CPTnet

26 July 2008

AT-TUWANI: Armed settlers enter village, threaten Palestinians and internationals; Israeli police refuse to intervene 

On Friday 25 July at 10:30 a.m., three Israeli settlers, one masked and accompanied by a dog, left the Havat Ma'on settlement outpost and followed a Palestinian shepherd and his young son into the village of At-Tuwani.  Over to the next hour, the settlers remained in the village shouting insults at the residents of the village and threatening to shoot them.

One settler took photographs and video of Palestinians and members of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) and Operation Dove (OD).  He shouted racist insults, comparing Palestinians to donkeys and made sexist comments to a female member of CPT.  He also announced that he was carrying a gun and would shoot Palestinians if his fellow settlers requested it.

A CPTer called the Israeli police to ask them to come to village.  The police refused to speak to her in English.  An Israeli lawyer with Yesh Din then called the police, but the officers never arrived.

Both Palestinian residents of At-Tuwani and members of CPT and OD reported that these three settlers had repeatedly threatened and harassed Palestinians on previous occasions.  Notably, two of the three were photographed inside the village on At-Tuwani on 29 April 2008.  (See 2 May 2008 CPTnet release, AT-TUWANI: Armed settlers invade village, attacking Palestinians and internationals while soldiers and police stand by," http://www.cpt.org/cptnet/2008/05/02/tuwani-armed-settlers-invade-village-attacking-palestinians-and-internationals-whi>