26 June 2008: CPT Report: Israeli military issues demolition orders and again blocks main access road in South Hebron Hills
26 June 2008: CPT Release:
Tuwani Release:
Israeli military issues demolition orders and again blocks main access road in South Hebron Hills:
On 26 June, 2008, the Israeli military issued a demolition order on the partly constructed water cistern in the village of At-Tuwani. The cistern is being built with financial support from a Spanish NGO. If completed the cistern will provide a vital additional water source in the arid region of the South Hebron Hills.
Also on 26 June, the Israeli military issued a demolition order on a home in At-Tuwani and on four homes in the nearby village of Umm Faggarah.
The following day, 27 June, 2008, at 9 am, the Israeli military returned to the area and blocked the road between At-Tuwani and Yatta. A bulldozer massed a four-foot-high mound spanning the width of the road using boulders and earth. The roadblock not only prevents vehicular access, but also makes movement by foot and donkey extremely difficult. The same bulldozer also closed several tracks used by tractors and trucks to access nearby small dwellings.
Besides being the main economic hub for the region Yatta is also the principal provider of critical services such as hospitals, secondary schools, public administration offices.
Several communities in the South Hebron Hills are again cut off from basic supplies such as water and animal feed, as this road is the main artery for the supply of water to the South Hebron Hills, which is currently experiencing a severe drought. According to Palestinian residents of the area, roadblocks have doubled the commercial price of water. A UN worker reported that roadblocks on this road will increase by 30 percent the cost of transporting essential water aid to the area.
The new roadblock is the latest in a series of roadblocks erected by the Israeli army. The most recent, on the same site of today’s roadblock, was removed by the army on 12 June. Previous roadblocks were removed by the local population through nonviolent direct actions.
See http://cpt.org/gallery/27-June-2008 for images.
25 June 2008: CPT Press Release:
Israeli settlers inflict injuries requiring hospitalization on shepherds in South Hebron Hills
On 24 June 2008, around 6:30, two Israeli settlers beat two unarmed Palestinian shepherds from Mantiquat Shi’bal Butum. The settlers came down from the nearby Israeli settlement outpost of Mitzpe Yair to an area where the shepherds, aged fifty-five and twenty, routinely graze their sheep. Armed with stones from the hillside, the settlers injured the ribs of the older shepherd and the eye of the younger. A Palestinian in the area called the Israeli police and ambulance, both of which arrived fifteen minutes after the beating. The police spoke with the two settlers identified by the Palestinians as the attackers. They took the settlers’ ID numbers and issued police reports to the Palestinians present. However, the police took neither settler into custody. At 7:30 p.m., the ambulance took both shepherds to the hospital in the nearby town of Yatta. Both have since returned home. This incident marks the second violent attack on Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills in the last month. On 8 June, four masked Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian family of four in Susiya, beating the sixty-year-old matriarch of the family unconscious. The family videotaped the beating. Currently, there is a court case pending against the two settlers from Suseya.
8 June 2008: Haaretz Report: Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinians in Susiya, South Hebron.
“A group of Palestinian shepherds on Sunday said that six masked settlers attacked them with clubs and rods earlier in the evening near the West Bank settlement of Susya.
Four of the Palestinians were wounded in the incident, one of whom, a woman, was later taken unconscious to the Soroka medical center in Be’er Sheva for treatment. The three others were lightly wounded and received treatment at a hospital in Hebron.
The Palestinians told police that their assailants were settlers from Susya, which is located in the southern Hebron Hills.
The Civil Administration relayed that it is working to enable the entry of the wounded woman’s family into Israel, despite the closure imposed on the region until the end of the Jewish festival of Shavuot.
Earlier Sunday, the defense establishment imposed a general closure on the West Bank, to remain in effect for the duration of the Shavuot holiday.
The closure went into effect at midnight Sunday and was to be lifted in accordance with security assessments, the Israel Defense Forces said. The holiday ends at sunset on Monday.
Over the course of the holiday, Palestinian entry into Israel will be permitted for some cases of humanitarian or medical attention and with the accompaniment of escort.
Israel will also authorize entry for some senior Palestinian officials, medical and legal personnel, religious aid workers and families of arrested Palestinians on their way to court.
All cases are at the discretion of Defense Ministry’s District Coordination and Liaison. Agricultural passages will remain open throughout the closure.
“The Israel Defense Forces will increase its alertness in order to ensure the safety of the citizens of Israel, while preserving, to the best of its ability, the daily life of the Palestinian population,” the army said in a statement.”
3 June 2008
For Immediate Release:
AT-TUWANI: Israeli settler kills goats with car in South Hebron Hills
“On 1 June at around 5:00 pm an Israeli settler driving in the South Hebron Hills killed three goats and injured two others while on the settler bypass road, Route 317. A local Palestinian shepherd from the village of Ma’in was on his way home, bringing his flock across the road from a field he had been grazing nearby. The settler saw the flock on the road, aimed his car, and rammed into three of the goats. He then redirected his car and aimed for more, hitting an addition two. Three goats were killed and two others were injured with broken legs.
While fleeing the scene, the settler noticed that his license plate had come off and was stuck to the horn of one of the goats. He drove back to the scene to retrieve it, when he was met by a jeep of Israeli soldiers who had witnessed the incident. They took the settler’s details and gave them to the Israeli police, who arrived at the scene later, after the settler had left.
This follows a pattern of attacks in the area by Israeli settlers on livestock owned by local Palestinians. On 27 March, 2008, an Israeli settler from the illegal* outpost of Havot Ma’on shot at a flock of sheep in the area, killing two sheep and narrowly missing the Palestinian shepherd. On 23 February, 2008, settlers from Havot Ma’on attacked several flocks of sheep in the area, kicking one in the head, breaking its teeth. Israeli settlers kicked another sheep, causing it to emit blood while lactating.
*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. The South Hebron Hills contain many settlement outposts that are also illegal under Israeli law.
Click to View Photo of Incident
29 May 2008
At Tuwani Release: Israeli Military Blocks Main Access Road in South Hebron Hills
On 28 May, 2008, the Israeli military blocked the road between the village of At-Tuwani and the city of Yatta using thre of the concrete blocks from the dismantled wall along Route 317 (see release ‘Security’ Wall Along Rt. 317 Dismantled, 20 August 2007). The blocked road is the main vehicle access for Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills to travel to and from the city of Yatta. The main health services, including maternity provision, are situated in Yatta, and several villages in the South Hebron Hills are now effectively cut off from these services. Yatta also serves as the economic hub for the entire region, and the roadblock prevents the supply of basics such as food, water, and animal feed to the villages. A village spokesperson in At-Tuwani told members of Christian Peacemaker Teams that the price of water transported into the village has doubled because the tankers will have to take an alternative, longer route. Some schoolchildren and the teachers at the elementary school in At-Tuwani travel each day on this road. Now they have to walk the remainder of the way to school, approximately a kilometer (just over half a mile). The Israeli military has closed or blocked many roads in the Hebron district in recent days. On 29 February, 2008, Palestinians from At-Tuwani and the neighboring villages removed a roadblock from the same road. This particular roadblock comes at time of increased pressure on the villagers as they attempt to harvest wheat and barley from the fields near the Israeli settlement of Ma’on and the illegal settlement outpost of Havot Ma’on. Yesterday, just before the roadblock was erected, Israeli settlers attempted to steal wheat being harvested by the At-Tuwani villagers. The Israeli army intervened, but for the time being forced the Palestinians to leave the wheat in the fields.
2 May 2008 CPT Press Release:
“Armed Settlers Invade Palestinian Village, Attacking Palestinians and Internationals While Soldiers and Police Stand By.”
“On Friday, 2 May , shortly after 3:00 pm, three settlers, including the Ma’on Settlement security guard, illegally entered At-Tuwani and accused Palestinians of stealing cherries. When internationals approached, filming and taking photographs, the settlers pushed, kicked, and head-butted the internationals and Palestinians, and also broke a video camera. As more settlers and Palestinians arrived, several scuffles ensued while Israeli soldiers and police looked on.
Soldiers and policed pushed and ordered the Palestinians farther into the village as settlers continued to mass forward toward a Palestinian home. As settlers pointed out and accused individual Palestinians, the police apprehended the Palestinians, forcing five into police vans and taking them to the Kiryat Arba police station. Police refused to take testimony from Palestinians and internationals, even those injured from settler aggression.”
For at least one hour and half, settlers remained on Palestinian land.
Friday evening, two Palestinians and two internationals were hospitalized and received treatment for injuries.
For photographs or video footage, contact Christian Peacemaker Teams in At-Tuwani at 972-054-2531323.
30 March 2008: CPT Press Releases:
A) Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinian Children in South Hebron
On 29 March, Israeli settlers harassed, intimidated, and attacked Palestinian children on their way to and from school in the village of At-Tuwani. In the morning, settlers yelled and threw stones at the children coming to school from the villages of Tuba and Maghayir Al Abeed. The military escort in the area, which is to take the children to and from school to ensure their safety, did nothing during the attack. Fearing for their safety, the children were forced to take a different path to school, doubling the walk from 20 to 45 minutes. On their way home from school, one adult Israeli settler and four children followed the Palestinian children and military escort. They were soon joined by two adult settlers, and a large group of adults and teenagers. The settlers yelled insults and threats at the school children, but the Israeli army kept them at bay. An adult settler displayed his buttocks to international observers monitoring the escort. About twenty children from the villages of Tuba and Maghayir Al Abeed walk to school in At-Tuwani each day. The Israeli military, under orders from the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) Committee for the Rights of the Child, have accompanied the children past the illegal settlement outpost of Havat Ma’on since 2004 because of settler attacks on the children.
B) Israeli Settlers Attack South Hebron Palestinians
On the morning of 29 March, twenty Israeli settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement outpost Havat Ma’on entered the village of At-Tuwani. Throughout the day, groups of four to five settlers entered the village three additional times. While in the village, settlers harassed Palestinians, twice displaying their buttocks to Palestinians and internationals in the area. Israeli authorities did nothing to move settlers away from the village. Israeli military spoke and joked with settlers when they entered the village, allowing them to stay on land owned by Palestinian residents of At-Tuwani. Palestinians report a military commander threatened to tell the settlers to attack the village after the military left the area.
These incidents were preceded by settler attacks and intimidation on 28 March. In the morning, settlers attacked two Palestinians in the face and eyes with aerosol spray. Later that day, masked settlers drove through the village, shouting insults, and throwing stones at Palestinian children and a woman carrying a baby. The masked settlers retreated into the trees of the illegal settlement outpost of Havat Ma’on, but remained visible until Israeli military arrived.
26 March 2008
At-Tuwani Release: Israeli Settlers Shoot and Wound Palestinian Sheep and Goat near At-Tuwani
High quality Photographs of the incident
Photgraph Descriptions:
1) Armed Israeli settlers look on as Police question the owner of injured sheep and goat.
2) Sheep injured Wednesday when Israeli settlers fire on flocks grazing
near At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills.
3) Police remove animals injured in Settler shooting near At-Tuwani.
Settlers from the illegal outpost of Havat Ma’on fired five shots into a Palestinian flock of sheep and goats late Wednesday morning, badly wounding a sheep and a large male goat. The shooting took place on Palestinain land in Khoruba valley near the village of At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. A second sheep, believed by shepherds to have also been wounded, fled into the valley and could not be found.
Israeli police and Army personnel arrived shortly after noon and spoke with the owner of the sheep, a shepherd from the nearby village of Magayer al Abeed. Two settlers, armed with automatic weapons, arrived at about 2:00 PM and spoke with the Israeli police and Army personnel. The settlers attempted to prevent international volunteers from Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) from filming, and threatened to take video cameras and tapes from them and have them arrested. The CPT volunteers observed the settlers remove the written police report from the police vehicle and then return it after several minutes.
Several Palestinian shepherds from surrounding villages arrived at the scene and told Police that they heard five shots fired at about 11:00 that morning. They said they were unable to use their grazing land that day due to the violence. At roughly a 4:00 pm the Police left the scene, taking both injured animals with them.
Palestinian shepherds in the area and volunteers working with Christian Peacemaker Teams report that Settler violence directed at Shepherds in the Tuwani Area has increased sharply in March. On multiple occasions both Settlers and Army Personnel have injured Palestinian-owned animals.
14 March 2008: At-Tuwani:
CPT Press Release: Israeli Soldiers and Border Police Assault Palestinian Shepherds
While Palestinian shepherds grazed their sheep and worked in their olive groves in Khoruba valley, near the Palestinian village of At-Tuwani, Israeli police threatened them with arrest and assaulted them. A border police officer twisted the wrist of one shepherd and pushed him to the ground. Police grabbed another by his collar and pushed several other Palestinians. Palestinians were attempting to graze their sheep and repair olives trees damaged by Israeli settlers over the last month. Police also pushed and assaulted international volunteers accompanying the Palestinians, threatening them with arrest. No one was seriously injured.
Around 10 am, two border police jeeps, two army jeeps, and an Israeli civilian police vehicle arrived and spoke with Israeli settlers from the Havot Ma’on settlement outpost. When international volunteers approached the police and invited them to observe the damaged olive trees, an officer of the District Coordinating Office [a branch of the Israeli military that deals with civilian affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories] told them that the area was a closed military zone.
Police threatened to arrest two shepherds and assaulted two more. Police also threatened to arrest international volunteers and shoved and grabbed them as they attempted to leave the area. Police stomped on the feet of five internationals, calling one of them a whore, and twisted the wrists of two volunteers in an attempt to grab their video cameras. They also pushed another international into a rock.
Palestinians and international volunteers left the area and proceeded to the grove of olive trees where the village men prayed. Over the past month, Palestinians have found broken branches on a total of twelve trees. They believe that Israeli settlers are responsible for the damage, as settlers have destroyed trees in the past.
7 February 2008 CPT Report: Israeli military blocks main access road in South Hebron Hills
On February 6, 2008, the Israeli military blocked the road near At-Tuwani using concrete blocks and earth mounds. This road is the only vehicle access for people in the South Hebron Hills to travel to and from the city of Yatta, which serves as the economic hub for the entire region. Several villages in the South Hebron Hills are now cut off from bringing basic supplies such as fire wood or animal feed. Many of the teachers and students at the primary school in At-Tuwani pass on his road, and now must climb over the roadblock and walk the rest of the way to school. The Israeli military has closed or blocked many roads in the Hebron district in recent days.
5 December 2007 Haaretz News: Palestinians: Settlers throw stones at boy, steal his donkey
By Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondent:
West Bank settlers thew stones at a Palestinian boy and stole his donkey in the village of Tuba on Saturday, according to Palestinian reports.
The incident reportedly occured after some 150 left-wing activists marched in protest against the long route Palestinian children are forced to take to get to school from their South Hebron Hills village.
Children from Tuba go to school in Twane, a nearby village, via a lengthy and indirect path, in order to avoid harrassment from residents of the Havot Ma’on settlement. Advertisement The Ta’ayush Arab-Jewish Partnership activists, upon receiving word of the settler aggression, marched to Havot to retrieve the donkey, but were stopped at the settlement entrance by police.
During the march earlier in the day, the activists initially arrived at an area blocked by police and Israel Defense Forces, who told them they could not travel from Twane to Tuba.
As the security forces did not present the marchers with an order declaring the area a closed military zone, the activists continued along the path, evading the police and IDF troops who attempted to stop them.
Left-wing Israelis often travel to the West Bank to act as a shield for Palestinian farmers whose work in the fields is often disrupted by settlers.
Saturday’s march was also in protest of reduced Palestinian agriculture in the area, resulting from a land dispute with Havot Ma’on and from settler harassment.
A Ta’ayush activist said: “We’ve come to express solidarity with the residents of Tuba, and to enable them to carry out agricultural activity in the area.”
November 26, 2007 CPT Report: Demoliton Order Issued for Mosque in At-Tuwani
On November 26th, at 2:30pm, an Israeli army jeep and a white pickup truck, belonging to the Israeli District Coordination Office* (DCO), drove into the village of at-Tuwani and left an order for the demolition of the village mosque.
Israeli officials did not speak with anyone from the village. They placed the written order under a stone near the mosque and then drove out of the village. The demolition order gives the villagers five days to either demolish the building themselves or obtain an Israeli court ruling to suspend the order.
The villagers built a mosque in 1987, but the Israeli military demolished it that same year. Although they were unable to obtain building permission from the Israeli authorities, the villagers decided to rebuild their mosque at the end of 2006. In May 2007 the Israeli authorities issued a ‘stop building order’ for the mosque. This order generally precedes a demolition order.
At the time of this writing the villagers have not decided on their response to the demolition order.
Demolitions orders have also recently been issued for two homes in the village of Imneizil, close to the Green Line and the route of the southern section of the separation barrier.
- The DCO is part of the Civil Administration, the section of the Israeli army that deals with Palestinian civilian affairs in areas of the occupied Palestinian territories under Israeli control.
16 November 2007
CPT Report: South Hebron Hills: Settlers interfere with Palestinians plowing
On Thursday, November 15th, two Palestinian families went to plow their land on the south side of Route 317 between Qawawis and Susiya. The landowners had notified the Israeli military District Coordinating Officer (DCO) of their plans.
Palestinian landowners and an Israeli military escort arrived around 8am to begin work. When they arrived, two Israeli settlers were already present on the Palestinian-owned land. Additional settlers soon arrived, eventually numbering about 20.
Israeli police arrived at 9:30am and began negotiating with the settlers and Palestinians. The settlers, however, refused to leave the field. The Palestinian landowners waited in a nearby olive grove. When the DCO arrived at 11am, he declared that Palestinians had a right to work their land, and gave the settlers five minutes to leave.
When the Palestinian landowners started to drive their tractors into the fields, a group of settlers tried to prevent them from working by standing in front, and climbing on the back of the tractor. The police tried to remove them and prevent them from further interfering with the Palestinians working. The police carried away a number of settlers who refused to leave or cooperate with removal.
Police did not immediately arrest or detain these individuals. They were released at the edge of the field, and the same individuals returned to the land repeatedly to interfere with Palestinians plowing. Several times, Israeli police had to remove the settlers by force from the Palestinians’ fields.
At one point, Israeli police appeared to try to arrest one young male settler. Immediately a large group of settlers massed around the police jeep. An adult male settler attempted to prevent the arrest by hugging the young settler, and pulling them both to the ground. Police struggled to regain custody of the first settler. Police then took both of these settlers away. It is not known whether they were put under arrest.
During this time, Palestinians continued quickly plowing and spreading seed, and finished their work around 1:00pm. After the Palestinians had completed their work and left the area, Israeli police, Israeli border police and the army left.
The DCO commonly requests that Palestinian landowners in this area notify them in advance if they wish to access or work their land. Israeli military and police are obligated to protect the rights of Palestinian residents of the West Bank, and specifically their right to access and work their land, as upheld in a June 26, 2006, ruling by the Israeli High Court. To view photos of this incident, go to http://www.cpt.org/gallery/album228 Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical initiative to support violence reduction efforts around the world. To learn more about CPT’s peacemaking work, visit our website www.cpt.org
September 28, 2007
Havot Ma’on settlers attack CPTers, steal video camera
At-Tuwani:
Settlers from the Havot Ma’on outpost attacked CPTers accompanying shepherds in Khoruba valley near Tuwani village.
Four CPTers were accompanying two young shepherds and their sheep on a hill between Khoruba and Mashakha valleys. Shortly after 7 am, fifteen settlers emerged from the trees of Havot Ma’on outpost, most of them clad in white robes and shawls. Three young settlers shouted and cursed as they chased the CPTers, shepherds and sheep down into Khoruba valley. The three settlers began throwing stones once they approached two of the CPTers. One settler attempted to grab a CPT video camera, while another threatened, “You come back here and we kill you.” The settlers wrapped their robes around their faces and continued to throw stones. A settler successfully seized the video camera from one CPTer, and retreated. The CPTers demanded the return of the camera. One settler responded, “You go now and you go with your life.”
After leaving the immediate area, the CPTers notified the police and continued to accompany shepherds on Khoruba Hill. An army jeep and police car arrived 40 minutes later, and two CPTers reported the details of the incident. One CPTer traveled with the police to Kiryat Arba police station to file testimony for a formal complaint. The investigation is pending, though police admitted that it is difficult to investigate during the Sukkoth holidays.
Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical initiative to support violence reduction efforts around the world. To learn more about CPT’s peacemaking work, visit our website www.cpt.org Photos of our projects are at www.cpt.org/gallery
24 September 2007: CPT REPORT: Settlers enter village in the South Hebron Hills, assault Palestinians
September, 24, 2007
On September 23rd, shortly before sundown, ten Israeli settlers entered the village of Tuba in the South Hebron Hills. The settlers threw stones, hitting a woman and her adult son. Settlers remained in the village for about an hour. Israeli partners called police at 5:30pm to report the incident. Police did not arrive in Tuba until 7:30pm after the settlers had already left.
Tuba, a village of about 75 people, has experienced on-going harassment by settlers from the nearby Israeli settlement of Ma’on, and illegal outpost Havat Ma’on. School aged children from Tuba are accompanied to school in nearby At-Tuwani by an Israeli military escort because of repeated attacks on the children by settlers. In April of this year, three girls were injured when settlers attacked the children on their way home from school and stole two of the children’s book bags. Two weeks ago, the Israeli military demolished an outpost tent the settlers had built illegally on Tuba land. Local Palestinians report that settlers began rebuilding the structure almost immediately. (*see At-Tuwani Release: Demolition in South Hebron Hills, September 09, 2007)
12 July 2007 Susiya Release: Palestinians, Israelis and internationals show solidarity 12 July 2007 by Matthew Chandler
Over 150 Palestinians, Israelis and internationals gathered Saturday, 7 July 2007 to support the people of Susiya, a small Palestinian village in the South Hebron Hills that faces expulsion and destruction by the Israeli military for the fifth time. (See “Palestinian villagers from Susiya face threat of fifth eviction” from 15 June 2007.) The event was a follow-up to a small informational tour the previous Saturday.
The group heard a series of representatives from Susiya and the surrounding Palestinian villages share about their struggle to survive in the face of constant harassment, abuse and land confiscation from the Israeli forces and settlers who surround them. A visitor from Beit Omar summarized the sense of frustration among the group: “We cannot speak of the High Court of Justice,” referring to the Israeli judiciary that dismissed Susiya’s appeal to prevent demolition, “It is the High Court of Injustice.” A representative from Ta’ayush, an Israeli peace organization, also spoke about his group’s efforts to achieve justice in the region. “We thank the people of Susiya for their hospitality and their steadfast courage,” he said, “They are doing this for all of us, and it is our privilege to be part of this struggle.”
The day’s activities culminated with a walking tour around the Palestinians’ homes and farmlands, again hearing the stories of demolition and harassment at each stop. Palestinians and Israelis sang and chanted together, saying, “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies,” and, “From Susiya to Beirut, the people live and will not die.” Members of the Israeli-Palestinian organization Combatants for Peace carried a banner reading, “This is not about security. This is about outright theft!”
Dozens of Israeli soldiers and police officers confronted the group when the tour entered the closed military zone near Susya settlement, the primary source of harassment for Palestinians in the area. All parties remained calm, however, and there were no injuries or arrests.
Several residents of Susiya reported to CPT and Operation Dove that they were encouraged to know they were not alone. Local and international journalists covered the event, putting stress on the Israeli government’s public relations regarding policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Villagers still do not know what the outcome of the decision of the Israeli Civil Administration will be for the fate of their village. A political concession is the last hope the residents of Susiya have for preventing their imminent eviction.
At-Tuwani Release: Palestinian Villagers from Susiya Face Threat of Fifth Eviction
CPT Report: 17 June 2007, Susiya
By Diane Janzen and Sean O’Neill
On 6 June, the Israeli high court ruled on whether or not the Palestinians from the village of Susiya can remain on their land and build permanent housing, or whether the Israeli military is to evacuate the village and demolish their structures.
The high court lifted the temporary injunction that had been in place since fall of 2001 that prevented the Israeli military from performing further evacuations and demolitions. The high court gave the village leaders 30 more days to present a map of the area showing the existing structures and areas where villagers want to build houses to the Israeli Civil Administration (or District Coordination Office - DCO). According to the court, after the thirty days, those who have submitted plans, will have an additional 45 day grace period in which demolitions will not be carried out, after which time the decision to evict or not evict will be left up to the DCO.
The judges were angry with the villagers and the villagers’ lawyer saying that the court had requested the map of the area six months ago and had not received it. However, a villager told CPTers that the village leadership had already submitted maps on two different occasions and the DCO had rejected them due to small technicalities.
The Israeli military has evicted the Palestinian villagers from Susiya and demolished their homes several times already in the last 20 years. The first was when the Israeli military evicted the villagers from their original homes in the mid-1980’s proclaiming the archeological site that the village was next to a national park. The villagers relocated onto their land, but settlers from the nearby settlement of Susya (established in 1983) complained that the Palestinians were too close to the settlement and so the Israeli military evacuated the population. Some of the villagers returned to their lands, living near the Susya settlement.
In July 2001, after a settler from Susya was found murdered, the Israeli military came to the village and beat and arrested many Palestinians, and demolished most of the caves and structures, filled in wells and cisterns with dirt and rocks, and destroyed fields. Although soldiers told the villagers to leave the area, they remained; living in Red Cross tents, which the military also demolished after one week. The middle of September 2001 the military forcefully transferred the villagers to Palestinian-controlled area A.
On 25 September 2001, the villagers submitted a petition to the Israeli high court asking the court to prevent further demolitions and evacuations and allow them to remain and live on their land. The court placed a temporary injunction on further demolitions or evacuations until they came to a final decision.
The Susiya villagers are working with engineers from Hebron to draft yet another map to present to the Israeli Civil Administration, in hopes of preventing the military from forcing them yet again off their land.
April 27th, 2007 Haaretz Report:
Report: Settlers assault left-wing activists protecting shepherds By Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondent
West Bank settlers on Friday assaulted left-wing activists who had come to protect about 20 Palestinian shepherds in the southern Hebron Hills, lightly wounding a Palestinian man and a female Israeli activist, the activists said.
However, police said there were no casualties.
Arik Ascherman, the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, said eight settlers, with dogs, assaulted the three Israeli and seven foreign left-wing activists, breaking several cameras.
Israeli security forces arrived at the scene and detained Ascherman and two of the settlers for questioning.
April 16th, 2007: CPT Release: Israeli military abduct Palestinian shepherds in South Hebron Hills region:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Israeli Defense Force soldiers abducted two Palestinian shepherds from their fields today near the Israeli settlement outpost Avigail.
The shepherds, Usef Ibrahim Abed Mur, of Imneizel, and Muhammed Jihad Halil Abu Aram, of Qawawis, were grazing on Palestinian land. The arrests occurred after Yacov Dalia, a settler from the area invited soldiers onto the land and argued that the land is owned by the State of Israel.
Soldiers arrested Ibrahim at approximately 11:00 am, and Jihad at 3:30 PM. The soldiers blindfolded and took the shepherds without warning, and without allowing them time to secure their flocks. Ibrahim was grazing by himself, and a shepherd from the Palestinian village of Jinba collected his sheep for him. Both detainees were released at 7:00 am Sunday night from the military base at Susiya.
On Sunday, April 14, IDF soldiers detained seven-year-old Maher Ahmed Moussa Ibnes and his cousin, sixteen year old Ndal Samir Moussa Ibnes in nearby Imneizel. At approximately 9:00 am Maher Ahmed Moussa Ibnes was grazing sheep on Palestinian land near the Israeli settlement of Beit Yatir when a stone he threw to move the sheep hit the settlement fence.
At approximately 9:00 am Israeli Defense Forces arrived at the boy’s home. They informed the family that they had surveillance video of the boy throwing a stone at the settlement and insisted on taking him into custody. His cousin, Nadal Samir was allowed to accompany him in the military jeep, which took both boys to the checkpoint at Beit Yatir. The boys’ families, and members of the community of Imneizel, followed on foot to the checkpoint. IDF soldiers informed the family that they would release seven-year-old Ndal Samir, but would arrest his cousin, Nadal Samir, who was not present at the alleged incident, and did not appear on the surveillance tape.
IDF soldiers then blindfolded Nadal Samir and transported him to the military base at Susiya. He was released about two and a half hours later in response to calls from a representative of the Red Cross.
The first such incident in recent days took place on March 18, when soldiers detained five shepherds at Beit Yatir. Soldier took the shepherds, Jihad Ibrahim Mor, Mohamed Halil Suliman Rashid, Ahmed Mohamed Halil Rashid, Ezhaq Ahmed Ali Hrezat and Samir Ahmed Mohamed Hrezat, to the army base at Susiya and released them in the early evening.
For more information, contact: Heidi Schramm, 0543065897
Feb. 14th, 2007: CPT Release: Israeli Military demolish seven Palestinian homes in South Hebron:
Click here for PSP’s on the ground report of these home demolitions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Israeli military demolishes seven Palestinian homes in south Hebron district
14 February 2007
AT-TUWANI -
Israeli soldiers demolished homes in three Palestinian villages near bypass road 317 on February 14, 2007. Starting in Imneizil at around 9am about forty Israeli soldiers with two bulldozers demolished one home, an animal pen and a stone bake-oven. At noon the soldiers moved to Qawawis where they demolished the homes of five families and one bake-oven, then on to Um Al-Kher where they demolished one home and damaged a wall of another home.
At Imneizil several young children were in their home eating when the Israeli military arrived; the soldiers gave the family time to get out, but did not give them time to remove their personal belongings. The animal pen was demolished with a few animals inside; two lambs were injured. The Palestinian family began immediately to build a makeshift pen for the animals as the majority of the sheep were just returning from grazing in the fields.
In the village of Qawawis one of the demolished homes was over sixty-five years old, and sheltered two families. Photos of the families amid the rubble are on the CPT photo gallery: http://www.cpt.org/gallery/viewalbum.php?setalbumName=album93
The Israeli military, in concert with Israeli settlers, has been trying to force the Palestinian residents of the south Hebron hills to leave their homes for years. Due to harassment from the nearby Israeli outposts several of the young families of Qawawis moved to a nearby town; when the Israeli army then forcibly evacuated the remaining families, a court ordered that the families could return to their homes. According to a lawyer representing the families, the Israeli army now claims that this court ruling allows only the last inhabitants of Qawawis to return, not their children who earlier fled the assaults of the Israeli settlers.
“Our children need homes,” said one villager. “What do they want us to do?”
The Israeli army said, “Twenty illegal structures were destroyed after demolition orders were issued, and offers were made to the owners to pursue the available options before the planning organizations. The supervisory unit of the civil administration will continue to operate against illegal building activity in the area, and to implement the steps mandated by law against this illegal activity.” The Israeli military made no provisions for shelter for the families whose homes they demolished. The families asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to provide them with tents.
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions said, “A building permit is unavailable there [in the south Hebron hills].” The preceding day three Israeli peace activists and two internationals, including CPTer Sally Hunsberger, joined approximately fifty Palestinians in working on their land near Imneizil. The Palestinian men, women and children planted 600 olive trees in fields that they had been afraid to walk on for the past four years due to threats of settler violence. During the action, soldiers and settlers watched from a distance, but did not interfere with the tree planting.
Feb. 8th 2007: Operation Dove Report:
Two Palestinian families near Mnser attacked by a colonist
On the morning of Saturday 20th January about twelve Israeli activists came to accompany farmers plowing their fields near Israeli colonies. Two human rights workers (HRWs) and the Israeli activists went first to Mufagara and then to Kharuba where villagers plowed with four donkeys while soldiers were up by the Ma’on outpost. They saw a few colonists, but there were no problems.
Others went to a small village near Mnser where a colonist attacked the two families living there. Soldiers came and threatened the Israelis who were confronting the colonists. When a ten-year old tried to leave, a soldier fired warning shots into the air and ordered people to stay. The police came and took an Israeli activist’s ID and then went to the Kiryat Arba police station to file a complaint against him. The Israeli activist had his ID returned and was released at 6:30pm.
IOF harrassment in Al Birki
On the night of Monday 22nd January soldiers invaded the home of a family in Al Birki, handcuffed and blindfolded the father and three sons, and dropped them off at 3:30am in the morning near Al Fawwar, about 10 miles away. On the morning of Wednesday 24th the family received a call from a DCO Captain (District Coordination Office - the civilian administration wing of the Israeli military in the West Bank), who claimed to be head of intelligence for Shabbak in the Hebron district, demanding that twelve members of the family report to the DCO within half an hour or “I will come with my soldiers and it will be very violent.” Two internationals spent the night with the family, which passed without incident. On Friday 26th the family received another threatening phone call saying that the Red Cross, the journalists, and the foreigners will be of no help to her, that he must bring his entire family immediately to the DCO or there will be big problems.
Palestinian shepherds attacked by colonists near At Tuwani village
On Saturday 3rd February at around 10:30am a Palestinian shepherd on the north side of highway 317 near the colony of Ma’on called for HRWs. There was a gathering of about eight Palestinian men, women and children on the hill opposite Ma’on who recounted the following:
Two young shepherds were herding the flocks of three families when four settlers whose faces were covered, came and began herding the sheep towards the colony. When more family members approached, the colonists threw rocks at them and threatened them with sticks. An IOF jeep came and separated the colonists from the shepherds and their sheep. The colonists returned to Ma’on.
Returning to At Tuwani the HRWs met Israeli police who were passing on the road. The story was reported to the police who asked if anyone was injured and said to call them if there were further problems.
JAN 13, 2007: YNETPORT: 400 Rally for Palestinians in South Hebron
- Some 400 protestors, including 250 Israelis, rallied on Saturday for the residents of Susia, a village in southern Har Hebron. The protestors claimed they sought to identify with the Palestinian residents of the village due to the demolition orders issued by the Civil Administration against illegal structures in the area.
The rally and visit to the village were held in conjuncture with an upcoming High Court of Justice debate regarding the demolition and eviction orders against residents of the village. During the rally residents of the village spoke of the harassment they suffered from settlers. (Ali Waked)
Related: ISM Report on the Rally in Sussia
JAN 8th, 2007: Former Israeli Minister of Education on Israeli Apartheid:
- “Israel is an occupying power that for 40 years has been oppressing an indigenous people, which is entitled to a sovereign and independent existence while living in peace with us. We should remember that we too used very violent terror against foreign rule because we wanted our own state. And the list of victims of terror is quite long and extensive. We do limit ourselves to denying the [Palestinian] people human rights. We not only rob of them of their freedom, land and water. We apply collective punishment to millions of people and even, in revenge-driven frenzy, destroy the electricity supply for one and half million civilians. Let them “sit in the darkness” and “starve”.”
Local residents clashed Sunday with Interior Ministry inspectors and police in the unrecognized Bedouin village Al-Twayil, north of Be’er Sheva.
The residents were protesting the decision to demolish some of the buildings in the village, which had just started being repaired following a previous demolition at the beginning of the month.
Police cars were damaged by stone-throwers and one of the residents was arrested.
A week and a half ago the Israel Lands Authority and the Interior Ministry demolished 17 of the 50 structures that make up the village - caravans, shacks and tents - leaving 12 families homeless.
The families were moved in the past to the nearby areas of Lahura and Layika, but they were unable to remain due to claims on the land by other families, leading many of them to return to their original land over the past 20 years.
The Israel Lands Authority views them as squatters and therefore refuses to help them find housing.
The residents had started to rebuild their homes, when left-wing activists from the Jewish-Arab Forum for Coexistence in the Negev arrived Saturday to assist in the reconstruction of their homes.
Nonetheless, Interior Ministry representatives, accompanied by police, and distributed demolition orders to the same families who’s homes had been demolished earlier in the month.
A riot ensued and some of the residents threw stones, damaging the windows of police cars. The police sent reinforcements to the location, including Border Police units.
Most of the residents fled to the adjacent hilltops and the police were unable to arrest them. Police did however arrest one of the village’s prominent residents, who had not been in the settlement at the time when the riot broke out.
The demolition of the buildings in Al-Tueil is being carried out despite the recent recommendation of the Knesset’s Interior Committee to refrain from demolishing Bedouin homes until the residents are alternate accommodation.
Arab Knesset members expressed strong criticism of the demolition. MK Taleb el-Sana (Ra’am-Ta’al) noted that the demolition had made both elderly people and children homeless during the winter, describing the act as “a declaration of war by the state against it’s Bedouin citizens.”
Dec. 14th 2006, Haaretz report: IDF told to dismantle Barrier:
“The nature of the injury to the local residents is severe because of their way of life and character,” wrote Justice Aharon Barak.
Palestinian Villagers from Tuba Flee Invasion of 50 Israeli Settlers CPT/Operation Dove Report:
Sunday 19 November 2006
At 8:45am 50 adult, male, Israeli settlers some of whom were carrying guns, walked from the illegal Israeli outpost of Havot Ma’on (Hill 833) toward the small Palestinian village of Tuba. On the way, they encountered the young children from Tuba and Migaer Al-Abeed walking to school in At- Tuwani under Israeli military escort. Most of the children, terrified, ran back towards Tuba. A village elder accompanied them back to their escort and all of the children arrived safely in At-Tuwani, although visibly shaken by their experience.
Two international volunteers from Operation Dove ran from At-Tuwani to Tuba. When they got near the village they met some of the villagers who had fled their houses and taken refuge in the hills. Some of them had taken their flocks of sheep and goats with them. A villager testified that when the settlers first approached the village they said that they were out hiking and would not bother the villagers. The Palestinian said, however, that the settlers entered the village and started throwing stones at the animals and at the village’s generator. They also emptied storage containers of water, a commodity which is in very short supply in the village.
The villagers pointed out the direction in which the settlers had gone. The Doves were walking in that direction when, at 9:45am, the Israeli police and army arrived on the scene. This was more than an hour after they had been called. The Doves saw the police jeep stop and the army jeep continue further on. The police and soldiers ordered the Doves to stop following the settlers. A villager later reported that the soldiers then shouted to the settlers to leave because the police were coming. The villager also reported that he saw the settlers go into a nearby valley and hide.
The Doves video taped their discussion with the police. Audible on the recording are the police’s radio conversations with their colleagues. These colleagues can be heard to say that they encountered some of the settlers, including four of whom the villager had given a description. However, the police did not detain the settlers, claiming that there was no evidence against them
This is the latest example in this area of settler violence towards Palestinians, which again has evoked no response from the Israeli authorities.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2 November 2006
Around 7:50 p.m., armed men pulled a Palestinian man from the car in which he was riding and drove away with him. A friend of the kidnapped man and driver of the car relayed the story to CPT and Operation Dove members in At Tuwani.
The driver stated that on the road from Yatta to At Tuwani, very close to the Israeli bypass road 317, a vehicle blocked their path and blinded them by turning on the high beams. Armed men surrounded the car, shouting in Hebrew. One of the armed men opened the rear passenger door and yanked the man who was sitting in that seat from the car. He then slammed the door, and they pulled the kidnapped man into their pickup truck. The driver said that the men appeared to be wearing some type of uniforms. The vehicle the kidnappers drove was a white Mazda pickup truck with yellow and black license plates.
One of the men from the car called a relative in At Tuwani, who in turn alerted members of CPT and Operation Dove to the situation. Heidi Schramm and Diana Zimmerman, along with two members of Operation Dove, immediately walked down to route 317 and met with the other Palestinian men from the car.
At 8:05p.m., CPT telephoned the Israeli police at the Kiryat Arba police station. They stated they would send someone in thirty minutes to an hour. Many Palestinians gathered along Route 317 waiting for the police to arrive. After about twenty minutes, they walked into the center of the road and stopped traffic in an attempt to make the police respond to the scene. The police arrive on the scene at 8:50p.m. and began speaking to the eyewitnesses of the kidnapping. At 9:20p.m. a friend of the team called to say that the Israeli military released the man from their base in Zif.
A family member of the kidnapped man picked him up at Zif and drove him to At Tuwani so he could speak with the police. A family member told Zimmerman that the kidnapped man was immediately blindfolded and afterwards beaten by the men who took him.
THE QUESTION OF ILLEGAL OUTPOSTS STILL STANDS:
Oct. 26 PSP: Israeli settlers from Sussia Occupy More Land, Destroy Olive Groves
Sept. 27 CPTnet: Israeli Settlers Attack Susiya Elder while Soldier Stands By
Sept. 14 CPTnet: Israeli Settlers Sabotage Water Truck to Susiya
The Fear Remains Constant
At-Tuwani
Joel Gulledge
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)
November 2006
At-Tuwani, South Hebron District
Occupied Palestinian Territiories
“Your heads will be on the stones if you don’t leave this place”, threatened an Israeli settler from illegal outpost Havot Ma’on (Hill 833), to members of Christian Peacemaker Teams in the Palestinian village of At-Tuwani. Captured on video, but ignored by district Israeli police, the threat is part and parcel of daily life for Palestinians – and the reason for the continuous presence of international human rights workers here since 2004. A few days later, during a “routine check”, I witness my neighbor being physically abused by Israeli soldiers. Such abuse often ceases when soldiers become aware that internationals are present, filming their actions.
Ancient At-Tuwani is located in the South Hebron Hills of the West Bank, home to some one thousand Palestinians who reside in natural caves, living off the land and grazing their flocks of goats and sheep. The topography is harsh; there is no running water or electricity. Under complete Israeli control in “Area C,” many South Hebron residents have been expelled, having their homes and property destroyed. Israeli settlers have attacked villagers and human rights workers, and destroyed olive trees. Villagers’ livestock and one water cistern have been poisoned; an act UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Director Robert Kennedy called a form of chemical warfare.
The Israeli separation barrier along route 317 near At-Tuwani restricts villagers’ access to their farmland and to vital services such as health clinics, education and markets in nearby cities. Multiple UN reports describe the South Hebron communities as “once self-sustainable, now having one of the highest poverty levels in the West Bank” due to the Israeli occupation. Prominent Israeli human rights group B’Tselem reports that the regions’ “proximity to the Green Line and the sparse Palestinian population living there make the southern Hebron hills a ‘natural’ candidate for annexation [by Israel], as well as an attractive site for settlement that will create a contiguous Jewish presence on both sides of the Green Line.”
In the village of Sussia, the Israeli military has crushed the residents’ cave homes. Now the villagers live in tents. I traveled there to take the testimony of a village elder assaulted that day by masked settlers. Days before, settlers had strewn metal spikes across the road attempting to prevent the truck carrying desperately needed water from reaching the community. Three tires were pierced and the water was delayed.
Back in At-Tuwani, my neighbor served me tea as we watched his children play near their home. “It’s hard watching my children grow up under the same occupation I did,” he says. “I don’t want them to live in fear.”
Until the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands is ended, the basic human and civil rights of such families will never be assured. And the fear which my neighbor knows so well will remain a constant.