CPTnet
April 21, 2005

AT-TUWANI UPDATE: 28 March - 8 April, 2005

[Note: The CPTnet editor apologizes for having posted the 9-14 April update
before she posted this update.]

 Monday, 28 March CPTers Lorne Friesen and Christy Bischoff arrived in the
Palestinian village of At-Tuwani. Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) and
Operation Dove* (OD) members accompanied shepherds from At-Tuwani and
Mufakara to the area of Khoruba.

In the morning three people from the Israeli National Park Authority came to
look at the poison that was spread on the grazing land the previous week.
(See 23 March CPTnet release, "Poison pellets spread on hillside where
Palestinian sheep graze.") They told the Palestinian shepherds they did not
want members of CPT and OD around. When an OD member told them of a stork
that may have died from the poison, they refused to look at it.

Around 2:00 p.m., Israeli soldiers arrived and declared that Mufakara
shepherds could stay in Khoruba and the Tuwani shepherds must leave.

The soldiers detained a 16-year old boy, because of an incident they said
had occurred several days earlier. At 9:00 p.m. the boy was dropped off in
the village. He said soldiers and settlers had beaten him, that his hands
had been tied behind his back, and that he had been blindfolded and tied to
a fence. He said two of the Israelis who beat him came from the Havat Ma'on
outpost. He recognized one as having had participated in a February 16
attack on internationals.

Tuesday, 29 March
 CPTers on school patrol observed thirteen children
walking from Tuba to Tuwani without police escort. A parliamentary order
stipulated that Israeli soldiers and police provide a vehicle and walking
escort for the children because of danger from settlers at the illegal Havat
Ma'on outpost.

The shepherds from Tuwani took their sheep to Khoruba, but left them with
the Mufakara shepherds because of the military order preventing them from
grazing their flocks in that area.

Wednesday, 30 March
The shepherds from Tuwani and Mufakara took their sheep
to Khoruba as on the previous day. The CPT and OD members walked up the
hill of Khoruba to better see the shepherds. At that point, Israeli soldiers
arrived to tell the internationals to leave.

At 3:30 p.m. a shepherd from Mufakara reported to CPT and OD that a sheep
had just died. The shepherds found new poison in the area of Khoruba. In
addition to the one sheep who had died, two were bleeding from their noses,
a symptom of the poisoning. Israeli police wrote a report about the
incident, but did not go near the poison.

Thursday, 31 March
The Israeli military arrived two hours late to escort
the children from Tuba to Tuwani. When CPTer Friesen and an OD member
called to complain, the army spokesperson said that there were new soldiers
in the unit who were not organized. When the children did arrive in Tuwani,
the children said the soldiers were in Tuba earlier, but there were also
settlers there. Four times the children walked toward the army, but the
settlers shouted and whistled and the children ran back, scared. The army
reportedly did nothing, eventually leaving and coming back 1and 1/2 hours
later.

CPTers Kim Lamberty and Friesen went to Mufakara to photograph police taking
dead sheep away. The police shouted at Friesen saying, "No pictures, no
reports," and held his passport for several minutes. The police left
without taking the sheep.

Two hours later the police returned and told CPTer Bischoff and three OD
members, "No pictures, no reports," but the four were able to photograph the
police taking the sheep.

In the evening, villagers of Tuwani had a meeting about the analysis of the
poison, which was found to be flourocetamide. The poison is considered very
dangerous and is illegal in most of the world. It may cause long-term
neurological and reproductive problems. The people spoke of their concern
for their children who had been drinking the milk of their sheep, as well as
for their economic situation, which has been devastated by the poisoning of
their sheep.

Friday, 1 April
Friesen and Operation Dove members went to see if there was
any poison in Jawia, another hillside near the Israeli settlement of Ma'on.
They found none.

In the afternoon, Bischoff, Friesen, and OD members stayed with shepherds
near Ma'on. A settler security man drove up with a new Israel military
officer in his truck, followed by an army jeep. The settler security man
introduced CPT/OD to the new army officer. An OD member recorded on video
the settler security official saying that he knew settlers from Havat Ma'on
had planted the poison.

Saturday, 2 April
Around 9:30 a.m., Friesen and two OD members went to
accompany Tuwani shepherds to Jawia. They found Israeli settlers and
Palestinians involved in a confrontation. Twenty-five members of the Israeli
group Ta'ayush, arriving to help villagers clean poison off their fields,
were also present. Israeli soldiers called to the scene were able to
separate the two groups.

CPTers Bischoff, Lamberty, and Claire Evans, with OD and Ta'ayush, cleaned
poison from the fields in the area of Khoruba for several hours.

About 2:00 p.m., teammates called the CPTers and members of OD to report a
confrontation nearer Tuwani between about twenty settlers from Ma'on,
including many young boys, and Palestinian shepherds as they were grazing
their sheep. Israeli Police took statements and arrested one Palestinian on
what they say was a separate charge.

Sunday, 3 April
During school patrol, Bischoff and Evans clocked the Israeli military escort
as 2 and 1/2 hours late. After repeated calls to find out where the escort
was, Bischoff was unable to continue calling because authorities had
evidently blocked her cell phone number.

Bischoff, Evans and Lamberty went to Khoruba after passing several shepherds
taking their flocks there. Israeli soldiers have asserted the area is a
closed military zone, but they are unable to specify the boundaries in a
consistent way. Soldiers have said that Mufakara shepherds are permitted
there every day, but At-Tuwani shepherds only on Fridays and Saturdays.
Residents of the settlement outpost of Havat Ma'on claim the land is theirs.
As CPTers arrived, seven settlers walked down the hill toward the shepherds.
Two took photographs of CPTers and shepherds. An altercation ensued, with
shouting and shoving on both sides. Lamberty and Evans stood between the
two sides, while Bis