CPTnet
24 April 2006

AT-TUWANI: Israelis and Palestinians arrested demonstrating against planned
security wall

On Saturday 22 April, Israeli police arrested three Israelis and two
Palestinians during a peaceful protest against the planned security wall
near At Tuwani along Bypass Road 317. Police and soldiers also assaulted
several Palestinians.

The proposed wall is an eighty-centimeter high concrete barrier on the north
side of the road, fourteen-kilometers long, running from the settlement of
Tene to the settlement of Carmel. Decisions are pending in Israeli high
court cases regarding the construction of the wall. Members of CPT and
Operation Dove have documented workers surveying and preparing for the
construction of the wall, although the court has not authorized this
construction.

The planned wall would prevent access for Palestinians south of 317 to
larger population centers in the north, depress the local economy and
accelerate the erosion of basic human rights for the people in the area. A
report on the impact of such a wall can be found at:
http://www.cpt.org/hebron/hebron.php.

Palestinians from the village of At-Tuwani and neighboring villages called
the demonstration to protest the construction of the wall, and invited the
support of Israelis and internationals. At 10:30 a.m., Israeli police
arrived in At-Tuwani, blocked the road near the clinic, and declared the
area a 'closed military zone'; however the area of the zone was unclear on
the map they showed to a member of Ta'ayush (an Israeli peace group.)

The demonstrators were careful not to block traffic on the bypass road,
always moving to the sides of the road when asked by police. At around noon
the soldiers and police ordered the demonstrators to disperse. Most of the
demonstrators refused to leave the area, and the police began selecting
people from the side of the road and dragging them away. First, they
arrested Israeli demonstrators, and then the police and soldiers assaulted
several village men.

Soldiers and police repeatedly shoved and pushed to the ground members of
Ta'ayush and CPTers Maureen Jack and Diane Janzen as they tried to prevent
the arrest of one Palestinian. Police arrested one of his brothers who also
intervened, kicked another brother on the face after shoving him to the
ground, and pushed his 75-year-old mother to the ground several times,
kicking her hard in the stomach.

The police claimed that the Palestinian man was carrying a stick and hitting
the soldiers and police, but Jack and Janzen were near the man throughout
and saw that at no time did he have a stick or hit anyone; video footage
confirms that he behaved completely nonviolently throughout the
demonstration.

Police released the arrested Israelis later in the day, but are holding the
Palestinians for ninety-six hours and are charging them with assaulting
police officers.

Photos of the demonstration are available at
http://www.cpt.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album166.