FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The villagers of Qawawis woke up Wednesday morning to workers building a meter-high cement wall along the road that runs through their land between the illegal Israeli settlement of Susya and Hebron. The mini-wall designed to keep Palestinian cars from accessing the settler-only road will have the effect of preventing the villagers from being able to access their villages by car or being able to access their lands on the other side of the road. Sheep, tractors or even donkeys will be unable to access the land.
Tomorrow morning villagers will lie down along the route of the wall demanding the a gap is left for them to be able to pass through.
Qawawis villagers, whose sole income is shepherding are forced to live in caves since any structure they construct is demolished by the Israeli authorities. Today alone, thirteen structures were demolished in the south Hebron region. Most of the structures served as outhouses for Palestinians, according to a report in Haaretz (1). Qawawis’s outhouse and their taboon oven are slated for demolition by the Israeli authorities. The villagers are also subject to ongoing attacks from the Israeli settlers who occupy the area.
For more information:
ISM Media Office: 02 297 1824
(1) See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/721882.html