AT-TUWANI: Demonstrators walk from At-Tuwani to Tuba, protesting settler harassment
CPTnet
4 December 2007
AT-TUWANI: Demonstrators walk from At-Tuwani to Tuba, protesting settler
harassment
On Saturday, 1 December, more than 200 Israelis, Palestinians and
internationals walked from At-Tuwani to the nearby village of Tuba. The
walk highlighted the violent harassment and other severe difficulties faced
by villagers in the Southern Hebron Hills of the West Bank. These
difficulties continue to worsen with the growth of unauthorized* Israeli
settlement outposts.
Located a few kilometers outside the larger Palestinian city of Yatta,
At-Tuwani serves as a gateway to trade, education and healthcare for a
handful of more remote villages.
Tuba is just a twenty-minute walk southeast of At-Tuwani by the most direct
route, which the people of Tuba traveled regularly before the construction
of the Ma'on settlement (1984) and adjacent unauthorized outpost of Havat
Ma'on (2000). Since then, settler attacks have forced Palestinians to take
a longer route, which is about one hour on foot or by donkey.
Settler violence has also blocked Tuba villagers from reaching their fields
for routine ploughing, sowing and grazing. The Israeli peace organization,
Ta'ayush, which cosponsored Saturday's march, hoped that a large Israeli
activist presence would enable Tuba farmers to plough without harassment.
Initially, the Israeli army tried to prevent the demonstrators from leaving
At-Tuwani, but the large crowd peacefully pushed through the army cordon and
continued over the hills to Tuba. The Palestinians successfully ploughed
and sowed their fields with only minor disruptions. Two Israeli settlers
ran down into a field and tried to disrupt the work, but soldiers prevented
them from doing so. An Israeli soldier also tried to disrupt ploughing by
confiscating the key of the tractor, but the farmer restarted it and
continued working.
After a peaceful gathering with Tuba villagers outside their caves, the
demonstrators returned to At-Tuwani in the afternoon on a path next to the
outpost. Clapping and singing, they walked past dozens of Havat Ma'on
settlers who came out to watch, dressed in white Shabbat robes. Some younger
settlers tried to disrupt the procession, but Israeli soldiers and police
restrained them.
Later in the evening, Israeli settlers attacked a boy from Tuba and stole
his donkey. Two CPTers and two members of Michigan Peace Teams spent the
night in Tuba, in case further retaliation by settlers occurred, but the
night passed without incident.
Tuba and its fields are situated within a vast tract of land that the
Israeli government seeks to confiscate and use as a military firing range.
If the Israeli Supreme Court finds in favor of the state and the army, they
will expel all the villagers from their homes.
*All Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal
under international law; however, the settlement outposts are illegal under
Israeli law.
Photos of this event:
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/2081285565/>
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/2082073942/>
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/2082071548/>
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/2078962498/>
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