CPTnet
2 February 2005

HEBRON DISTRICT: Shepherds face eviction from land and settler harassment

by Dianne Roe

While Um Yusef (family name withheld for security reasons) was shepherding
on January 24 near Bani Naim, Israeli settlers from nearby Pnei Khever
settlement shot at her. She told CPTers Dianne Roe and Barbara Martens her
story as they visited with her in her home on 26 January in the eastern
hills of the Hebron district. Martens and Roe went to the area along with a
translator after a woman from the Israeli peace group, Machsoum (Checkpoint)
Watch, called Roe to say she had witnessed the Israeli military's attempt to
evict Palestinians in the area the day before.

When CPT arrived on the scene, two shepherd boys told them what they had
seen. The Israeli army had bulldozed land and evacuated the shepherds
from their land, demolishing shepherds' tents, the metal fencing and gates
nearby. The shepherd boys led CPT to their home, where Um Yusef served tea
and nursed her three-month-old baby.

Um Yusef said her husband had purchased the land ten years earlier and built
their modest home of adobe and metal. As she talked, her daughter made tea
over a fire on the dirt floor. She said that before 1948 their parents'
family had lived in Beersheba. Forced out of their home, they wandered as
refugees in the area of Bani Naim, continuing with their life as shepherds.
When they purchased land ten years ago, they had hoped they could be more
settled. The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee (PARC) and other
groups helped fund a well for families in the area.

The children must walk two hours one way to school. The route is dangerous
because it passes by Pnei Khever. The settlers throw stones and sometimes
beat the children. Fares, Um Yusef's son who is in the sixth grade, walks
that distance even though he is physically handicapped.

About five years ago the Israeli military served the family evacuation
notices. In the area to the south, the military forcibly evacuated
families, until a decision by the Israeli High Court in March 2000 ruled
that families should be allowed to return to their land. As Um Yusef looked
around at her children, she told CPT that once again she fears that they may
have to wander about and live in tents, as they did before they bought land
and built a more permanent home.

As the CPTers returned to an area a few hundred yards from Um Yusef's home,
they photographed the land where the shepherds' tents had been demolished
the day before. There they met Rabbi Arik Ascherman, of Rabbis for Human
Rights (RHR), who was also documenting the land confiscation near Pnei
Khever. Ascherman told the CPTers that he is working with lawyers who are
trying to protect the rights of the Bedouins near that settlement.

Photos of this encounter may be viewed at:

http://www.cpt.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=hebron&page=3