At-Tuwani
- An Introduction to International Accompaniment in the South Hebron Hills.
- A Brief History and Timeline of the At-Tuwani Relationship with Israeli Settlers and the Israeli Military. CPT Special Report
- Christian Peacemakers Attacked, Injured by Israeli Settlers. CPT press release about first attack on international accompaniers.
- Settlers Attack International Accompaniers and Amnesty International. CPT press release about second attack on international accompaniers.
- Amnesty International report: Israel/Occupied Territories: Israeli settlers wage campaign of intimidation on Palestinians and internationals alike.
- Photographs: The various ways Tuba children must walk to school in At-Tuwani to avoid settler violence.
- Photographs: At-Tuwani construction difficulties.
- Photograph: Israeli military blocks only road that leads to At-Tuwani.
- Photographs: Israeli settlers hinder Palestinians harvesting and plowing their fields.
- Photographs: Accompanying Palestinian shepherds.
- Settlers attack and badly injure two Operation Dove team members in At-Tuwani. CPT press release about the settler attack on OD members accompanying shepherds.
- Chronology of events surrounding the settler poisoning of Palestinian fields.
- Israeli Settlers Poison Palestinian Land and Sheep. CPT press release about the first poisoning of fields near At-Tuwani.
- Photographs: Poisoned terrain and poisoned sheep.
- Amnesty International report, Israel/Occupied Territories: Israeli Authorities Must Put an Immediate End to Settler Violence.
- Map of At-Tuwani, Ma'on, and surrounding areas.
- Directions and roadmap of how to get to At-Tuwani.
- Additional Resources.
In 2004 Palestinian villagers in the 1000-year-old southern West Bank village of At-Tuwani requested a more regular presence of internationals after twenty years of harassment and violence from Israeli settlers. North American-based group Christian Peacemaker Teams (www.cpt.org) and Italian peace group Operation Dove (www.operazionecolomba.org) working with Israelis from Ta'ayush (www.taayush.org) established such a presence in mid-September 2004. The main activities of the internationals have included monitoring Palestinian children passing close to settler areas on their way to and from school, accompanying Palestinian farmers and shepherds, and being present while villagers improve infrastructure in the village.
Israeli settlers from Ma'on settlement and Havat Ma'on outpost had been harassing and attacking children from the near-by village of Tuba as they walked to school in At-Tuwani. Shortly after internationals began accompanying the children, settlers attacked again, beating and hospitalizing the accompaniers on two occasions. To our knowledge, the Israeli police have done nothing to apprehend the attackers. Following the second attack, the Israeli military forbade international accompaniment, so now the children are obliged to depend on Israeli military and police escorts. Settler violence continues in spite of these escorts.
During harvesting and planting seasons, settlers continue to attack Palestinian farmers; so internationals now accompany farmers in areas near the settlements. Shepherds are still harassed while grazing sheep in their fields on the hillsides near Ma'on and Havot Ma'on. Settlers also attacked and injured internationals while they were accompanying the shepherds. Settlers have placed poison on the hillsides where Palestinian shepherds graze their sheep, resulting in the deaths of many animals. Settlers have also burned lentil, wheat and barley crops.
The only clinic that serves the area is in Yatta, 30 minutes away from At-Tuwani by car. Since the Israeli military regularly blocks the only road that leads to Yatta, villagers have to travel to Yatta via donkey or tractor. In defiance of Israeli military orders, residents of At-Tuwani began building their own clinic in September of 2004, and Israeli authorities repeatedly interfered with the construction. However, construction continued despite those impediments, aided by internationals observers standing by to deter Israeli violence against construction workers. The clinic was officially opened by the Palestinian Authority's (PA) Minister of Health in May 2005, but the village is still waiting for the PA to provide equipment and the regular presence of medical personnel.
However, the most important assistance villagers ask of internationals is to bring more attention to the village's plight. The situation of the small villages in the southern West Bank is hidden from other Palestinians, Israelis, and the world. The villagers rightly fear that if their story is not told, Israeli settlement expansion, land confiscation, and settler violence will continue to threaten their existence.
Please use the information in this packet to bring publicity to this situation. For questions, interviews, or visits please call the CPT office in Hebron, 02-222-8485, or email cpttuwani@cpt.org
At-Tuwani is a village in the Hebron District, southeast of Yatta. It has a population of approximately 150-200 people, with five main families and 27 households. There is one elementary school which serves the children from At-Tuwani and children from five neighboring villages. The oldest houses in At-Tuwani are between 300-500 years old, some of the caves are said to be from the Roman times.
The village has one diesel generator that provides electricity for the village for four hours every night. There is one spring-fed well that provides water for drinking and cooking, but does not provide enough water for washing. Rainwater is collected in cisterns for washing and for the animals.
At-Tuwani is surrounded by the Ma'on settlement (northeast), Havat Ma'on outpost (east) and Avi Gai outpost (southwest). Caravans establishing the settlement at Ma'on were first put in place in 1982. Since then, the settlement has confiscated more than 1500 dunams of land from At-Tuwani villagers, at the rate of approximately 70-100 dunams confiscated from the village each year (1dunam = 1/4acre).
| 1980: | The Jewish group called 'Karen Kaiemet le Israel' plants a forest on the hill where the Havat Ma'on outpost now stands. | |
| 1982-1984: | Israeli settlers arrive with caravans to form the Ma'on settlement. | |
| 1984-1985: | Israeli settlers begin attacking shepherds from At-Tuwani with sticks. | |
| 1986: | Israeli settlers uproot twenty-five At-Tuwani olive trees. A settler tries to steal a flock of fifty sheep from a Palestinian shepherd. | |
| 1987: | At-Tuwani villagers build a mosque without obtaining an Israeli permit and the Israeli military destroys it. | |
| 1993: | The Israeli military destroys two houses in At-Tuwani, claming lack of permit as rationale. | |
| 1997: | Persistent harassment by Israeli settlers forces Palestinians to leave Khoruba and Sarura, small villages located immediately south of Ma'on settlement. | |
| 1998: | At-Tuwani residents build an elementary school even though Israeli officials refuse to issue a building permit for the structure. | |
| 1999: | May: | A dispute between settlers and Palestinians occurs: Israeli settler Dov Driven, quarrels with Palestinian farmer Musa Abu Lan Bii. Another settler shoots and injures Musa. Musa's brother, Isa, picks up Dove's gun, shoots, and kills Dov. |
| July: | Ma'on settlers establish an outpost settlement called Havat Ma'on. | |
| Sep: | The Israeli military removes settlers from the Havat Ma'on outpost and dismantles it | |
| 2000: | Israeli settlers return to Havat Ma'on. | |
| 2001: | Israeli settlers attack children from Tuba on a path that runs between Ma'on and Havat Ma'on with stones. Six-year-old Fatimah Zen is hit on the head and hospitalized because of bleeding, she never returns to school. Israeli settlers accost Zehira Abu Jundii and her three children as they travel home to Tuba. Settlers attempt to steal her donkey. | |
| 2002: | Israeli settlers attack Umm Jabriil, an At-Tuwani shepherd, with sticks. | |
| Israeli settlers accost Omar from Tuba and steal the olives he had been carrying home. | ||
| Four Israeli settlers stop the car of Juma Rabai, who is traveling with his brothers from the hospital in Yatta back to at-Tuwani with their sick father. The settlers pull Juma, his brothers, and his father from the car, force them to the ground and beat them. | ||
| Israeli settlers attack and shoot sixty-year-old Umm Hani Makhamra (woman from neighboring village of Khallet Athba) in the leg. | ||
| On three or four occasions the Israeli military shoots out the wheels of At-Tuwani tractors (replacement wheels are 700NIS each). | ||
| Israeli police confiscate Juma Rabai's tractor as he was plowing his fields. The police offer to return the tractor if Juma will sign a release giving his land to the settlers. Juma refuses and is obliged to pay a fine of 1000 shekels to retrieve his tractor. | ||
| 2003: | Three times the settlers throw stones at Juma's house in the night. Each time, the settlers run back into Havat Ma'on. At-Tuwani villagers call the Israeli police and army, who do not respond. On the third night, villagers hide behind the rocks and olive trees near Juma's house and throw stones at the settlers when they arrive. After this, settlers stop coming to Juma's house and throwing stones. | |
| Israeli settlers attack At-Tuwani farmers plowing Juma Rabai's field. The settlers damage Juma's tractor and a truck by tipping them over. Settlers hit CPTer Greg Rollins who was accompanying the farmers. | ||
| Israeli settlers harass a child who is returning home to Tuba from secondary school in Karmil. They steal his school bag. | ||
| 2004: | April: | Seven Israeli settlers attack Hafez Hereni, his seventy-four-year-old mother Fatima, and Israeli Ta'ayush activist Salumka. They beat Hafez's mother, shoot at them and attempt to steal their sheep. The victims give the Israeli police a video of the attack, but the authorities do nothing. |
| The Israeli military demolishes the houses of Saber and Ghanum Hereni, allegedly due to lack of Israeli permit. | ||
| At night, Israeli settlers put dead chickens in one of the two At-Tuwani drinking water wells. | ||
| Israeli settlers burn the wheat, lentil and barley harvests from the villages of Tuba and Mufakra. | ||
| Israeli settlers shoot the car of Faher Mohammed Abu Aram from Karmil and steal his belongings. | ||
| Israeli settlers attack the sheep of Ibrahim Hammad Abu Jindea, from Tuba, while his fifteen year-old son tended them. The settlers kill four sheep with knives. | ||
| Aug-June: | Israeli soldiers repeatedly enter and search houses in At-Tuwani in the middle of the night. | |
| Sep: | The Israeli military uproots and destroys forty-fifty olive trees in At-Tuwani. | |
| CPT and Operation Dove begin accompanying Tuba children to school. On two occasions Israeli settlers attack, beat, and hospitalize the international accompaniers. Israeli police make no arrests. | ||
| Settlers plow land belonging to former residents of the village of Khoruba. | ||
| Ten Israeli Knesset members meet to discuss the issue of Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian children from Tuba traveling to school in At-Tuwani. These meetings result in Israeli military and police accompaniment of Tuba children in the morning and afternoon. | ||
| Israeli military and police accompaniment begins; Israeli settlers continue to harass the children. | ||
| Oct: | Israeli settlers steal olives from At-Tuwani olive groves in the night. | |
| The head of the Israeli Civil Administration for the southern West Bank comes to At-Tuwani to meet with village leaders. The leaders express concerns about lack of water and electricity, safety for school children, poor roads, and road closures. Israeli officials try to pressure the villagers to expel the internationals, citing them as the cause of problems in the area. At-Tuwani leaders tell Israeli officials that the attacks by Israeli settlers and harassment from the Israeli military had been happening long before internationals were asked to help. | ||
| 2005: | Feb: | International accompaniment encourages Palestinian shepherds to begin grazing their sheep on their land close to Ma'on and Havot Ma'on that they haven't felt safe to graze on for several years because of fear of Israeli settler attacks. |
| Israeli settlers attack the Doves while CPT and the Doves are accompanying shepherds near the Havot Ma'on outpost. One Dove is hospitalized with a broken jaw and a slight concussion. The internationals video tape the attackers faces and give a copy of the tape to the investigating Israeli police. Two settlers now face charges as a result of the attacks. | ||
| Mar: | Ma'on settler security official tells CPT and the Doves that "I want a demarcation zone around the settlement and if the Palestinians don't agree to it I have a way of making it happen." | |
| Palestinian shepherds discover poison under bushes on the hillsides near the abandoned village of Khoruba and below the Havot Ma'on outpost on three different occasions. Several sheep ingest the poison before shepherds realize it is there. (See the chronology of the poisoning.) | ||
| May: | Palestinian farmers from Jawiyya discover on two different mornings three large piles of lentils and wheat burned during the night. | |
| Settlers and settler security from Ma'on harass shepherds in Jawiyya on several occasions. Settlers from Ma'on harvest wheat from Palestinian fields in Jawiyya. | ||
| The Israel military demolishes nine homes in the South Hebron Hills villages of Khallet Athba, Sarura, and Al Fakheit. | ||
| Settlers from Havot Ma'on steal fifteen young goats from Shadi Salameh Makhamreh, a Palestinian farmer from Mighal Abeed. | ||
| Settlers harvest about ten dunams (two and a half acres) of wheat on Palestinian fields in Mighal Abeed. | ||
| Israeli police and Civil Administration authorities meet with village leaders, again requesting that the villagers ask the internationals to leave, promising to be more helpful in dealing with settler violence. The villagers responded by saying that they wanted the internationals to remain. | ||
| Settlers harvest wheat on Palestinian fields in Khoruba. | ||
| July: | Settlers, watched by settler security personnel and Israeli soldiers bulldoze and plow Palestinian land in Jawiyya across the bypass road from the entrance to Ma'on. | |
| Settlers attack Palestinian shepherds in Jawiyya, chasing them away by throwing stones at the shepherds and sheep. | ||
*Historical information gathered primarily from interviews with Palestinian villagers.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2004
Contact: CPT Hebron
02-222-8485
HEBRON, WEST BANK - Kim Lamberty (Washington DC, USA) and Christopher Brown (San Francisco, USA) were attacked and beaten by five Israeli settlers while accompanying Palestinian children walking to school this morning in the Southern Hebron District of the West Bank. The school children were able to escape uninjured. Lamberty and Brown were taken by ambulance to Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheba.
The Israeli settlers took Lamberty's waist pack with her money, passport and cell phone. Lamberty stated in a telephone interview, " We were attacked by settler men who came from the Ma'on outpost. They were dressed in black with black scarves across their faces. They threw us down to the ground and kicked us. Chris was also beaten with chains and a bat." Lamberty suffered a broken arm and knee. She has now been released from the hospital and is recovering in Jerusalem.
Brown sustained broken ribs, one of which punctured his lung. He has undergone a surgical procedure to fix his collapsed lung. Brown also suffered a contusion on his head at his temple, but does not appear to have any brain injury. He will be recovering in the hospital for an unspecified amount of time.
Christian Peacemaker teams are present in the area of the attack at the request of Palestinian villagers who have suffered repeated harassment from Israeli settlers while Israeli authorities have failed to intervene.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 9, 2004
Contact: CPT Hebron
02-222-8485
AT-TUWANI, WEST BANK - On Saturday, October 9, 2004 at around 3p.m., while walking back from Tuba to At-Tuwani, eight settlers with wooden sticks and sling shots attacked CPTers, Dianna Zimmerman and Diane Janzen, an Operation Dove member, one resident from At-Tuwani, two residents from Tuba, and two members of Amnesty International, Donatella Rovera and Maartje Houbrechts. When the accompaniment team saw the settlers, dressed in blue jeans, t-shirts, and masks walking toward them they called the police immediately and began walking quickly away from the settlers. Three of the settlers with sling shots ran after the Palestinians and hurled stones at them. The other five settlers attacked the accompaniment team. The masked settlers hit Donatello Rovera and Diane Janzen with wooden sticks. Then the settlers attacked the Operation Dove member, and stole his video camera. The settlers finally ran away when one of the American International women yelled at the settlers in Hebrew, "The police are coming. You are not going to get away with this." The Operation Dove member cannot move his arm and collapsed on his way to the ambulance.
The army announced a closed military zone for the path which runs beside the Ma'on settlement. The CPTers and Operation Dove members in At-Tuwani decided to accompany the school children from At-Tuwani to Tuba by a much longer path which skirts the Ma'on settlement and the Ma'on ranch.
Amnesty International press release, 10/25/2004
Israeli settlers in the Occupied Territories have stepped up attacks against Palestinians and are waging a campaign of intimidation against international and Israeli human rights activists. Their aim is to eliminate the presence of witnesses to their attacks, thereby depriving the local Palestinian population of this only form of limited protection.
Two US citizens, members of the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT), were assaulted on 29 September by masked Israeli settlers who beat them with clubs and chains as they accompanied Palestinian children to school near the Tuwani village, South of Hebron. Kim Lamberty sustained a broken arm and knee and bruising to her face, while Chris Brown was left with a punctured lung and multiple bruises. Members of the CPT and other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have been escorting Palestinian children to school to protect them from attacks by Israeli settlers.
A group of hooded Israeli settlers attacked Amnesty International delegates and members of the CPT and the Operation Dove NGO on 9 October as they returned from accompanying Palestinian primary schoolchildren back to their home. The attackers first threw stones at the five internationals and then attacked three of them with wooden clubs. An Amnesty International delegate sustained multiple bruises on her back, arm and leg and the Operation Dove member collapsed and had to be taken to hospital by ambulance. On both occasions, the attackers came from the nearby Israeli settlement of Havat Ma'on and returned there after the attacks.
Rather than taking steps to stop and prevent such attacks and hold Israeli settlers accountable, the Israeli army and security forces have responded by imposing further restrictions on the local Palestinian population.
After the attack, the Israeli army informed the Palestinian villagers that, if the children are accompanied by internationals on their way to and from school, no army patrol will be on site to protect them from Israeli settlers. The Palestinian villagers reluctantly accepted that the schoolchildren have make to the journey without their international escort, but, two days later, on 12 October, the children were again chased by Israeli settlers from the Havat Ma'on settlement while on their way to school. The Israeli army patrol, which was present, did not intervene. Israeli settlers again threw stones as the children passed near the settlement on their way to school on 17 October.
The only alternative is for the schoolchildren to avoid passing near the Israeli settlements by making a long detour that lengthens their walk from 20 minutes to more than two hours each way.
As in previous years around the time of the olive harvest, Israeli settlers have also stepped up attacks on the local Palestinian inhabitants and farmers throughout the West Bank, preventing them from harvesting their crops and destroying or damaging their trees. The Israeli army has done little or nothing to stop the settlers' attack and has, instead, banned the Palestinian farmers from going to their fields, ultimately helping the settlers to force the Palestinians off their land.
Throughout the West Bank, Palestinian farmers are increasingly worried that their olives, one of their few remaining sources of livelihood, are being stolen, destroyed or wasted as they are prevented from working in their fields.
In the northern West Bank region of Nablus, where Palestinian villages are surrounded by Israeli settlements and settlers' roads, the Israeli army is only allowing Palestinian farmers between two and six days -- on set dates -- to go to their fields to harvest their olives. Palestinian farmers who have tried to go to pick their olives on days other than the set dates have been attacked by settlers and turned away by Israeli army patrols. In the meantime, Israeli settlers have been picking olives in Palestinian groves and have destroyed and burned olive trees in various areas.
Palestinian farmers, accompanied by internationals from the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program, were harvesting their olives in Yanun, near Nablus, on 7 October when two settlers and eight soldiers came and told them to leave. The soldiers did not intervene when armed settlers assaulted a Palestinian farmer, fired shots on the ground near him and tied his hands. The farmer was left handcuffed until a member of the Israeli peace group Taayush (Co-existence) arrived at the scene and intervened with the soldiers.
Palestinian villagers in Yanun have been subjected to attacks by Israeli settlers for years and several families have been driven from the village by repeated attacks against them and their property. All remaining inhabitants were forced to flee the village by Israeli settlers in October 2002. They were later able to return with the help of Israeli and international peace activists. Promises by the Israeli army to keep the Israeli settlers in check have produced no results and settlers have continued to attack and intimidate the villagers with impunity.
In the southern Hebron region, on 15 October, after Israeli peace activists from Rabbis for Human Rights had coordinated with the Israeli army that the Palestinian farmers harvest their olives on that day, the farmers were attacked by armed settlers. The Israeli army patrol responded by telling the Palestinian farmers to leave, claiming that they did not have sufficient forces to protect them from the settlers.
Two days later in Yassuf, near Nablus, Palestinian farmers, accompanied by Israeli and international peace activists, were once again evicted from their olive grove when Israeli settlers turned up. The soldiers, whose presence was supposed to ensure that the Palestinians could harvest their olives, told the farmers and their Israeli and International helpers to leave.
On 11 October, a 26-year-old Palestinian farmer, Hani Shadeh, was shot and seriously wounded in the neck by an Israeli settler as he was picking olives with other farmers in Asira al-Qibliya, a village near Nablus and near the Israeli settlement of Yitzhar. The day before, Israeli settlers had set fire to an olive grove near the Israeli settlement of Tapuach.
Israeli settlers responsible for attacks on Palestinians and their properties have not been brought to justice in the vast majority of cases. Such impunity encourages settlers to commit further attacks and abuses. In the rare cases when Israeli settlers have been brought to justice, they have been treated with a degree of leniency uncommon in other cases.
On 27 September, an Israeli settler from the Elon Moreh Settlement near Nablus shot a Palestinian taxi driver dead. Sayyed Jabara, father of eight, was driving his passengers between Nablus and Salem. The settler claimed that he shot Sayyed Jabara because he thought that he intended to attack him, even though Jabara was not armed. He was released on bail less than 24 hours after the murder.
Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories, established by Israel in violation of international law, are the main reason for the stringent restrictions imposed on the Palestinian population. Some three-and-a-half million Palestinians are prevented from moving between towns and villages; confined to isolated enclaves and cut off from their workplace, their land, health and education facilities and other crucial services.
This is done to keep Palestinians away from Israeli settlements and from the network of roads built for the exclusive use of some 380,000 Israeli settlers. Settlements also continue to be expanded and new ones to be set up on expropriated Palestinian land.
Israeli settlers who attack and harass Palestinian villagers frequently come from settlements established without formal government authorization and which the Israeli authorities have publicly pledged to dismantle. However, settlers are increasingly influential in the army, in government and in parliament. The rare attempts by the Israeli army and security forces to dismantle unauthorized settlements have been mostly half-hearted, with settlers simply refusing to leave or allowed to return to the site shortly after having being evacuated.
In recent months, the Israeli government has announced its intention to dismantle all Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated places in the world where the presence of some 6,000 Israeli settlers has resulted in one-and-a-half million Palestinians being confined to less than 60% percent of the land. However, the Israeli government has no intention to evacuate more than 100 settlements in the West Bank, which take up some of the most fertile Palestinian land and best water resources. On the contrary, Prime Minister Sharon's bureau chief recently confirmed that the planned pullout from the Gaza Strip is intended to strengthen Israel's hold of large parts of the West Bank.
Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the Israeli authorities to take measures to evacuate Israeli settlers from the Occupied Territories and, in the meantime, to prevent attacks by Israeli settlers, to investigate the numerous attacks committed by settlers and to bring those responsible to justice. Amnesty International has also repeatedly called on Palestinian armed groups to stop targeting Israeli civilians both inside Israel and in the Occupied Territories.
Photos courtesy of CPT
Tuba Children take the short path between Ma'on Settlement and Havat Ma'on Outpost which takes only 20 minutes. This is where internationals were first attacked on 09/29/2004. 11/01/2004 |
CPT escorts Tuba Children on the middle path around Havat Ma'on Outpost, which takes 45 minutes by foot. This is where internationals were attacked the second time (10/09/2004). 10/10/2004 |
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Tuba Children ride donkeys on the long path far around Havat Ma'on. It takes over an hour by foot. 11/02/2004 |
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As a result of media attention and diplomatic pressure, the Israeli military, police and civil administration, escort the Tuba children on the middle path. Settlers continue to harass and assault the children during military escorts. 11/20/2004 |
Photos courtesy CPT
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Israeli soldiers stop construction of At-Tuwani's clinic, despite verbal permission given by the Israeli Civil Administration. Villagers continue building while CPT and other internationals observe. 11/02/2004 |
| Saber Hereni of At-Tuwani stands by his house that Israeli authorities destroyed in June of 2004. Israeli authorities have destroyed numerous buildings in the village, including their mosque. 11/03/2004 |  |
Photo courtesy CPT
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Israeli Settlers harass villagers in the Hebron Hills who are trying to harvest their crops. 20/05/2002 |
| During the night Israeli settlers burn crops in the field or stacks of crops. Three stacks of lentils like the one in the background of this picture were burnt in fields across the Israeli bypass road from the Ma'on settlement. 01/05/2005 |  |
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Palestinian farmers plow their fields across the Israeli bypass road from the Ma'on settlement. In 2003 settlers attacked farmers in this area, breaking the hand of one farmer and overturning a tractor. 05/12/2004 |
 Palestinians grazing their sheep on fields near Ma'on and Havot Ma'on. Here Israeli settlers frequently attack Palestinians. CPT and the Doves accompany shepherds in this area. 04/2005  |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 16, 2005
Contact: CPT Hebron
02-222-8485
At 11:00 a.m. today while CPTer Dianna Zimmerman and an OD team member were accompanying Palestinian shepherds on their own land above At-Tuwani, near the Havot Ma'on settler outpost, two settlers accosted them. One stood with his gun aimed at Zimmerman while she engaged the other in dialogue. When the Israeli army came the settlers left.
Shortly thereafter CPTer Sally Hunsburger, and 2 OD members appeared over the crest of the hill from herding in the direction of Tuba. Settlers reappeared, noticed the video camera and attacked the 2 OD team members. One was admitted to hospital with a head injury from the karate chop in the head. He has short-term memory loss, blurred vision, and a broken jaw. The second OD member ended up with bruises.
| Mar 17: | A Ma'on settler security officer tells international volunteers that he wants a "demarcation zone" around the settlement where neither Palestinians nor settlers should go. He warns that if the At-Tuwani village does not agree to such a zone, he has "ways of making it happen". |
| Mar 22: | Palestinian shepherds of At-Tuwani discover barley coated poison on the hillside next to the Havat Ma'on outpost, affecting more than twenty dunams of land. The barley is strategically placed under bushes on which the sheep usually graze, prompting the shepherds to quickly move their flocks from the hill. The villagers also find poison placed close to one of At-Tuwani's water sources leaving uncertainty as to whether it is poisoned. |
| Shepherds immediately call the Israeli police who arrive to take poison samples, pictures, and statements. The shepherds are unsure when the poison will be cleaned up and when they can return with their sheep. | |
| Mar 23: | Two sheep, one from At-Tuwani and one from Mukara die and other sheep show symptoms of poisoning (hemorrhaging under the skin, loss of liquid and or blood from nose, and difficulty in moving). |
| Two gazelles are found dead in the valley near Khoruba. | |
| Mar 24: | Ten new cases of sick sheep in At-Tuwani and ten new cases of sick sheep in Mufakara are reported. A lamb dies in Mufakara. |
| Two more gazelles, a snake, a squirrel are found dead in the Khoruba valley. The Israeli National Park Services arrives and removes the carcasses. | |
| The Israeli police, army and UN representatives arrive to inspect and report damages. | |
| Mar 26: | Israelis from Ta'ayush, CPTers, the Doves and Palestinians clean up the poison from the valley near Khoruba. Israeli military, police and the DCO arrive. Israeli police arrest a Palestinian man stating the man is illegally present in a closed military zone. The Israeli military release the man later. The Israeli military says Palestinians can go near Khoruba on Friday and Saturday but only if they get permission from the Israeli military. |
| In the afternoon a group of thirty settlers come down from Havot Ma'on and talk with the Israeli military, police and DCO before continuing towards At-Tuwani. The Israeli military declares the area near Khoruba a closed military zone, so the internationals, Israelis and Palestinians are obliged to leave the area. | |
| Mar 27: | In the morning the Israeli military uses bulldozers to close the only road from At-Tuwani to Karmil. |
| Mar 28: | CPTers find a dead stork near the Israeli bypass road route 317. |
| Palestinian shepherds and Israeli Park Rangers remove poison from the land near Khoruba. One Dove tells a Park Ranger about the dead stork and shows him a picture of it. The Ranger refuses to take away the body of the bird and says that it would be strange for a stork to eat barley seeds. | |
| A settler on a tractor comes down from the Havat Ma'on outpost, drives in the direction of the shepherds and stops about eighty meters from them. The settler yells to them saying, "Today you eat, but tomorrow you will cry." | |
| Israeli soldiers come to the valley where the shepherds are removing the poison and tell them to stop. Soldiers say only the residents in Mufakara and not people from At-Tuwani are allowed to stay. The soldiers arrest a seventeen-year-old boy from At-Tuwani who was standing and watching. The soldier refuses to give his name and explain the reason for the arrest. One soldier says that they will take the boy to the Israeli military base near Suseya. A military car drops the boy off on route 317 near At-Tuwani in the afternoon. The boy says two settlers and some soldiers beat him inside the military base. He says the soldiers and settlers taunted him by saying, "Where are the internationals and the members of Ta'ayush now?" | |
| Mar 30: | Another sheep from Mufakara dies. Two more are found bleeding from their noses. |
| More barley covered with green poison is found in Khoruba. Israeli police and military arrive. | |
| Bir Zeit University calls the internationals to give their analysis of the poison saying that it would take 50mg to kill a sheep. University technicians warn that the meat from animals that have eaten the poison is not good and perhaps the milk as well. | |
| Mar 31: | An Israeli police jeep comes to Mufakara to take the body of the sheep that died yesterday. The shepherds ask CPTers to take photos of the Israeli police taking the dead sheep, but the policeman refuses to allow this, and takes the passport of one CPTer and threatens to arrest him. After a while the policeman returns the passport, but leaves without taking the dead sheep. Another police jeep arrives and takes the sheep but again refuses to allow the internationals to take pictures; however internationals take some pictures anyway. |
| The CPTers and OD members meet with the villagers to talk about the results of the Bir Zeit University poison analysis. The name of the compound is 2-Fluoroacetamide, a poison (used for rats) banned in several nations and seriously restricted in international trade. Very low poison quantities are lethal for humans and animals. Traces of poison remain for a long time in soil and water, and there are serious risks of water resources becoming contaminated. In order to buy and use this poison in Israel, prospective buyers must ask the Israeli Government for special authorization. | |
| Apr 1: | An OD member records on video a settler security person from Ma'on saying that he knew that the Havat Ma'on settlers were responsible for the poisoning. |
| The current losses to the villages as a result of the poisoning are: At-Tuwani - 12 dead sheep and 11 sick; Mufakara - 5 dead sheep and 66 sick. | |
| Apr 2: | Israelis from Ta'ayush, CPTers, the Doves, and Palestinians from Mufakara clean poison from the area around Khoruba. The Israeli military arrives and orders everyone to leave, claiming it has been designated a closed military zone. |
| Apr 4: | Seven representatives from the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture come to assess the situation. Internationals give the representatives a copy of the Bir Zeit University report on the poison and the statistics of the dead and sick sheep in At-Tuwani and Mufakara. The villagers, and CPTers and Doves ask that the PA test the remaining sheep and villagers for poison. |
| Apr 5: | Over forty villagers from At-Tuwani and Mufakara joined by CPTers, Doves and other internationals hold a press conference in Hebron and march to the Israeli Kiryat Arba police station with a bucket of the poison. The Israeli police refuse to take the bucket of poison saying it was neither their responsibility nor in their jurisdiction. |
| Apr 6: | Shepherds find a second kind of poison (pink pellets) in the valley between At-Tuwani and Ma'on. The Israeli army and police come to the valley to take pictures and poison samples. The police say that a special unit from the army will clean up the poison. |
| The Palestinian Ministry of Health and Environment arrives to take samples of water from the well closest to the poisoned hillsides near Khoruba. | |
| Apr 7: | Amnesty International visits At-Tuwani to learn about the events surrounding the poisoning. A representative from the Hebron Governor's Office arrives and takes a sample of the new poison. A UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) representative from Hebron also arrives to gather information. The Israeli National Park Authority investigates the latest poison and takes samples. |
| In the afternoon CPTers, Doves and villagers from At-Tuwani clean up the poison. | |
| Apr 9: | The village receives a delivery of food from the PA, but finds it is expired and unedible. |
| Apr 10: | Mr. Aviam from the Israeli National Park Authority informs the UN OCHA representative from Hebron that the new poison is PRODIMATE, a common rat poison, and the antidote is vitamin K. |
| Apr 12: | A sample of the new poison is given to Bir Zeit University. |
| Representatives from the US Consulate's Department of Citizen Services visits At-Tuwani to gather information. | |
| A UN OCHA representative from Hebron visits and says that the new poison is actually called Brodifaucum. | |
| The head of the village of At-Tuwani meets with the Palestinian Ministry of Health but they don't say anything about whether or not it is safe to use the milk because they are unable to test it. | |
| Apr 16: | More sheep die in Mufakara. |
| Apr 20: | Israeli soldiers harass a Palestinian watching his sheep near At-Tuwani. Israeli soldiers kick several of the sheep before CPTers and Doves arrive in the area. Thirty minutes later, a lamb is born dead to one of the sheep that was kicked. Five hours later another sheep dies. |
| Apr 23: | Two more sheep die in Mufakara. CPTers photograph the dead sheep. |
| Apr 29: | A representative from the Hebron Governor's Office visits At-Tuwani and takes samples of the cheese from several families living there. |
| Apr 30: | A representative from the Ministry of Health visits At-Tuwani and reports that the water from the wells near the poisoned fields is safe to use. The representative gave chlorine for the wells to a villager at the meeting. |
| June 7: | CPTers and OD members locate and photograph that poison still remains on the ground in Khoruba. |
| June 9: | An incomplete tally of losses of sheep and goats from At-Tuwani and Mufakara are fifty-seven adult sheep and goats and forty-six young sheep and goats |
| July 31: | No written results from any of the tests done by either Israeli or Palestinian labs on the dead animals or the blood and dairy products of affected animals have been given to the villagers from At-Tuwani and Mufakara. None of the people from either village have been tested for the poison. No compensation for losses has been provided by the PA. |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 23, 2005
Contact: CPT Hebron
02-222-8485
AT-TUWANI, WEST BANK - Sheep are ill and dying on the day following the discovery of poison pellets on the land outside the Palestinian town of At -Tuwani adjacent to the illegal Israeli settlement outpost of Havot Ma'on. Two sheep are dead and others are ill. The amount of sheep affected remains unknown. Palestinians have also found two dead gazelles in the area. Villagers fear that a well has been contaminated. The poisoning is yet another incident in a pattern of attacks in this area.
Early Tuesday morning March 22, a Palestinian shepherd from At-Tuwani discovered poison pellets spread over the hillside outside the town in the South Hebron Hills. The turquoise blue pellets appear to be barley soaked with rodent poison. At least 30 dunams of land is affected and the villagers fear that the poison may be in other areas as well. The Israeli police were called upon discovery of the poison. The villagers were informed by the police that an investigator from the settlement of Ma'on has been assigned to the case.
The village is also concerned about a communal well in the area where the pellets were found. In the past an At-Tuwani well was poisoned with carcasses of dead chickens.
This malicious act not only affects the economic livelihood of the area farmers, it could have grave impact on the wildlife in the area. The local Palestinian people along with international are currently attempting to clean up the contaminated site.
This is yet another incident in a series of attacks and harassment in this area. On Saturday March 19 twelve settlers attacked Palestinian farmers. Also on the same day approximately 100 settlers paraded on to Palestinian land dancing and singing while trampling crops. Over the last six months internationals living in the area have been beaten on three separate occasions by settlers from the Havot Ma'on outpost.
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| The first two incidents of poisoning consisted of barley seeds coated in a rat-poison called 2-fluoroacetamide. Very low quantities of this poison can be lethal to humans and animals. | The third incident of poisoning consisted of pink pellets coated in a rodent-poison called Brodifaucum. This poison is not as lethal as fluoroacetamide. |
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| In the two villages of At-Tuwani and Mufakara, as of June 9, at least 57 adult and 46 new born sheep and goats have died from effects of the poisoning. | |
Amnesty International press release, 04/25/2005
Amnesty International calls on the Israeli authorities to investigate recent incidents of poisoning of Palestinian fields and the increasingly frequent attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villagers in the West Bank. Such acts must not be allowed to continue.
In recent weeks, toxic chemicals have repeatedly been spread on fields located near the villages of Tuwani, Umm Faggara and Kharruba in the southern Hebron region.
Scores of sheep as well as gazelles and other animals have been contaminated by the toxins and several have died. Palestinian farmers have been forced to quarantine their flocks and stop using the milk, cheese and meat from them, effectively depriving them of their livelihood. Since the first poison was discovered near Tuwani on 22 March 2005, more fields have been targeted in the same region.
In the days prior to the first field poisoning incident in Tuwani, a security guard from the nearby Israeli settlement Ma'on had reportedly told villagers that he wanted Palestinian farmers to stop grazing their flocks near the settlement and that, if they did not agree to this, he and the settlers had ways to make them stop.
Analyses carried out by the Center for Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at Bir Zeit University and by the Israeli Nature Protection Authority have confirmed that two types of toxic chemicals have been spread in large quantities in the area. The toxic chemicals are 2-Fluoracetamide which is banned in several countries including Israel and severely restricted in international trade, and Brodifacoum, an anticoagulant used as rodenticide.
On 12 April 2005 one of these toxins was also found in the Northern West Bank village of Yasouf, in a field located near the entrance to the Israeli settlement Tapuah, and near the place where the Israeli army had just re-opened the road connecting Yasouf to the main road. The road leading to Yasouf had been kept closed to Palestinians for years, forcing people to take a long detour to access the village.
The areas where the toxic chemicals have been found are located in Area C, which is under full control of the Israeli authorities; Palestinian Authority security forces are forbidden by Israel from operating in these areas. To date, the Israeli authorities have not cleaned the toxic chemicals from the affected areas, leaving the task to Palestinian farmers and international and Israeli peace activists. They also have not taken the necessary measures to investigate the matter with a view to bringing those responsible to justice.
Recently Israeli settlers have stepped up attacks and threats against Palestinian farmers and villagers in these and other West Bank areas, preventing Palestinians from accessing their land. In recent months, repeated physical assaults by Israeli settlers from Ma'on and the nearby settlement outpost of Havat Ma'on on Palestinian farmers and on international peace activists and human rights workers, including Amnesty International staff, have not been investigated by the Israeli police. Those responsible for these attacks enjoy impunity.
*Courtesy of University of Texas, edited by CPT
Directions:(using Israeli bypass roads) Take Route 60 south out of Jerusalem. Get on 356 south of Heron, and take that until it becomes 317 at Karmel settlement. Ma'on and At-Tuwani are just past Karmel settlement on 317. Turn south (left) onto the second dirt road just past the entrance to Ma'on. Call when you get near At-Tuwani and someone will meet you. |
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(using Palestinian roads) From East Jerusalem, go to Damascas Gate and take a service to Hebron (15NIS). From Hebron, take a service to Yatta (5 NIS), and then a service from Yatta to Karmil (1.5NIS) and walk 45min further along the road to At-Tuwani. You can sometimes get a service from Yatta to At-Tuwani for 10-20 NIS. Call when you get near At-Tuwani and someone will meet you. |
*Courtesy of MAP - Mapping Publishing, edited by CPT
Packet last updated July 31, 2005