CPTnet
7 May 2006

AT-TUWANI: Tuba children and soldier escort ambushed by Ma'on settlers

 For the second week in a row, about thirty Ma'on settlers attacked the
children from Tuba and the Israeli soldiers escorting them on their way home
from school on Shabbat (Saturday is the Jewish Holy Day.) The ambush
occurred at 1:15 p.m. on 6 May at the roadblock that settlers built on 1 May
to block the escort jeeps. Settlers threw rocks at the children and
soldiers, as well as kicking and punching them. Several children sustained
injuries to legs and heads; three required medical attention. One soldier
fired his gun in the air. Police have not yet arrested any settlers.

 "Better wear your helmet," one soldier said to another as they began the
escort. Two soldiers walked with the children, while one idled behind in the
jeep as far as the roadblock. Their haphazard protection of the children
contrasted with presence of soldiers and police officers, three vans and a
humvee in the village of at-Tuwani throughout the day. The Israeli
authorities intended that show of force to prevent Israeli peace activists
from visiting At-Tuwani. At any point during the morning, the humvee could
have removed the rocks of the roadblock with a logging chain. A police
presence with the escort of the school children might have prevented the
attack.

Children reported on Tuesday morning someone had installed a roadblock on
the longer path around the south of the Hill 833 outpost. The soldier in
command Tuesday morning elected to use the shorter, more direct path from
Tuba to At-Tuwani, but at noon he reported that his superior officers had
criticized him for that decision. The Israeli military has apparently
decided that the school escort should continue to use the longer path, a
route that passes close to dense forest that hides the houses of extremist
settlers in the outpost.

 All week both soldiers and police officers have said that the military
would be removing the roadblock within a day, but the roadblock is still in
place and will still provide a convenient point of attack for the settlers
as long as the local Israeli authorities continue to mandate the use of the
longer path.