CPTnet
9 June 2006

AT-TUWANI UPDATE: 21-31 May 2006

DAILY ROUTINE

Each day (apart from Fridays) the team monitored the morning and afternoon
escorts of schoolchildren from Tuba in two locations: (Khoruba hill--near
the southeastern edge of Tel Abu Jundiya where the Hill 833 Israeli
settlement outpost is located-- and At Tuwani.) Each day the team
accompanied local shepherds in nearby areas. Because of the warmer weather,
the shepherds tended to go out in the early morning and then again in the
late afternoon.

In addition to Operation Dove (Doves), CPT's partner organization in
At-Tuwani, CPT team members during this period were Cassandra Dixon, Diane
Janzen, Heidi Schramm and Diana Zimmerman.

Sunday 21 May 2006

 During the morning school escort, two settlers chased the children near the
settler caravan on the eastern edge of the Hill 833 outpost. A settler
woman tried to drag one seven-year-old boy away. (See 25 May CPTnet
release, "Despite Defence Ministry orders, Israeli soldiers continue to
shirk responsibility for protect[ing] Palestinian school children.")

Tuesday 23 May 2006

 Two Palestinian men told the team that in the morning they tried to plow
their fields near the Hill 833 outpost, accompanied by members of an Israeli
peace organization (Rabbis for Human Rights - RHR), and coordinated with the
Israeli military. The Israeli military refused to accompany the
Palestinians if people from RHR came along. People from RHR stayed behind;
however, the military did not accompany the Palestinians to the fields.
Soon after the Palestinians arrived at the field, five settlers approached
them, followed by the military. The soldiers who were present in the area
did nothing to stop the settlers from trespassing on Palestinian land. The
Palestinian drivers of the two tractors fled. The settlers damaged one
tractor and did not leave until the Israeli police arrived. The
Palestinians returned to drive the tractors back to At-Tuwani, followed by
an Israeli military civil administration jeep. As they drove back to At
Tuwani, they passed the five settlers but neither the police nor the
military detained any of the settlers.

Friday 26 May 2006

Shortly after 6:00 p.m., a man from the Palestinian village of Mufakara
called to tell the internationals that settlers were in the village. Janzen,
Schramm and a Dove walked to Mufakara. At 6:00 p.m., two settlers drove from
the Avigail outpost through the village and left a small, pink backpack
under some rocks. Janzen called the police and requested that
someone come to investigate. A Palestinian also showed the internationals
an exploded canister in a cave. Sometime between noon and 2:00 p.m.,
soldiers came through the village and put the canister in the cave, where
it exploded. It created a loud noise, a lot of smoke, and very black ash. A
jeep with four soldiers arrived in Mufakara at 7:25 p.m. They uncovered and
examined the backpack, which contained a bag of pita bread, and a jar filled
with a clear liquid. They spoke with the mayor of Mufakara for close to ten
minutes and left, taking the bread and the jar, and leaving the backpack.

Saturday 27 May 2006

 During morning school patrol Janzen and another international watched as
five settler men appeared from Hill 833 near the black tarp house to shout
at the children. The children were walking between a military jeep and a
hummer and no soldiers were walking with them. The soldiers honked the horn
at the children and they started running.

In the evening, Schramm and two other internationals went to a village
meeting to discuss an action led by Ta'ayush (an Israeli peace organization)
that morning in the village of Suseya. At 10:00 a.m., approximately twenty
members of Ta'ayush met with the Palestinians of Suseya to pump water from
larger cisterns near settler outposts. The Palestinians were using tractors
to haul water in tanks back to cisterns in the village. After they had
filled three tanks, the military stopped the drivers of the tractors and
demanded to see their licenses. Only one driver had a license. The soldiers
wrote the other men tickets for 500 shekels each. The pumping continued,
with the licensed driver driving the tractors to and from the village each
time. They filled thirty tanks (four cubit meters each.) A military jeep
blocked the road to the cistern each time, so the tractors drove through
the fields to access the cistern.

Zimmerman and a Dove walked to the village of Tuba. They spent the afternoon
observing the Hill 833 outpost from just outside the village. In the
evening, they visited families in Tuba, one of which hosted them for the
night.

Sunday 28 May 2006

 Zimmerman and a Dove observed the morning school patrol from the village of
Tuba, and then began walking back to At-Tuwani, while Schramm and another
international observed from Khoruba hill. A truck carrying three settlers
followed the two returning from Tuba, and one of the settlers shouted, "Heil
Hitler," out the window before driving away. The At-Tuwani shepherds
decided to return to the village after the appearance of the settlers.

Monday 29 May 2006

 Leveling the land along the north side of bypass road 317 continued in the
construction of the low security wall.

Tuesday 30 May 2006

 The team observed several military jeeps and hummers driving around the
Hill 833 outpost. They later learned that the military was delivering
evacuation and demolition orders to the settlers in the outpost.

Wednesday 31 May 2006

 The last day of school ended at 9:00 a.m.; the children came to pick up
their grades. The police did the first escort without any problems.
Schramm called the police and military repeatedly but neither
arrived for the second school patrol. At noon, the children decided to walk
the long path home.

While on Khoruba hill waiting for the second school patrol, Zimmerman and a
Dove observed the Israeli military destroying a home in Khalet alThaba.
(See 5 June CPTnet release": Demolitions and orders of demolitions.")

Construction of the low wall along bypass road 317 reached the village of
Qawawis. Zimmerman and a Dove visited Qawawis and spoke to the residents.
They are concerned because the workers put no gate in the wall. The
construction workers agreed to leave one piece of the wall off to the side
to create a "gate." The people fear that the workers will return later and
replac