At-Tuwani Update: 1 November – 30 November 2007
Every school day, the team monitored the Israeli army escort of children coming to and going from the Tuwani school. The team accompanied Palestinian shepherds and farmers plowing and sowing, in fields near the Israeli settlement of Ma’on and the settler outpost of Havot Ma’on. They also accompanied Palestinians picking olives. The team monitored several temporary Israeli military checkpoints beside Road 317. The checkpoints restrict movement on the Palestinian road leading from At-Tuwani north to Yatta.
On team were CPTers: Jan Benvie, Laura Chiagi, Joy Ellison, Lorne Friesen, Art Gish, Eileen Hanson, Bob Holmes, Rich Meyer, Sean O’Neill, and Jonathon Stucky.
Friday, November 2
The team marked All Souls Day by spending time in silence (Quaker style) at the olive tree that was planted in memory of CPTer Tom Fox (killed in Iraq in March 2006).
Women from the Israeli group Ta’ayush visited the village to meet with Palestinian women. They reported that they had observed an Israeli soldier and settler harassing a Palestinian shepherd near Road 317. They said that the soldier had pointed his gun at the shepherd.
Saturday November 3
At around 3:30pm Hanson saw an army jeep drive through Tuwani and stop just beyond the village, near Humra. Hanson and Hough spoke with the soldiers who advised the CPTers that they were there to provide security for the olive harvest. The soldiers left the area when the family picking olives had finished their harvest and returned home.
The Palestinian Minister of Health visited the village and came to speak with CPT for a short time. About what?
The Israeli army erected a guard rail along Road 317. Initially the team was concerned that the rail would have the same effect as the low wall that was recently removed following an Israeli court ruling (see update entry for Tuesday 7 August). However, the guard rail only covers a short area, and does not completely block access across Road 317.
Friday, November 9, 2007
The team, along with other internationals and Israelis from Rabbis for Human Rights, accompanied farmers plowing and sowing near Tuba.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Shepherds from Tuba, the site of the plowing action the previous day, reported that a group of Israeli settlers had chased them off their land. The Palestinians felt that this was retaliation for the previous day’s action when they were able to work their land, albeit with Israeli military protection. CPTers walked over to Khoruba hill to view the area, but did not see any settlers.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Chiagi and Ellison visited with the women of the family and Hough with the men. They expressed their grief and sorrow at the death of one so young.
This event has deeply saddened the whole village. There was no school as the whole village was in mourning.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The army escort did not come for the children in the morning. The children waited for over one and a half hours, then walked by themselves to school. They did not walk the short route (that they walk with the army escort) for fear of attack by settlers, but opted to walk a longer route. CPTers accompanied them.
Meyer and Stucky visited the men’s mourning tent to pay their respects to the dead girl’s family. Chiagi and Hanson visited the women of the family.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
When the army arrived for school escort in the afternoon, they were rude and impatient with Ellison because the children were not there. After a short time the children came and the soldiers left with them.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Benvie, Ellison and Stucky went with an At-Tuwani family as they plowed and sowed their fields just below the Havot Ma’on outpost. Settlers from the outpost claimed that the Palestinians were on their land and called the Israeli police. The Israeli army and police came and stopped the Palestinians from working (although not before the farmers had almost completed their work). They took four Palestinians and CPTer Stucky to Kiryat Arba police station for questioning. On the way, the police asked Stucky to sign a paper in Hebrew, and told him that he would not have to go to the police station if he did so. Stucky explained that he could not read Hebrew and could not therefore sign the paper. All the men were held at the police station for almost four hours; during this time only one Palestinian was questioned. They were all then released without charge.
Saturday November 24, 2007
The team attended a meeting with Palestinians and Israelis to discuss a solidarity walk to the nearby village of Tuba, on 1 December. The Israeli settlers of Ma’on and Havot Ma’on have attacked Palestinians using the direct road from Tuba to At-Tuwani. The Palestinians now have to use a much longer route. The settlers also attack and harass the Tuba villagers in their homes and fields.
Monday November 26, 2007
The Israeli army delivered a demolition order for the mosque in At-Tuwani, driving into the village and leaving the order paper under a stone near the mosque. (See 26 November Release: Demolition Order Issued for Mosque in At-Tuwani)
Wednesday November 28, 2007
An Italian film director came to film the children from Tuba walking to school in At-Tuwani with the army escort. She told CPT that she had contacted the Israeli army asking if she could drive over to Tuba (on the road between the settlement and the outpost) to film the children as they left their village. She said that the army told her that it was too dangerous for her to drive on the road, even with an Israeli registered vehicle. The director and her crew filmed the children as they walked near At-Tuwani.
The CPT delegation arrived in the early afternoon and stayed the night in the village.
Thursday November 29, 2007
The delegation helped with the morning school patrol, then, after breakfast, the team took them on a tour of the village. Palestinians from the village spoke with the delegation, telling them about the difficulties the villagers face because of the nearby illegal Israeli settlement and settlement outpost.
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