CPTnet
17 July 2006

AT TUWANI UPDATE: 28 June - 7 July 2006

DAILY ROUTINE

Each day the team accompanied local shepherds as they grazed and watered
their flocks in the early morning. Water cisterns throughout the region are
dry, except the cisterns nearest to Israeli settlements and military bases.
In addition to members of Operation Dove ( called Doves), CPT's partner
organization in At-Tuwani, CPT members during this period were Angela Davis,
Rich Meyer, Heidi Schramm, and Diana Zimmerman.

Wednesday 28 June

Davis and Zimmerman accompanied the shepherds to Bier Jabareen, just below
the Israeli outpost settlement of Avigail. An Israeli soldier at the
settlement watched. About halfway through the watering process, two settler
boys with a flock of goats approached the cistern but stayed above it,
closer to the settlement.

A Palestinian shepherd told the team that recently the High Court in
Jerusalem ruled that Israeli soldiers must make sure that Palestinians are
safe on their land. (For details of this ruling of 26 June, see
www.acri.org.il.)

Thursday 29 June

Zimmerman and a Dove accompanied Palestinian shepherds to Bier Jabareen. Two
settler boys and their goats came near to the cistern but did not interfere
with the watering. As the Palestinians headed home, Israeli soldiers
approached the Palestinian shepherds. The soldiers claimed that in the
future the Palestinians needed a permit to water their flocks at the
cistern. The soldiers left after ten minutes.

At 3:45 p.m., a Palestinian from At-Tuwani called and said that settlers
were by his house. By the time Davis, Zimmerman and a Dove arrived, the
settlers were gone. The Palestinian reported that two settlers came from
Tel Abu Jundiya (Hill 833) to within about fifty meters of his house and
then returned to the trees. He said that in the morning the same thing had
happened around 9:00 a.m..

At 5:00 p.m. a Dove saw groups of settlers in several locations in and
around Tel Abu Jundiya (Hill 833). An Israeli friend of the team said that
a settler organization had conducted a solidarity tour of the outpost.

Friday 30 June

At 9:15 a.m. Davis and two Doves filmed a settler polluting a
cistern--between Khoruba and Humra, below Hill 833--by bathing in it.

In the early afternoon, a delegation from Rabbis from Human Rights and
Ta'ayush came to the nearby village of Qawawis to replace hay bales burned
by settlers. Israeli military and police observed the gathering but did not
interfere.

Saturday 1 July 2006

At 7:45 a.m. a Palestinian from At-Tuwani called to say settlers were near
his house. By the time CPTers and Doves arrived, the settlers had left.
The family said two settlers had come close to the home.

At 5:30 p.m. internationals and Palestinians observed settlers walking
around Hill 833 outpost but the settlers did not approach the village.

Sunday 2 July 2006

Davis and two Doves accompanied Palestinian shepherds to Bier Jabareen. An
Israeli soldier watched from the outpost. At 9:25 a.m., two soldiers came
from the outpost and spoke with the first soldier. The soldiers then came
to the cistern and spoke in Hebrew with the Palestinian men that were
watering the sheep at that moment. The Palestinian shepherds said that
the soldiers claimed that the land and the cistern were off-limits to
Palestinians. The Palestinians disagreed.

The soldiers made some phone calls then spoke with Palestinians again before
leaving. The shepherds reported that after checking, soldiers said that the
Palestinian shepherds are allowed to water their sheep there but only one
flock at a time may be at the cistern.

Monday3 July 2006

Meyer and a Dove went to Bier Jabareen with Palestinian shepherds to water
their sheep and goats. After about half the flocks received water, three
soldiers walked down from Avigail and ordered all the shepherds to leave.
The Dove talked to the soldiers while Meyer called Israeli advocates, then
Meyer and the Dove waited with the shepherds a hundred meters east of the
cistern. An hour later one Israeli soldier returned and said the shepherds
could water their flocks at the cistern, only they should approach from
beside or below, and not cross the ridge to the east any higher than the
cistern. By this time the flocks had dispersed, and none returned to the
cistern.

Tuesday 4 July 2006

Davis, Meyer and a Dove went to Bier Jabareen in the morning. A settlement
security officer and one soldier watched. Once when a herd of sheep waiting
their turn at the cistern grazed above the cistern, the soldier went to talk
to the shepherd. All the flocks received water without further incident.

Around 5:00 p.m. three settlers attacked a Palestinian shepherd from Magaer
Al-Abeed, his son and their sheep. The three settlers drove up in a truck
then attacked them with rocks hurled from slingshots. The settlers broke
two sheep's legs and hit the nine-year-old Palestinian boy in his left leg.
Meyer called the Israeli police. After thirty minutes, a police jeep with
two officers arrived in At-Tuwani. When Meyer told the police that the
victims of the attack were in Magaer Al Abeed, not At-Tuwani, the police
said they are afraid to drive to Magaer Al Abeed. One police officer said
that the Havot Ma'on settlers are supposed to be evacuated and he "will be
glad when they are gone." He said, "We are only two police. We need a
whole army to go in there. The settlers will break our windows." They said
that the victims of the attack needed to come to At-Tuwani to make the
report. Later, the team learned that the police told the victim of the
attack the same thing--that they are afraid of the settlers. The victim of
the attack asked the police, "If you are afraid of the settlers, how do you
think I feel?"

Wednesday 5 July, 2006

Twelve flocks came for water at Bier Jabareen. The settlement soldier
watched from a distance, but no incidents occurred.

At 9:35 a.m. the team received a report that a settler set fire to a
Palestinian home near Susiya. Meyer and a Dove went to Susiya. They
arrived as a police jeep left, and found that the tarp roof had been burned
off of a stone house. The team learned that the police had arrested the
Israeli settler suspected of lighting the fire.

At 12:20 p.m. two Israeli soldiers delivered an order for a closed military
zone. The area affected is twenty-four dunams (six acres) at the junction of
th