man in South Hebron Hills
[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the
International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all
Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are
illegal. Most settlement outposts,
including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are illegal under Israeli law.]
On the morning of Saturday, 30 October 2010, around 10:30
a.m., Israeli soldiers arrested a young Palestinian man from the village of
Tuba, in the South Hebron Hills, who had been filming Israeli soldiers chasing
two young Palestinian shepherds from Tuba.
The two shepherds, accompanied by internationals of
Operation Dove (the nonviolent corps of the Italian organization Community Pope
John XXIII), were watching their flocks in the Umm Zeitouna area, on private Palestinian
land.
Around 10:00 a.m., a group of Israeli activists from
Ta’ayush joined the internationals accompanying the shepherds. After about ten minutes, three military
jeeps and two armored cars from Israeli army, the DCO (District Coordination Office
of the Israeli military) and Israeli police arrived, surrounding the whole
area. After a few minutes, Israeli
soldiers came down from the hilltop into the valley, chasing the two Palestinian
shepherds, who ran quickly toward their village.
Israeli activists and internationals tried to speak with
soldiers, explaining, that the two shepherds were on Palestinian-owned land and,
according to Israeli law, it is illegal to prevent Palestinians from accessing
their land.
Nevertheless, the Israeli army continued chasing shepherds
until they reached Tuba village as the young Palestinian man, who was working
for Israeli human rights organization B’tselem, videotaped the action.
Soldiers then surrounded the Palestinian, detained him, and
forced him to follow them to the Israeli-only bypass road, preventing him from
answering his cell phone. They
then took the young man to a military base close to the nearby Susiya settlement,
detaining him for five hours.
After his release, the Palestinian told internationals he was
blindfolded and handcuffed for a long time, and refused permission to make
phone calls. None of the soldiers
was able to speak Arabic and they were not willing to speak with him in
English.
Operation Dove and Christian Peacemaker Teams have
maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since
2004.
