Christian Peacemaker Teams protecting school children, shepherds and farmers plowing sowing picking olives, from settlers

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?

Wednesday November 7

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

This was a very sad day in the village. The team was awakened at 4 am by the loudspeakers of the mosque. A 12 year old girl from the village had died. As there is no health care available in the village, her family drove her to a hospital in Yatta, a 30 minute drive along poorly maintained roads. They initially went to one inadequately equipped hospital, then to another, but by the time they reached the second hospital she had died. (Palestinian hospitals and roads, like the rest of the public infrastructure, are in poor condition after 40 years of Israeli military occupation. The already impoverished conditions were worsened by the financial boycott, imposed by the international community, on the Palestinian territories following the democratic election of a Hamas government in 2006. Most of the financial aid given recently to the Fatah government, has been for the security forces of President Mahmoud Abbas)

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.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Chiagi, Hanson and Stucky went to observe and monitor Palestinians plowing the Qawawis/Susiya area, south of At-Tuwani, near the Israeli settlement of Beit Yattir. Many of the families have left their homes because of harassment from Israeli settlers and now live in the nearby city of Yatta. However, they still work their land. The Palestinians had coordinated their plowing work with the DCO (the branch of the Israeli military that deals with Palestinian civilian matters). (see 15 November Release: Settlers Interfere with Palestinian plowing)

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.

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 A map of the center of Hebron is at http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/fullMaps_Sa.nsf/0/5618737E38C0B3DE8525708C004BA584/$File/ocha_OTS_hebron_oPt010805.pdf?OpenElement The same map is the last page of this report on closures in Hebron: www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/och

AT-TUWANI REFLECTION: Water

Demonstration of how to build a dew catcher.

Eileen Hanson, Christian Peacemaker Teams, 07.10.07. Life on the edge of the Negev desert has never been easy. Water has always been scarce. But people have been living here for thousands of years and have developed ways of living to meet the challenges of the environment. But things have changed in recent years. Twenty years ago the settlement of Ma'on was established on land belonging to families living in Tuwani. Many of the cisterns traditionally used by families from Tuwani and neighboring villages have been taken over by settlers. Palestinians are either physically unable to access them, or fear violence if they approach what was once their family's land and cistern. The settlement of Ma'on with its green manicured lawns, irrigated fields and orchards, draws water from the underground aquifer that supplies this entire area. The Tuwani village well is low because the aquifer is getting lower and lower by the year. Ma'on settler use of water is completely out of tune with the environment here. Worst of all, it is destroying the possibilities for others to sustain even the simplest life here. Settlers refuse to admit that they are living on the edge of the desert and adapt accordingly. Water trucks are a very visible target. Other villages have had roads blocked, or trucks attacked and been unable to get water to the village. A difficult situation becomes even more complex when having to consider that your neighbors might ambush your family's water supply.

Living on the edge of the Negev desert, water is a major concern here. Normally the winter rains fill cisterns in the area, which supply water through the dry summer months. People use cistern water for watering their flocks as well as for household cleaning and bathing. The well is the village source for drinking water. All the cisterns are empty now, and the well is very low.

Many families have already brought in a truck of water to fill their cistern. However many others probably cannot afford to do this. The men of Tuwani and a number of surrounding villages met this morning to discuss the situation.

Life in this area has never been easy. Water has always been scarce. But people have been living here for thousands of years and have developed ways of living to meet the challenges of the environment.

But things have changed in recent years. Twenty years ago the settlement of Ma'on was established on land belonging to families living in Tuwani. Many of the cisterns traditionally used by families from Tuwani and neighboring villages have been taken over by settlers. Palestinians are either physically unable to access them, or fear violence if they approach what was once their family's land and cistern.

The settlement of Ma'on with its green manicured lawns, irrigated fields and orchards, draws water from the underground aquifer that supplies this entire area. The Tuwani village well is low because the aquifer is getting lower and lower by the year.

This is not an uncommon story. Throughout the West Bank, settlements are taking the lion's share of water, leaving Palestinians with scarce resources. Some estimates of settler water usage are as high as 8 or 9 to 1 compared with Palestinians water use. Many other villages in the Hebron district are also experiencing serious water shortages. It is clear just by looking as the contrasting lifestyles of Tuwani and the settlers at Ma'on that settler use of water is completely out of tune with the environment here. Worst of all, it is destroying the possibilities for others to sustain even the simplest life here.

People in Tuwani do not want water to fill up swimming pools. They simply want enough water for their flocks and their families to have enough to drink and bathe. Local Palestinians continue to live a life close to the land and respectful of the resources. It is the settlers who refuse to admit that they are living on the edge of the desert and adapt accordingly.

The lack of water is also a real concern here in part because it presents yet another vulnerability of Palestinians to the occupying powers, the Israeli military and the Israeli settlers. Perhaps Palestinian villagers can band together and buy water to provide enough until the rains come in November or December. But water trucks are a very visible target. Other villages have had roads blocked, or trucks attacked and been unable to get water to the village. A difficult situation becomes even more complex when having to consider that your neighbors might ambush your family's water supply.

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 A map of the center of Hebron is at http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/fullMaps_Sa.nsf/0/5618737E38C0B3DE8525708C004BA584/$File/ocha_OTS_hebron_oPt010805.pdf?OpenElement The same map is the last page of this report on closures in Hebron: www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/ochaHU0705_En.pdf

Havot Ma'on settlers attack CPTers, steal video camera

Christian Peacemaker Teams, 28/09/07. 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 A map of the center of Hebron is at http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/fullMaps_Sa.nsf/0/5618737E38C0B3DE8525708C004BA584/$File/ocha_OTS_hebron_oPt010805.pdf?OpenElement The same map is the last page of this report on closures in Hebron: www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/ochaHU0705_En.pdf

At-Tuwani Update 07-07-11 to 07-07-24

Chistian Peacemaker Teams. Every day the team accompanied Palestinian shepherds in fields near Israeli settlements and settler outposts. The team accompanied shepherds from At-Tuwani and Mufakara in Khoruba valley near the Hill 833 settler outpost. They also accompanied shepherds from the village of Tuba. The team monitored several temporary Israeli military checkpoints on the Palestinian road leading from At-Tuwani north to Yatta. On team during this period were members of Operation Dove (the Doves) and CPTers Diane Janzen, Sarah Scruggs, Matthew Chandler, and Peggy Gish.

Wednesday 11 July

CPTers Chandler and Janzen monitored a temporary checkpoint on Road 317 in the late afternoon. The soldiers briefly stopped a Palestinian from At-Tuwani who later told Janzen the soldiers had yelled at him to run towards them, but he just kept walking. When he got to the jeep, the soldiers asked him why he didn't run and he told them he had already walked 2km. When the soldiers saw the CPTers coming down the hill one said, "Here come the sons of bitches."

Friday 13 July

Chandler and Gish walked to Tuba in the morning. About 10am, a settler security guard and the Israeli army arrived in the area and told the Tuba shepherds they were on Ma'on land. The soldiers said the shepherds were allowed to be on the farmed land lower in the valley, but not up on the hillside. After several minutes of arguing, some of the Palestinians started to leave the area and the soldiers left with the settler security guard.

Saturday 14 July

In Tuba, the settler security guard and the army came again and told the Palestinians they were on Ma'on land. When Chandler and Gish arrived, Palestinians were telling the soldiers the whole valley was theirs and the Israeli military's civil administration, called the District Coordinating Office (DCO), confirmed it two weeks before. The soldiers threatened to arrest one of the teenage boys. A Palestinian asked Chandler to call the DCO. The DCO finally promised to send someone after a call from an Israeli peace activist.

Two more army jeeps, a police jeep, and two border police jeeps arrived and an hour later, the DCO. All of the Israeli forces congregated to speak to the DCO captain. Afterwards, the police returned the IDs to the two Palestinian men and said the valley in question was in fact open to the Palestinians for grazing, but not for farming. One Palestinian told him that was false and said he wanted to speak to the DCO directly.

The DCO captain came and explained the entire valley did indeed belong to the people of Tuba, and they could use it freely. However, he insisted the Palestinians coordinate with the DCO whenever they want to work the land. One Palestinians told him there was no point to coordinating because the DCO never comes when they do.

Sunday 15 July

Janzen and Scruggs visited a family in the village of Magheer el Abeed. The father of the family told the CPTers that at 10am, a truck drove toward him, his sons, and their sheep. A settler emerged from the truck and pointed a gun at them. The Palestinians then descended into the valley and the settler drove away.

Monday 16 July

Janzen and Scruggs went to observe a temporary checkpoint on Road 317, where the police had stopped a car coming from Yatta and were blocking the passage of other vehicles. One of the police officers asked for Scruggs' ID. After she gave him her passport, he told her if she didn't stop taking photos and leave in two minutes she would be arrested. Scruggs moved to the other side of Road 317 and Janzen arrived. About 10 minutes later, the Israeli police moved their vehicle to allow other vehicles to pass. After another 15 minutes, police returned the IDs to the Palestinians and drove away.

Wednesday 18 July

While accompanying shepherds in Khoruba valley, Janzen and Scruggs observed a Palestinian woman walking with her children in the valley toward At-Tuwani. A settler came down from the wooden house in Hill 833 and sat above the road the family was going to walk on. The Palestinians moved to the opposite side of the valley and continued on their way.

Thursday 19 July

In the afternoon, Gish, Chandler, Janzen and Scruggs joined residents of At-Tuwani in a meeting with consulate staff from Australia, Ireland, Norway, and Portugal at the school in At-Tuwani.

At 4:45pm, a plain truck entered At-Tuwani from Hill 833 and drove to a Palestinian home nearby. When Janzen and Chandler arrived, they saw two armed men in the truck: the driver was in civilian clothes, and the passenger in an army uniform. The driver had a still camera and was taking pictures of everyone, but left almost immediately after Janzen and Chandler arrived..

After the truck left, the Palestinians told Chandler and Janzen the men said they were with the DCO, but didn't act like it. They told everyone at the house they had to go inside, and when they did not, the armed men cocked their guns and threatened to start shooting. In the midst of this, they took pictures of the newer construction at the house, saying it was forbidden and would be demolished.

After the incident, one of the Palestinians called the DCO, who said they would come to At-Tuwani. Chandler and Janzen waited at the house until sunset. The DCO never came.

Friday, 20 July

Chandler and Gish responded to a call from a Palestinian regarding settlers from Susya settlement planting on Palestinian land near Qawawis. The CPTers filmed and took pictures of three settlers working in the field and then returned to At-Tuwani.

The same Palestinian man from Susiya called later saying the police and Palestinian landowners had come to the area. When Chandler and a Dove arrived, the police were speaking with the settlers who had been working the land. Up to 20 settlers from the Susya settlement gradually arrived and talked with each other on the side of the road. An army jeep and later two more and two border police jeeps arrived. . .

An hour later, when the DCO officer arrived, he went first to speak with the police and army present. Several settlers argued with them. In the meantime, settlers approached the Palestinians, Chandler and the Dove. The border police intervened to try to keep the two groups separate. Finally, the DCO spoke with one of the Palestinian landowners and told him they had to investigate the matter further to decided who owned the plot of land. Then they declared the area a closed military zone.

Saturday, 21 July

A group of seventy-five Palestinian children from the Hebron area led by a Palestinian peace activist arrived in At-Tuwani for a solidarity visit. When they walked back to their busses parked on Road 317, an army jeep was there. The soldiers said the driver of one of the busses was suspicious because he had Israeli plates stored in the bus, and Palestinians plates on the bus. The soldiers insisted the group must wait for the police to arrive and showed no regard for the children who were forced to wait in the heat without water

The police arrived after about 45 minutes. The children protested while waiting, chanting and crowding around the army and police, saying, "We want to go," and, "We want water." The police and army responded by shouting at the children to go away. After about 1.5 hours in total, the police gave the driver of one bus a citation for parking illegally on the road. The group then left for a tour of Qawawis.

Sunday, 22 July

Chandler and Gish returned to the same plot of land near Qawawis as the previous Friday to join four other internationals in documenting Israeli settlers working on the Palestinian-owned land. Soldiers tried to stop them from going out into the field where the settlers were working, but they went anyway. After the settlers left, they went out and filmed around the work site, where the tractor sat. When they got back to the road, about fifteen teenage settlers came, took their pictures and taunted them. Another military vehicle and a police also came to the scene. When the Palestinian landowners arrived, the CPTers and internationals stood around them and their car to protect them from the settler youth. The landowners spoke to the police, who told them they would have to go to the Kiryat Arba police station the following morning to file their complaint.

Monday, 23 July

The owners of the land that settlers from Susya had been working the previous evening went to the Kiryat Arba police station as directed, but the police did not allow them in to file their complaint.

A Palestinian came by in the evening and told the team he had just returned from the Israeli High Court case regarding the wall along Road 317. The court ruled the Israeli army must disassemble the wall within two weeks and everyday after that time, if it hasn't been removed, they must pay the Palestinians in villages south of the wall a large sum of money.

Tuesday, 24 July

A Palestinian reported to the team in the late afternoon that the army had started to disassemble the wall along Route 317.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cpthebron/message/963