1 June 2008
An armed paramilitary group, presumably the Black Eagles, entered southeast and northeast Barrancabermeja. Members threatened to kill young people they encountered talking in the street, accusing the youth of laziness and using drugs.

The weekend before last, six people died in an ongoing string of murders in Barrancabermeja. A newspaper headline called it the most violent weekend of the year. In response, a coalition of social organizations in Barrancabermeja, including women's groups, the diocese, labor organizations, community leaders, CPT, Peace Brigades, and others; organized vigils at the site of the murders. Relatives of those who were killed, as well as friends and neighbors, joined us to commemorate those whose lives violence ended abruptly. "You are not alone," our vigils proclaimed. "We join in your grief."

At 1:50 pm, on Sunday, 27 July, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian children between the ages of six and fifteen and Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) members Joel Gulledge and Jan Benvie, who were accompanying them as they walked to their village of Tuba. The children had been attending summer camp in At-Tuwani.

As the fourteen children and two CPTers were walking in a valley south of the Havat Ma'on settlement outpost, one masked settler came down the hill, hurling stones with a slingshot. The children and Benvie ran ahead, but saw other stone-throwing settlers approaching them from the opposite side of the valley. None of the stones struck the children, however, and they were able to run to safety.  

When the masked settler saw Gulledge filming the attack, he began directing his stones at Gulledge. The settler hit him in the leg with a rock, inflicting an injury that made it impossible for Gulledge to run away. The settler then wrested the camera from him, and began beating him with a rock and the camera. After that, the settler ran off with the camera. Gulledge was treated for his injuries at a hospital in Hebron and then returned to At-Tuwani.

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.