CPTnet
23 March 2005

AT-TUWANI: Poison pellets spread on hillside where Palestinian sheep graze

By Diana Zimmerman and Kim Lamberty

Early Tuesday morning, 22 March, a Palestinian shepherd from At-Tuwani
discovered poison pellets spread over the hillside outside of the
Palestinian town of At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. The shepherd
immediately summoned other people from the village, including Christian
Peacemaker Team members Kim Lamberty and Luna Villota who are currently
living there.

"The pellets are small and turquoise blue, similar to rodent poison in the
United States," reported Lamberty. "They are spread under bushes and in the
grass, pretty much anywhere the sheep graze."

About twenty dunams (five acres) of land is affected on the east side of the
Israeli settlement outpost Havot Ma'on, considered an "illegal" settlement
by the Israeli government. The village shepherds did not see the pellets on
Monday and believe they were placed during the night. The Israeli police
responded to their call and took samples of the pellets for testing. They
informed the villagers that an investigator who lives in the settlement of
Ma'on has been assigned to the case.

The villagers are also concerned about a communal well in the area where the
pellets were found. In the past an At-Tuwani well was fouled with carcasses
of dead chickens. The villagers fear that this well may have also been
poisoned by the pellets.

The contaminated site is the same area where Palestinians farmers and
herders were attacked on Saturday, 19 March by twelve settlers from the
Ma'on outpost.