CPTnet
27 September 2011
SOUTH HEBRON HILLS: Communities march to celebrate solidarity and nonviolence’s
power
On 25 September, more than one hundred people from different
communities in the South Hebron Hills participated in a peace march to
celebrate the
power of nonviolence and the resilient spirit of the people of
the South Hebron Hills. The event
was timed to coincide with the annual Perugia-Assisi Peace March in Italy, in
which 50,000 Italians and internationals participated.
Schoolchildren, elders, students, farmers, shepherds, teachers, men, and women
chanted and marched from At-Tuwani to Um Faggarah and then further south to the
community of Khallet At-Taba,
which in past years, has endured the demolition of homes, outhouses, and other structures by the Israeli army. Six families continue to inhabit the
hamlet.
In Khallet At Taba, on a high lookout over the surrounding area, Hafez Hereini,
Coordinator for Popular Struggle in the South Hebron Hills, and other local
leaders named communities that shared the struggle—Jinba, Al Fakheit, Al Majaz,
At Tabban, Magahaer Al Abeed, Tuba—and confirmed their commitment to the
popular nonviolent resistance.
The march ended back in Tuwani with live Palestinian traditional music and
several speeches. The Hebron
District governor’s representative, Farid Amar, doctor Othman Abu Sabha of the
Mubadara National Initiative and Eyad Masri of Fatah underlined the importance
of United Nation’s acknowledgment of the Palestinian State and reiterated their
support for the nonviolent resistance of the South Hebron Hills communities.
The Popular Struggle Coordinator, Hafez Hereini, delivered a brief phone
message to300,000 people who gathered in Assisi for the event.
Additional pictures of the event are available here.
Operation Dove and Christian Peacemaker Teams have maintained an international
presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.
