CPTnet
December 23, 2004

AT-TUWANI UPDATE: November 4-December 7, 2004

 Thursday, November 4 Cal Carpenter, Diane Janzen and a member of Operation
Dove (OD) went with Tuwani villager, Hafez Hereni, the long way to Tuba in
the morning to observe the children going to school. The Israeli general for
the southern West Bank had called Saber Hereni (the head of the village of
Tuwani) the night before to say that Israeli soldiers and police would be
waiting on the Tuba side of the Israeli Havot Ma'on outpost at 7:00 a.m. to
accompany the children by the short path. Hafez walked with the children to
the military and police jeeps. CPT and OD stayed on the mountain near Tuba
to observe and film. Hafez talked with the army and police for a little
while before an Israeli settlement security vehicle arrived. After more
conversation, the children and Hafez turned and walked the middle road,
accompanied by soldiers and police on foot, as well as two military jeeps
and one police jeep. Hafez said that he could hear the settlers and their
dogs in the trees but did not see anyone.

The CPTers and OD member went out in the afternoon to places where they
could observe the children being accompanied home by the Israeli soldiers.
Two military vehicles came, one jeep and one humvee. Israeli officer Ophir
told the Palestinians that only Hafez or Saber could walk with the children;
their father would not be permitted to do so. The children and Hafez walked
to Tuba with the jeep in front of them and the humvee behind. On the way
back only the humvee accompanied Hafez.

At a place on the path where Hafez was not visible to CPT and OD, Israeli
settlers confronted him. Five settler women came out of the woods shouting
at Hafez and throwing stones that hit him and the humvee. The women were
followed by two men from the outpost also throwing stones. Hafez backed up
to a place where the humvee was between him and the settlers, and asked the
driver if they were going to get out. The driver told him to wait a minute
and made a call to his commander before the soldiers got out of the humvee
and made the settlers return to the woods. Carpenter was on the phone with
Hafez when the confrontation started. He and the OD member tried to move to
a place where they would have a better view. They were not able to view the
confrontation before it ended, but they saw that Hafez and the jeep were
again on their way to At-Tuwani.

Saturday, November 6
In the morning Janzen, Carpenter, an OD member and a man from At-Tuwani
again went to Tuba by the long path. They told the children's family that
the Israeli military and police escort, along with Saber Hereni, would be
there again for the children. While waiting in Tuba for the military and
police jeeps to arrive, the group saw three settler men come out of the
trees and stand for about a half hour near the path the children would be
using. The settler men then returned to the trees.

The children's father and the man from At-Tuwani (Saber) walked with the
children to the military and police jeeps. The CPT and OD members watched
from the mountain near Tuba and saw several settlers come to the edge of the
trees as the children passed. Saber told the group later that the police
were filming the settlers as they verbally harassed the children.

After school CPT and OD observed from hills south of At-Tuwani as three
military jeeps and one police jeep escorted the children home from school.
After the group had passed, Janzen and the OD member saw some settlers
moving in the trees near the road.

Sunday, November 7
Janzen, Carpenter and the OD member went out in the morning to watch the
children come in to school. The children came without a Palestinian adult
escort but with a jeep from the Israeli Civil Administration, one from the
army and one from the police. Two of the police walked the whole way with
the children. Several soldiers walked part of the way on what seems to be
the most dangerous part of the path before finishing the trip in the jeep.

At shortly after 3:00 p.m., Carpenter saw a man in fatigues on Hafez's porch
and went to find out what was happening. The man was from the Civil
Administration and was with another man in civilian clothes who said he was
updating a map. He asked Hafez the family name for each house in the village
and how many people lived there. He also noted which ones were new. After
the men left, Hafez said that the one in civilian clothes was the person in
charge of home demolitions in the area.

Monday, November 8
In the morning while Janzen, Carpenter and an OD member were out to observe
the children coming to school, they heard shouting coming from the Israeli
settlement outpost. The jeeps appeared late (one each from the police, Civil
Administration, and army as well as a settlement security truck). No
children were visible with them. The group called into At Tuwani and found
that the children had come to school inside the police jeep.

 Friday, November 12 CPTers arrived from Hebron in the late morning. After a
meeting, CPTers, a member of OD and Hafez planted olive trees on the site
where trees had been destroyed by Israeli settlers and soldiers on the first
day that the team visited in the fall. The internationals gathered around
the last tree planted for a short blessing, while Hafez joined other men
from the village for afternoon prayer.

Saturday, November 13
The At-Tuwani team feasted and played with kids for Eid-Al Fitr.

Sunday, November 14
Lu Ann Brooker, Carpenter, and a member of OD joined villagers in the olive
picking near the Havot Ma'on outpost. The three took turns, one observing
the outpost from the hill and the other two picking olives. At 8:15 a.m., an
Israeli settlement security vehicle arrived, followed shortly by two
military jeeps at 8:21 and 8:30. The soldiers from the second jeep called to
male leaders of two of the families who were picking and asked them why they
had not coordinated with the District Coordinating Office (an office of the
Israeli military.) The men replied that this was their land and it was not
forbidden for them to work it without coordination. The soldiers warned them
not to go into the trees near the Israeli settlement outpost. Afterwards,
the villagers joked about asking the soldiers, "Are there olives there, in
the trees?" Sporadically, throughout the rest of the day, the jeeps
patrolled the road near the olive grove several times, stopping to observe
the work from the edge of the trees. At around 2:30 p.m. three settler men
and a