CPTnet
December 18, 2004

AT-TUWANI DIARY: "Today I was sad."

by Joe Carr

[The following are excerpts from a diary that Joe Carr is sending to his
supporters.]

November 29, 2004

Today I was sad.

The kids got to school all right this morning; the police actually let them
ride in the jeep for once. We cleaned our house and napped for the morning
and then met two Catalonian journalists who work for a Spanish newspaper --

The police arrived shortly before the bell rang, and we walked up with the
children to meet them. Usually we watch from a mountain across the valley,
far from the children, police, and soldiers, but these journalists insisted
on close-up shots, and I thought it'd be good for the soldiers and police to
know that the media are still following this story.

See some of the close up shots:
http://www.cpt.org/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album82&id=04_11_29_
police_and_army_escort_close2

The police tried to tell us we couldn't take pictures, so one journalist
discussed it with them while the other proceeded to photograph. It was very
striking to be so close to the convoy. It is easy to forget how massive the
jeeps and small the children are when looking from a mountain through
binoculars. It's also easy to forget how human they all are, the soldiers,
the police, the children, and how devastating is this situation. As we
watched them disappear over the mountain, one journalist commented that this
is good training for the children, "They better get used to being surrounded
by Israeli police, military, and settlers".

Guns on all sides I thought, and I was sad.

--
In the evening we had lots of visitors, including around twelve children
wanting help with their English homework. Saber also visited to inform us
about a few things.  He told us about a meeting the Civil (Military)
Administration (CA) had with the principal of the Tuwani school last
Saturday. The CA scheduled the meeting, he said, to talk about the Tuba
children. It is obvious that this armed convoy is not a lasting solution to
the problem. The CA suggested that people from the village could use a
tractor to drive the children to school. The principal said, "Sure, we could
do that, but a tractor is slow and very noisy and will bring many more
settlers, so you will need several more military and police vehicles to
protect them". Apparently, the CA had no other brilliant ideas and cut the
meeting off after twenty minutes.
I'm glad that they realize that this is armed escort is not a solution to
settler violence. It seems pretty basic to me that the settlement outpost
(from which all the violence has come) must be dismantled, and those who
break the law by attacking, threatening, or harassing children should be
brought to justice. This would be a solution. However, I fear that the next
proposed solution will be something even more ridiculous. I joked that maybe
Israel would send one of the Apache helicopters my tax dollars bought for
them and airlift the children to school.