CPTnet
14 April 2009
AT-TUWANI UPDATE: March 2009

[Note: According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal.  Most settlement outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.]


On team during this period were Janet Benvie, Laura Ciaghi, Cassandra Dixon, Joy Ellison, Jessica Frederick, Joshua Hough, Sean O'Neill, Joe Wyse, Sarah MacDonald, and members of Operation Dove.

The month of March was marked by an increase in settler harassment of schoolchildren and shepherds, settler incursions onto Palestinian land, harassment by soldiers, and the failure of the Israeli military and police to address these problems or provide redress for Palestinians.  Villagers responded by filing complaints for trespass and staging a nonviolent grazing action.

Schoolchildren from Tuba and Maghayir al Abeed encountered settlers as they walked home from Tuwani.  Soldiers charged with escorting the children safely home repeatedly refused to walk with the children until they were out of danger.  CPT and Operation Dove have asked for international calls to the military requesting that the escort see the children safely past the outpost of Havat Ma'on.  (http://www.cpt.org/cptnet/2009/04/06/tuwani-urgent-action-ask-israeli-military-fulfill-its-obligation-protect-children)


Problems with the escort of schoolchildren to Tuba.

On Sunday, 15 March 2009, members of the At-Tuwani team called for the military escort at 1:00 p.m. saying the children were waiting, and the dispatcher told them the army would arrive at 1:30.  Team members then saw an army jeep join settlers who had chased Palestinians off their land.  At 1:30, that jeep arrived at the gate for the escort.

On 23 March, the soldiers refused to escort the children past two adult settlers present in the area.  When the soldiers and children arrived at the point where the outpost's chicken barns completely obstruct the road, they saw settlers approaching the barns.  The children asked the soldiers to complete the escort to a point where they would be safe, but instead the soldiers told the children "Okay, run fast.  Go!" and then left the scene.  (See 23 March release, "Israeli army refuses to escort Palestinian school children past settlers," http://www.cpt.org/cptnet/2009/03/28/tuwani-israeli-army-refuses-escort-palestinian-school-children-past-settlers )

On Tuesday 24 March, as the children returned to Tuba, a CPTer met the soldiers near the chicken barns in the area where settlers are often present.  The soldiers told the CPTer they had orders from their commander to stop before the chicken barns, where settlers have threatened the children.  As they spoke, settlers drove past yelling "Nazi, Nazi" at the CPTer and telling her to go home.

On Wednesday 25 March, a settler car was present on the road near the chicken barns.  The soldiers escorting the children stopped before the barns and did not escort the children past the car.  

On Monday, 30 March, soldiers arrived late for the morning escort and stopped some distance before reaching the edge of the settlement, leaving the children to walk unaccompanied the rest of the way.  In the afternoon, the children and internationals encountered a settler security guard sitting in a truck on the path taken by the children to meet the escort.


Settler incursions onto Palestinian land and response of Palestinians

On Friday, 6 March, members of the At-Tuwani team and Palestinian shepherds grazing sheep in Khoruba valley saw two settlers with a flock.  The settlers appeared to speak on a phone, and shortly afterwards an Israeli military jeep arrived.  Soldiers told the Palestinian shepherds they were in a forbidden area and had to move.  The shepherds refused to leave, noting they were outside the settlement boundaries.  The soldiers backed off and followed at a distance but did not interfere as the Palestinian shepherds made their way back to Tuwani for afternoon prayers.

On Sunday, 8 March, nineteen Palestinians went to their land near the village of Um al-Kheir, accompanied by two CPTers.  They observed workers using road-building equipment on the land, near the adjacent Israeli settlement of Karmel.  When the Palestinians and CPTers approached the work area, an Israeli settlement security guard demanded they leave and called the Israeli army and police, who then arrested the two CPTers.  The police also detained the Palestinians for forty-five minutes.  The CPTers were charged with trespass, although the Palestinian owners had invited them onto the land.  The police released them the following day.  (See release: 8 March CPTnet release, "AT-TUWANI: Israeli police detain Palestinian landowners asserting their rights, arrest two members of Christian Peacemaker Team members," http://www.cpt.org/cptnet/2009/03/08/tuwani-israeli-police-detain-palestinian-landowners-asserting-their-rights-arrest-)

On Saturday, 14 March, while Palestinians accompanied by At-Tuwani team members grazed their sheep near the Ma'on settlement, the Ma'on security guard called the army, complaining specifically about "Arabs" and "CPT."  Two jeep-loads of soldiers and a settler arrived and pointed their rifles at the flocks.  The shepherds slowly moved back.  In the afternoon, two groups of settlers entered the village.  One group threw rocks at villagers before returning to the Havat Ma'on outpost.  The other approached a Palestinian shepherd, who remained with his flock.  When more villagers arrived, the settlers left the village.  Also that day, Palestinian landowners told At-Tuwani team members that the previous night settlers had damaged their fields.  Team members took photos of the fields near the settlement of Avigail.

On Thursday, 19 March, Tony Blair, representative of the Quartet on the Middle East, visited Tuwani in order, he said, "to draw attention to the fact that without a new and different system applying in Area C [the area in the West Bank under Israeli military and civilian control], it is very hard for Palestinians to enjoy the standard of living that they should enjoy and be able to develop their land as they should be able to develop in freedom." (See 20 March CPTnet release, "AT-TUWANI: At-Tuwani hosts former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair to address Israeli occupation and violence in the southern West Bank," http://www.cpt.org/cptnet/2009/03/20/tuwani-tuwani-hosts-tony-blair-addr....)

On Saturday, 21 March ,settlers brought a flock of sheep onto land inside the village of At-Tuwani.  They retreated when a Palestinian began recording them on a video camera.  They returned later in the day, but again retreated quickly.

On the morning of Sunday, 22 March, a settler brought his flock into Humra Valley, where shepherds from At-Tuwani were grazing their sheep.  The settler called the police and army, claiming that one of the Palestinians had thrown a stone at him.  Police detained the Palestinian but released him after viewing video that showed he had not thrown a stone.  He has since filed suit against the settler for trespassing on his land.

On 25 March, a group of twenty Israelis fired shots at Palestinian shepherds and their flocks grazing on land belonging to the village of Juwayye, near At-Tuwani.  Israeli soldiers and a Ma'on settlement security guard were present but failed to take action against the Israelis, and later forced the shepherds to leave their land.  

On the morning of Friday, 27 March, settlers brought a flock onto Palestinian land in Khoruba Valley while Palestinian shepherds were grazing their sheep.  The Israeli army, settler security, and police arrived, but made no arrests.  Palestinian landowners filed a complaint against the settlers for trespass.

On Saturday, 28 March, shepherds from Tuwani and nearby villages responded to recent harassment by gathering peacefully with their families to graze sheep in Khoruba valley.  Four settlers, two with their faces covered, walked from Havat Ma'on into the flocks and among the shepherds and their children.  Palestinian shepherds sat down and refused to remove their sheep from the area.  Israeli soldiers, police, and border police arrived but did nothing to protect the rights of the Palestinian landowners.  There were no arrests and both settlers and Palestinians left after about three hours.

On Sunday, 29 March, a settler security guard approached shepherds from the village of Juwayye who were grazing sheep near Tuwani and began taking photos of shepherds and internationals, and speaking on the phone.  Soldiers arrived and detained one of the shepherds, telling him that police were coming because he did not have his ID.  The shepherd was ill and asked for water, which the soldiers did not give him.  After half an hour, the soldiers and the settler security guard left and the shepherds went home.


Other
On Saturday, 7 March, At-Tuwani team members saw two Israeli army jeeps and a white van pulled off Road 317 in a field near At-Tuwani.  Soldiers had one Palestinian man on the ground.  When they saw the team members, they put one man in the jeep and sped away.  The other men explained that the soldiers shot at their van as they were coming into the area from Jinba, a village to the south.  The soldiers chased them to Road 317, where the army shot out their front left tire.  The men said the soldiers hit them and took the driver.