On 15 March 2010, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz published an article by Amira Hass, “Settlers’ call sends Palestinian shepherd to IDF beating,” which details an attack in At-Tuwani two months ago. During the attack, two squads of Israeli soldiers injured and traumatized several members of a Palestinian family. Footage of that attack, filmed by CPT volunteers, is available for viewing online. (See below for link.)
On the morning of Thursday, 7 January 2010, Israeli soldiers chased and beat Palestinian shepherds from the Musa Raba’i family, as the family grazed their sheep in Humra valley, near the village of At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. When more Tuwani residents arrived on the scene, the soldiers threw stun grenades and tear gas canisters. The soldiers also shoved the internationals accompanying the shepherds and intentionally broke a video camera. Two women, one elder and one pregnant, had to go to the hospital, suffering from the effects of tear gas inhalation. Three of the shepherds were hospitalized for their injuries, and a young boy had his tooth broken.
The soldiers arrested one of the shepherds, Musab Musa Raba’i, and took him to a military base at the nearby Suseya settlement. For four hours, soldiers questioned Raba’i, striking him on the back and face and slamming him into walls. They threatened to come to his house in the following days to beat or kill him and his brothers. Eventually the soldiers took Raba’i to the Israeli police station in Kiryat Arba settlement. Policemen later drove Raba’i to an unknown location and threw him, blindfolded, out of the jeep. Family members were able to locate him and bring him home.
Click here for footage from the 7 January 2010 incident, shot and edited by CPTers.
*Amira Hass’s 15 March 2010 piece is here.
*CPT’s original 8 January 2010 release, “AT-TUWANI: Israeli soldiers attack and injure Palestinian shepherds and CPTers; arrest Musa Raba’i” is here.
*CPT’s second release detailing the further abuses on Musab Raba’i, “AT-TUWANI: Shepherd tortured for five hours by Israeli soldiers and police,” is here.
