CPTnet

7 April 2005

AT-TUWANI: Update 19-27 March 2005

Saturday 19 March

Maxine Nash and two other internationals traveled to
the Palestinian village of Susia to observe while
Palestinian farmers plowed and worked in their
fields. Diana Zimmerman and two members from
Operation Dove (OD) remained in the village of
At-Tuwani. A villager summoned the internationals to a
hillside because the Army was attempting to push the
shepherds off their land. While observing the
interaction, Zimmerman and OD members saw Israeli
settlers attacking Palestinians on a hill further away
from the village. The three internationals ran toward
the incident and watched as the settlers disappeared
into the trees around the Israeli settler outpost of
Havot Ma'on. The soldiers did not detain any of the
settlers. The soldiers also declared the area of the
attack a closed military zone and told the Palestinians to leave.

The soldiers did not arrive as expected for afternoon
school patrol so Zimmerman and the two members from
Operation Dove met the children who were gathered and
waiting to be escorted home. A child came up to the
group and announced that settlers were coming from the
settlement. Approximately one hundred settlers walked
onto the Palestinian land and remained for about four
hours (see CPTnet release: Ma'on settlers invade
Palestinian Land, 20 March)

Sunday 20 March

Zimmerman and OD members accompanied shepherds to
Khoruba. No settlers, army or police disturbed the Palm Sunday peace.

Monday 21 March

CPT and OD members accompanied shepherds on the Jawaia
hillside without incident.

Tuesday 22 March

In the early morning, At-Tuwani shepherds discovered
poison on the land just below Havat Ma'on settlement
outpost and at Khoruba. Khoruba is an abandoned
Palestinian village which Israeli settlers claim as
their own but which Palestinians still own. The
poison was barley kernels boiled in rat poison and was
heavily scattered. Two Israeli police vehicles came
to investigate and took videos of the poison. (see
CPTnet release: Poison Pellets Spread on Hillside
Where Palestinian Sheep Graze, 22 March)

Wednesday 23 March

Members of CPT Hebron joined the CPT Tuwani team in a
communion service to mark Holy Week.

At-Tuwani shepherds discovered two sheep and two
gazelles dead and thirteen sheep sick from the poison.
 The shepherds, along with CPT and OD members, began
cleaning up the poison from the land below Havat
Ma'on. They examined the poisoned land at Khoruba and
  discovered widespread damage.

Thursday 24 March

Shepherds from At-Tuwani discovered two more gazelles
dead, along with some other small animals. Workers
from the Israel Park Service, Police, Army, and the
United Nations all arrived to inspect and report on the damage.

Friday 25 March

CPT members received a call that five young settler
men with machine guns were harassing and threatening
children at Al-Birke, the swimming pool just below the
nearby Palestinian village of Kirmil. CPT and OD
members walked to Kirmil and met the settlers on the
road. The settlers would not say what they were
doing. They proceeded down the road toward Ma'on
settlement and the CPT and Operation Dove members
followed until they reached the highway. There, a car
met the settlers and drove them toward Ma'on.

Saturday 26 March

About twenty-five members of the Israeli-Palestinian
organization Ta'ayush joined CPT and Operation Dove
members in cleaning up poison from the land. The
shepherds from At-Tuwani and the nearby village of
Um-Fagara grazed their sheep at Khoruba inside the
Military Fire Zone because the Israeli Civil
Administration had told them previously that they were
permitted to graze there on Fridays and Saturdays.
Around mid-morning, Israeli army and police arrived.
The authorities arrested one shepherd and detained the
rest while waiting for back-up. A scuffle broke out
and a soldier punched one shepherd in the face. CPT
members and others called the civil administration,
who arrived after about an hour and released the
shepherds. The civil administration also forced the
sheep off of the hillside and into the valley of
Khoruba, where settlers from Ma'on had previously
planted corn. The sheep grazed in the settler
cornfield while members of Ta'ayush, Operation Dove,
and CPT continued to clean up the poison.

At around 1:30 pm CPT and Operation Dove members
observed a line of settlers emerge from the trees of
Havat Ma'on and, along with a military escort, begin
to walk toward At-Tuwani. Two members of Operation
Dove were waiting at the end of that road with
thirteen children from the Palestinian village of
Tuba. The children were waiting for a military escort
to take them home from school. CPT member Kim
Lamberty and members of Operation Dove and Ta'ayush
rushed toward At-Tuwani in an effort to head off the
settlers. Israeli army personnel diverted the
settlers and eventually walked the children home.
Internationals accompanied the group to ensure the
safety of the children (see CPTnet release: Israeli
Settlers From Ma'on Disrupt School Patrol, 26 March)

Sunday 27 March

Early in the morning bulldozers arrived to close the
road from At-Tuwani to Kirmil.

Shepherds from At-Tuwani and Um-Fagara grazed their
sheep in the valley of Khoruba. Members of Operation
Dove observed at a distance. A settler from Havat
Ma'on came out and used his telephone. A few minutes
later settler security arrived, and a few minutes
after that an army jeep arrived. The army did not
interfere with the shepherds.

In the afternoon the same thing happened: a settler
came out from Havat Ma'on and used his telephone.
Shortly after settler security and army personnel
arrived. The soldiers told the shepherds from
At-Tuwani that their sheep could not graze there and
they had to go home. The shepherds from Um-Fagara
stayed. A little later an official from the civil
administration arrived to speak with the Um-Fagara
shepherds. The soldiers prevented members of
Operation Dove from observing the conversation. The
shepherds informed OD members later that the official
from the civil administration had told them they could
graze their sheep there because they are residents of
that land, but that the shepherds from At-Tuwani