CPTnet
27 September 2011
SOUTH HEBRON HILLS: Communities march to celebrate solidarity and nonviolence's power

On 25 September, more than one hundred people from different communities in the South Hebron Hills participated in a peace march to celebrate the power of nonviolence and the resilient spirit of the people of the South Hebron Hills.  The event was timed to coincide with the annual Perugia-Assisi Peace March in Italy, in which 50,000 Italians and internationals participated.

Schoolchildren, elders, students, farmers, shepherds, teachers, men, and women chanted and marched from At-Tuwani to Um Faggarah and then further south to the community of  Khallet At-Taba, which in past years, has endured the demolition of homes, outhouses,  and other structures by the Israeli army.  Six families continue to inhabit the hamlet.

In Khallet At Taba, on a high lookout over the surrounding area, Hafez Hereini, Coordinator for Popular Struggle in the South Hebron Hills, and other local leaders named communities that shared the struggle—Jinba, Al Fakheit, Al Majaz, At Tabban, Magahaer Al Abeed, Tuba—and confirmed their commitment to the popular nonviolent resistance.

The march ended back in Tuwani with live Palestinian traditional music and several speeches.  The Hebron District governor's representative, Farid Amar, doctor Othman Abu Sabha of the Mubadara National Initiative and Eyad Masri of Fatah underlined the importance of United Nation's acknowledgment of the Palestinian State and reiterated their support for the nonviolent resistance of the South Hebron Hills communities.

The Popular Struggle Coordinator, Hafez Hereini, delivered a brief phone message to300,000 people who gathered in Assisi for the event.

Additional pictures of the event are available here.

Operation Dove and Christian Peacemaker Teams have maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.