CPTnet
9 May 2006

AT-TUWANI UPDATE: 27 April - 2 May 2006

Daily routine

Each day (apart from Fridays) the team carried out school patrol in two
locations at the start and close of the school day: At-Tuwani and Khoruba
hill near the southeastern edge of the Hill 833 outpost. Each day, too,
between early morning and late afternoon the team accompanied local
shepherds and farmers in nearby areas. Because of the warmer weather the
shepherds tended to go out in the early morning and then again in the late
afternoon. On a daily basis, the team monitored for and documented the
continuing construction work on the low wall along bypass road 317. Team
members during this period were Maureen Jack, Diane Janzen, Rich Meyer and
one member of Operation Dove (Doves).

Thursday 27 April 2006

At 7:20 a.m., a villager from Tuba called to say that settlers had come from
the hilltop outpost covered with trees and were blocking the road. He said
that police arrived and shouted to the children through a megaphone to wait
until the settlers were gone. Settlers threw rocks at the police jeep,
breaking a window on the jeep; then two settlers ran away and others drove
away in a van. The police and military escorted the children on the short
road (that goes between Ma'on settlement and Hill 833 outpost.)

Meyer observed three settlers working on a house under the black tarpaulin
structure on the southeastern edge of the outpost. In midmorning, Jack
joined Meyer and they went with a farmer from Mufakara to his wheat field
near the Avigail outpost where a settler had grazed his flock the previous
evening. The CPTers saw sheep and horse droppings and hoof prints.

The military jeep came to the At-Tuwani side of the gate on the short road
for the after-school escort. Then, because of the boulders in the road by
the gate, they had to drive back around through Ma'on to get to the other
side of the gate. At that point, the settler security from Ma'on came
behind the jeep, blocked the road with his truck and told the soldiers to go
the middle road (around the outpost.) The soldiers sent the children to the
start of the middle road, and at 1:55 p.m., the escort began. When the
children passed the black tarpaulin settler house, an adult male settler
came out and shouted at the children.

The team heard about the court appearance of the two villagers arrested at
the 22 April 2006 demonstration against the low security wall the Israeli
government is building along bypass road 317. The prosecutor requested that
they be held in custody for a further fifteen days. The court decided that
they should be held for five more days. [The team subsequently learned that
the next court appearance would not be until Thursday 4 May 2006.]

The team later learned that during the previous night around 200 olive trees
and grape vines were cut in Palestinian village of Susiya, in groves closest
to the Israeli settlement of Susya.

Saturday 29 April 2006

At 9:30 a.m. a young boy from Mufakara reported that shepherds had had some
problems. Janzen and Meyer went to Mufakara with the boy. They learned
that around 8:30 a.m. soldiers assaulted a forty-year old learning-disabled
shepherd.

During lunchtime school patrol at 12:50 p.m. from Khoruba hill, Janzen and
Meyer saw five male settlers near the black tarpaulin house. At 12:55 p.m.,
three soldiers from a military jeep coming from Ma'on began walking toward
At-Tuwani on the middle road. At the same time, a jeep following the
schoolchildren came from At-Tuwani on the middle road, with three soldiers
walking. The five male settlers moved around the procession, sometimes on
the road, sometimes just off the road. The children and their escort then
moved out of sight of the CPTers on Khoruba hill. Several adults from Tuba
were waiting for the children part way along the road from Tuba, but they
couldn't see where the children were either. When Meyer phoned the police,
they said that the police were there, and that there was a problem with
citizens of Ma'on but that the children were safe.

Meantime, Jack and a Dove were at the house closest to the settlement, with
other At-Tuwani villagers looking over the hill towards Ma'on and the short
road. At about 1:15 p.m., about thirty settlers came from Ma'on and walked
up the short road towards the northeastern edge of the outpost, where the
road continues to Tuba. A group from Ta'ayush (Israeli peace group) was in
the area, and around 1:30 p.m. nine members of Ta'ayush arrived and walked
the short road to see what was happening on the eastern edge of the outpost.

At 2:15 p.m., Meyer and Janzen finally saw the children walking on the way
to Tuba. The group from Ta'ayush later reported that some thirty settlers
had encircled the military jeeps and were not allowing them to pass. The
soldiers put the children in the jeeps for protection. Settlers threw
stones and eggs at the children, soldiers, police, and members of Ta'ayush.

Sunday 30 April 2006

Despite the difficult situation the day before, eighteen children came to
school in the morning on the short road. At afternoon school patrol, Jack
and Meyer watched from Khoruba hill as two soldiers walked the children home
the middle road. At the settler caravan on the eastern edge of the outpost,
several settlers came out and roared at the children; chasing them and
making them run. After the children were home, the soldiers came back and
had a five-minute conference with the settlers at the caravan.

At 3:15 p.m., Jack and Meyer responded to a report that a settler was in
fields at Mufakara. As they approached, they saw the Ma'on settler security
guard driving his truck towards the settlement of Avigail. A Mufakara
shepherd reported that the Ma'on security guard had driven around above the
fields for a while and then left. This man has previously told Palestinian
farmers [incorrectly] that all this land belongs to the settlers.

Monday 1 May 2006 No school, in observance of International Labor Day.

Meyer and Jack helped an At-Tuwani family harvest a one-dunam wheat field in
Khoruba valley.

Construction work involving the leveling of land along route 317continued.

Tuesday 2 May 2006

Jack and Meyer were on Khoruba hill for morning school patrol. A police
jeep and a military jeep drove down past the settler caravan with the kids
in between. Ten minutes later they all reversed and came back to go on the
short road. Janzen and the Dove met the children at the gate. The boulders
that were blocking