Israeli police beat a Palestinian and confiscated his tractor

13th August 2014 | Operation Dove | at-Tuwani, Occupied Palestine

On August 12th, at approximately 9.45 a.m., near the South Hebron hills area village of at-Tuwani, Israeli Police beat a Palestinian and confiscated his tractor.

The 20-year-old man was driving his tractor, carrying a water tank, from the village of at-Tuwani to Yatta City when the Israeli police stopped him. Palestinian witnesses reported that policemen beat him and sprayed pepper spray into his eyes.

When international volunteers and medical relief arrived on the scene, they witnessed the man lying on the ground and shouting from the pain as two policemen surrounded him.

At 10.00 a.m. the Palestinian was accompanied to the hospital by Palestinian medical relief. After that, the police confiscated the tractor, leaving the water tank in the middle of the road. The police refused to give any explanation about the incident and prohibited the Palestinian man from speaking with his lawyer.

According to B’tselem, “the exercise of illegal force by police officers is a phenomenon characteristic of regimes that are abhorrent, and undemocratic, of the kind that trample on human rights.”

The policy of restriction, checkpoints, closures, arrests and confiscations carried out by the Israeli army and police, combined with the continuous settler’s harassment, denies the Palestinians’ rights of movement, basic sources and rights access and prevents the development of the South Hebron hills area communities.aa

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.