CPTnet
16 April 2011
AT-TUWANI: Palestinian Authority representatives respond to Israeli military escort delays

 On Tuesday, 12 April, the governor of Hebron, Kamel Hamaid, and the director of the Hebron district Ministry of Education, Fawzi Abu Hlayel, visited the At-Tuwani school.  Then the two Palestinian Authority representatives walked with school children to the place where they usually meet the Israeli military escort intended to protect the children on their journey home to the villages of Tuba and Maghayir al Abeed.

  The escort accompanies the children on the road that runs between the Israeli settlement of Ma’on and settlement outpost of Havat Ma’on because the children have suffered many threats, and attacks from settlers along this route.

 The visiting governmental officials, together with the local school headmaster, the mayor, and representatives from the local council, observed the military escort arrive on time and accompany the children without incident—unlike the two previous afternoons.  Palestinian TV was also present, documenting the visit and escort.

 The preceding days, 10 and 11 April, the children waited nearly two hours each day for the escorting soldiers to arrive.  On 10 April, the escort failed to arrive at all, and after waiting from 1:30 until 3:20, the children had to take a much longer route home.  The next day, the children again waited over ninety minutes and then, as they began to walk the longer route, a passing army jeep stopped and accompanied the children back to and along the usual, shorter path.  Both days the children arrived in Tuba around 4:00.  On 12 April, in contrast, the children reached the village before 1:30.

 The Local Council and the Popular Committee for the Nonviolent Resistance consider the visit of Hamaid and Abu Hlayel, following the visit made two weeks ago by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, to be a sign of the increased attention by the Palestine Authority for the South Hebron Hills area.  The Popular Committee and the Local Council are committed to advancing living conditions and access to resources for the Palestinian residents of the South Hebron Hills.