CPTnet
14 April 2008
AT-TUWANI UPDATE: March 2008

[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 team during this period were Jan Benvie, Cassandra Dixon, Joy Ellison, Jessica Frederick, Eileen Hanson, Maureen Jack, Sarah MacDonald, Sean O’Neill, and members of Operation Dove (referred to as "Doves").

On several occasions during March, Israeli soldiers declared areas near At-Tuwani “Closed Military Zones,” forcing families and shepherds off their land and preventing them from grazing sheep and harvesting spring herbs. These closures followed incidents in which settlers arrived in areas where Palestinians were grazing sheep and began to assault both Palestinians and sheep. This type of harassment has increased with the start of the spring grazing season, as shepherds attempt to use their grazing land. On several occasions, sheep were injured, both by settlers and by Israeli soldiers.

Palestinians emphasize that the increased use of “closed military zone” orders will seriously interfere with their work as farmers and shepherds. The price of feed has risen dramatically in the past year, making outdoor grazing crucial to the economic stability of the villages in the region. The spring plowing and harvesting season is also brief, and interrupting access to land at this time of year will create substantial financial hardship.

Also during this time, settlers constructed a new gate across the road used by the school children to walk from Tuba to At-Tuwani. The Israeli soldiers assigned to accompany the school children from Tuba past the Hill 833 settlement outpost, which settlers call "Havat Ma’on," began to cut short their escort at this new gate. This evasion of the military's responsibility forced the children to walk unaccompanied for fifteen minutes of a twenty-five minute walk through an area where they are vulnerable to settler harassment and attack.

Israeli authorities carried out a series of home demolitions in the villages surrounding At-Tuwani in mid-March.


9 March
Settlers attacked shepherds grazing in Mshaha valley near At-Tuwani. They arrived by car and chased the sheep and shepherds, firing stones with a slingshot. They hit two sheep with stones and forced the shepherds and internationals to flee the area, causing the Palestinians temporarily to lose a donkey.


10 March
A settler came out of Ma’on settlement and threatened Palestinian shepherds grazing sheep in Umm Zeitunna valley. Later in the day, settlers drove to an area above them and again shouted threats at them.


11 March
A settler, screaming and throwing rocks, chased shepherds who were grazing sheep in Umm Zeitunna. Soldiers later arrived and forced Palestinian shepherds and internationals to leave the area. They declared the area a closed military zone, but refused to let anyone read or photograph the military order, which was written in Hebrew.


14 March
Israeli border police and an officer of the Israeli District Coordinating Office (DCO) declared Khoruba valley, near At-Tuwani, a closed military zone and threatened to arrest Palestinian shepherds and the international volunteers accompanying them. The Palestinians were, grazing sheep and working in the olive grove there, repairing damage done by settlers in the preceding weeks. Border police used physical intimidation and violence to force the Palestinians and internationals off the land, and attempted to take cameras from internationals.


15 March
Israeli police threatened to arrest Palestinian shepherds grazing their sheep on Palestinian land near the settlement outpost of Avigail. Israeli border police then declared the area to be a “closed military zone.” Police officers refused to give a reason or specify the boundaries of the closed area.

17 March
In the morning, the children were unable to meet the regular military escort. The escort jeep stopped well short of the appointed meeting place, and despite the team making repeated calls to the military, the escort jeep did not come forward to meet the children. The children could not go toward the escort jeep because of the threatening presence of a settler, who was speaking with the soldiers. The settler yelled at the children, and threatened them with a rock. Most of the children eventually decided to take the long route to school, walking unescorted through the hills and arriving in At-Tuwani one hour after school had started. Four of the children returned home and did not attend school because of the problems with the escort. In the afternoon, the children were again harassed and threatened by settlers as they passed the illegal outpost.

19 March
CPTers Dixon and Hanson, went to a point between Tuwani and Tuba in order to monitor the escort. Two masked and armed adult male settlers attacked and chased them to Tuba. At the close of the month the Israeli military was still refusing to escort the children through the area in which they are threatened.

Israeli military personnel used two bulldozers to destroy eleven structures in four villages near At-Tuwani. Nine of the structures were homes.


20 March
Three Israeli settlers arrived near At-Tuwani and chased Palestinian shepherds and their flocks. The Ma’on settler security guard ripped a bag of wild herbs from the hands of a visibly pregnant Palestinian woman, pushing her to the ground in the process. The settler also knocked down Frederick, as she tried to prevent him from chasing away sheep. The Israeli Army and police arrived on the scene, but the stolen property was not returned.


26 March
Settlers from Havat Ma’on fired five shots into a Palestinian’s flock of sheep and goats grazing in Khoruba valley near At-Tuwani, hitting two sheep and one goat. The two sheep later died. To date, the owner has received no compensation for the lost animals, and no charges have been brought against the settlers for the shooting.


28 March
While many residents of Tuwani and members of CPT were in the nearby village of Qawawis working to rebuild recently demolished homes, eight settlers from Havat Ma’on attacked two Palestinians grazing sheep on the outskirts of At-Tuwani. They sprayed an aerosol substance in the eyes of one Palestinian man, which injured them. During an ensuing scuffle, the glasses of the Ma’on settler security guard were broken. Police arrested the injured Palestinian. That evening, two masked settlers came to the edge of At-Tuwani and threatened the residents of a nearby house.


29 March
About twenty settlers came into At-Tuwani in the late morning. They threw stones at children and yelled threats. One group of settlers mooned a group of Palestinians, including children and elders, as they were sitting outside their home. The settlers then mooned a group of children who were waiting for the military escort to arrive so they could walk home to Tuba from school in At-Tuwani. The settlers remained in the village, insulting and threatening Palestinians until late afternoon. Israeli border and military personnel were present at the incident but made no attempt to restrain the settlers and shook their hands warmly as they left.