CPTnet
22 November 2005

AT-TUWANI: Palestinian landowner forbidden to cultivate his land

On 17 November 2005, Israeli settlers, soldiers and police prevented a
Palestinian landowner who lives in the village of Mufakara, near At-Tuwani,
from cultivating his land. Shortly before 10:00 a.m., three Israeli
settlers in trucks and four Israeli soldiers in a hummer arrived on the land
and told the Palestinian landowner he must leave.

The settlers, who were from the settlement outpost of Avigail (1.5km away),
claimed the land did not belong to the Palestinian, but to the outpost of
Avigail, which the Sharon government has designated an "illegal" settlement.

CPTers Kristin Anderson, Maureen Jack, Diane Janzen, and Amy Knickrehm went
to investigate when they received a call alerting them of the situation.
They found the Israeli soldiers, police and settlers at the scene. The
police were looking at maps drawn by the settlers and discussing ownership
of the land, mostly with the settlers. (Palestinians said that these were
the same settlers that Palestinians, Janzen and an Operation Dove member
witnessed scouting territory in Mufakara on 8 November.)

The Palestinian landowner repeatedly told the police that his family had
owned the land for generations. The police insisted that unless the
Palestinian had documents on hand to prove ownership, they would enforce the
boundaries outlined on the settlers' map.

As the discussions continued, the Israeli police threatened to arrest CPTers
for taking photographs, videotaping, and not leaving the area. Eventually
the police advised the Palestinian man to go with them to the Israeli police
station in Kiryat Arba for further discussion.

The Palestinian later told CPTers what happened there. As soon as the police
and the Palestinian arrived at the police station, the police met with the
settlers (who drove to the station in their own vehicles.) The police then
informed the Palestinian that the land in question belonged to the Avigail
outpost. The Palestinian restated that his family owned the land and that
he had documents proving ownership, including a recent Israeli High Court
decision differentiating his land from Israeli "state land" (i.e., land
that the Jordanian government had not yet surveyed by the time Israel
captured the West Bank in 1967.) The police responded by ordering him not
to return to his land. The man insisted he would return, because it is his
family's land.

When the Palestinian landowner told the police he was leaving the police
station, they told him he must pay a 500-shekel fine, saying, "This is the
rule." When he refused, the police said that instead of paying the fine he
could go to jail. He refused again, and the police said they would let him
go if he signed a document agreeing not to return to the land for two weeks.
Although he refused to sign, the police allowed him to leave without either
paying a fine or signing any documents.

The Palestinian landowners from Mufakara have cultivated their land on this
hillside for years without interference from Israeli settlers, military, or
police.