CPTnet

9 November 2009

AT-TUWANI: Israeli settlers plow privately-owned Palestinian fields; Israeli police fail to intervene

[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.  Most settlement outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.]

At-Tuwani, South Hebron Hills, Palestine On the morning of Sunday 8 November 2009, four Israeli settler youth from Ma'on settlement plowed privately owned Palestinian fields in Umm Zeituna valley.  The settlers arrived at approximately 8:50 a.m. and, throwing stones, chased two Palestinian shepherds off the land, before starting to plow. Local Palestinian shepherds and international peace activists from Operation Dove called the Israeli police, who failed to respond to the incident.

Settlers worked for several hours and plowed the whole valley, situated on privately-owned Palestinian land that lies outside of Ma'on's municipal boundaries.

Local shepherds also reported that on Friday 5 November, settlers from Ma'on, with the accompaniment of Israeli soldiers, plowed a field near the Palestinian village of Maghayir al Abeed belonging to Hajj Hussein Daoud from the Palestinian city of Yatta.  Daoud has filed several complaints regarding settlers violating his property rights.  In recent years, he has requested the presence of Israeli police and the Israeli army during plowing and harvesting because of Israeli settler attacks.

Additionally, three privately-owned Palestinian fields in Mashakha valley, adjacent to a recent expansion by the Israeli outpost of Havat Ma'on, have also been plowed recently.  Palestinian shepherds have told internationals from Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove that they suspect that settlers from Ma'on and Havat Ma'on plowed the land.

Background information
Due to settler violence and threats, Palestinians abandoned their Umm Zeituna homes in 1998.  Settlers from Ma'on and Havat Ma'on continue to harass and attack Palestinians in the area of Umm Zeituna.  Despite the ongoing threats, the local Palestinian community still uses the area for farming activities, grazing their flocks, gathering herbs and wood, and as a path for traveling to the nearby city of Yatta.

On Friday 10 April 2009, five masked Israeli settlers attacked three Palestinian women in Umm Zeituna, throwing rocks and beating one of the women.  The injured woman needed to receive treatment at a hospital for her injuries.  (See 11 April CPTnet release, "AT-TUWANI: Masked settlers attack three Palestinian women in the South Hebron Hills." See also a testimony of the event distributed by B'tselem, an Israeli human rights organization.)

In recent months, settlers from the Israeli settlement of Ma'on have further expanded the settlement by erecting six new mobile homes and executing preparatory building work on land beyond the existing boundary fence of Ma'on.  The outpost of Havat Ma'on also continues to expand.