiers were checking Palestinian vehicles with yellow license plates
(looking for stolen or fake Israeli plates). After one hour, the soldiers
left.
Monday 11 June
Two Doves accompanied Umm Lasafa shepherds on their land across the entrance
from Ma'on in the afternoon. At 5:30 p.m., a settler truck stopped on the
bypass road. Two male settler teenagers left the vehicle, one with a
slingshot that he began to swing around. When the settlers saw the Doves
videotaping them, they ran away. Later, as the Doves were walking back to
At-Tuwani, the vehicle containing the attackers stopped near them and the
attackers took pictures of the Doves.
Tuesday 12 June
In the afternoon, as Yoder and Gulledge approached the fields across from
Ma'on to accompany Umm Lasafa shepherds, they saw two people sitting on the
low wall that Israeli army has built along bypass road 317.The people stood
on the wall and then ran towards Ma'on. The shepherds told the CPTers that
these settlers had attacked them yesterday, and that they threw stones at
the shepherds and sheep today as well. The settlers returned to the area,
but stopped approaching the shepherds when they saw the CPTers. The driver
of the truck that the attackers used the previous day drove to the area,
shouted at the CPTers and picked up the teenage settlers. The Ma'on settler
security guard and Israeli soldiers in a jeep stopped to talk with the
CPTers; the soldiers said that the shepherds should file complaints with the
Israeli police about the settlers attacking them. Two Doves monitored a
temporary Israeli military checkpoint on the road from At-Tuwani to Yatta
from 4:00-6:00 p.m. The soldiers were checking for stolen/fake yellow
Israeli license plates on Palestinian vehicles. When the Doves asked why
the soldiers were removing yellow plates from one of the vehicles the
soldiers said "The driver has a Palestinian ID card so he has no right to
have a yellow [Israeli] plate."
Wednesday 13th June
At-Tuwani village men began working on improving the schoolyard next to the
At-Tuwani school.
As two Doves and Janzen were returning to At-Tuwani from accompanying Umm
Lasafa shepherds, an Israeli military jeep parked near the entrance to Ma'on
followed them. The internationals later learned that about ten minutes
after they left the shepherds, settlers who had committed previous attacks
threw rocks at the shepherds and sheep as they were making their way back to
the village.
Gulledge and O'Neill accompanied shepherds from At-Tuwani near the settler
road that leads to the Avigail settler outpost.
Thursday 14th June
Around noon, an Israeli military jeep drove through the village. As the
jeep was leaving, the soldiers stopped a Palestinian car coming into the
village. The soldiers took the driver's ID and vehicle documents, and
removed the front license plate (a yellow Israeli plate.) After calling in
the driver's ID and checking his documents, the soldiers returned the
license plate, let him go, and left the village.
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