CPTnet
24 February 2005

AT-TUWANI: Israeli Soldiers Drive Shepherds From Their Land

By Art Gish

For the past two weeks Palestinian shepherds from
At-Tuwani and surrounding villages have been grazing
their sheep on Palestinian land close to an Israeli
settlement. With international accompaniment, the
shepherds have entered land that Israelis have
forbidden to them for four or five years.

20 February, at 1:35 pm, three high-ranking Israeli
Army officers and a policeman approached the shepherds
and sheep and announced that the land is a military
live fire zone. They said everyone would have to
leave immediately or be arrested. They said that only
owners of the land would be allowed in the area and
only with a special permit. The shepherds voiced their
protest and finally headed back to At-Tuwani. The
group included two shepherds who were forced to
abandon their near-by village in 1997 because of
settler harassment.

I was overwhelmed with emotion as I watched the
shepherds and sheep head back to the village. The
Israeli military has plans to evacuate many of the
villages in the area. Why don't the soldiers stop
armed Israeli settlers from threatening school
children, beating up internationals and attacking
soldiers instead of ordering unarmed shepherds off the land?

The shepherds did not look like defeated people to me
as they walked to At-Tuwani. Their heads were held
high. Through conversations with people in this area,
I understand that many of them trust that the future
is not in the hands of those who seek to dominate,
steal and kill, but rather in the hands of God.

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