CPTnet
20 October 2011
AT-TUWANI: Israeli military fails to escort children twice in one day

On 16 October, the Israeli military failed, twice, to escort the school children of Tuba and Maghayir al Abeed past Ma'on settlement and Havat Ma'on outpost.  Because Israeli settlers have attacked and harassed the Palestinian schoolchildren multiple times in the past, the Israeli military made a commitment to villagers in the South Hebron Hills that soldiers would accompany the children if international groups such as CPT and Operation Dove agreed to stop accompanying them.  CPT and Operation Dove now monitor the escort from hilltops at the start and finish of the escort.

According to members of Operation Dove and the schoolchildren, the army failed to meet the children in the morning to escort them to school.  Instead, the soldiers in the jeep stopped halfway along the route, and then drove away as the children were running to meet them.  "They were probably new, and didn't know what they were doing," said one of the schoolchildren who walk to school with the escort every day.  "They didn't see us, even though we were right there at [the meeting place], waving and whistling at them."

In the afternoon, when the children were ready to go home, the army again failed even to arrive for the escort.  The children made repeated phone calls to the Palestinian District Coordinating Liaison, which made repeated phone calls on their behalf to the Israeli army, which made repeated promises that the soldiers were on their way.  After waiting over an hour and a half without seeing the soldiers, the children left without the military escort, accompanied by members of Christian Peacemaker and Operation Dove.  The children arrived home safely by 3:00 p.m.

The failure of the soldiers to arrive on the 16th was not an isolated incident.  In the previous month, the soldiers failed to escort the children properly on five occasions, sometimes letting them walk alone in places where settlers have previously attacked them, keeping too much distance between themselves and the children during the escort, or failing to intervene when settlers threatened the children.

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal.  Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma'on (Hill 833), are considered illegal under Israeli law.]

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