AT-TUWANI REFLECTION: Palestinian response to Israeli settler violence
abril 9th, 2008
in:
CPTnet
9 April 2008
AT-TUWANI REFLECTION: Palestinian response to Israeli settler violence
by Maureen Jack
[Note: According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal.]
On 26 March 2008, one of our shepherd friends was out with his flock below the Hill 833 Israeli settlement outpost (called Havat Ma’on by settlers.) Suddenly he was aware of bullets from the outpost whizzing near him. The shots hit three animals: two sheep and one goat. The goat has survived but the sheep have died. Given that the communities in the area rely on subsistence farming, as their ancestors did before them, to live here, the loss of any animal threatens a family’s economic survival.
So, how did the Palestinians respond to the shooting? The villagers met that evening and decided that the next day they would go out en masse to the area of the attack. We went out with them. Flock after flock appeared on the hillsides, from not only At-Tuwani but also a number of communities nearby.
The Israeli army and police and a representative of the civil administration arrived—the first on the scene telling the shepherds that the area was a closed military zone. The sheep grazed on. After the police and army watched and took photographs for a while, they left. The sheep still grazed on and the shepherds took the opportunity to gather herbs. Then, they held a picnic to celebrate the success of the day.
The shepherds had something to say that day, and said it, not with words, but with their actions. They said, "This is our land. We stand together in solidarity. We will resist Israeli attacks nonviolently. We are not afraid. We will win."
And what did the five of us with Christian Peacemaker Teams do? We took photographs and filmed. We took notes. We said nothing. The Palestinians’ actions said it all.
9 April 2008
AT-TUWANI REFLECTION: Palestinian response to Israeli settler violence
by Maureen Jack
[Note: According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal.]
On 26 March 2008, one of our shepherd friends was out with his flock below the Hill 833 Israeli settlement outpost (called Havat Ma’on by settlers.) Suddenly he was aware of bullets from the outpost whizzing near him. The shots hit three animals: two sheep and one goat. The goat has survived but the sheep have died. Given that the communities in the area rely on subsistence farming, as their ancestors did before them, to live here, the loss of any animal threatens a family’s economic survival.
So, how did the Palestinians respond to the shooting? The villagers met that evening and decided that the next day they would go out en masse to the area of the attack. We went out with them. Flock after flock appeared on the hillsides, from not only At-Tuwani but also a number of communities nearby.
The Israeli army and police and a representative of the civil administration arrived—the first on the scene telling the shepherds that the area was a closed military zone. The sheep grazed on. After the police and army watched and took photographs for a while, they left. The sheep still grazed on and the shepherds took the opportunity to gather herbs. Then, they held a picnic to celebrate the success of the day.
The shepherds had something to say that day, and said it, not with words, but with their actions. They said, "This is our land. We stand together in solidarity. We will resist Israeli attacks nonviolently. We are not afraid. We will win."
And what did the five of us with Christian Peacemaker Teams do? We took photographs and filmed. We took notes. We said nothing. The Palestinians’ actions said it all.
