Tag: At-Tuwani

Nonviolent resistance in the south Hebron hills

Joy Ellison | Electronic Intifada

18 June 2009

A couple of months ago I had the great pleasure of watching Palestinians successfully graze their sheep near Avigail settlement, on land where they are regularly attacked and harassed. The joy I felt in watching my friends and partners grazing their sheep on their ancestral lands was overwhelming. Sitting on the hill and eating lunch together felt like having a party.

As the day drew to an end, Mahmoud, one of the Palestinian elders, excitedly explained to me the strategy he had used in dealing with the Israeli army and settlers that morning. He told me how, even though the army had declared the area a closed military zone, he firmly stood up for his rights. He explained how he pretended to slowly begin to comply with the military order, all the while challenging the soldiers and insisting on his right to graze his sheep. Eventually, he said, the army lost control of the situation and gave in. When he finished his description, Mahmoud turned to me and grinned. “I read in a book that this is called nonviolence,” he said, laughing.

When US President Barack Obama called on Palestinians to practice nonviolence, I laughed just like Mahmoud. Palestinians like Mahmoud have never needed to be told about nonviolence. The English word may be unfamiliar but the steadfast, daily acts of resistance known as nonviolence are nothing new. In the south Hebron hills, Palestinians face Israeli soldiers and violent Israeli settlers who are illegally expanding their settlements and attacking Palestinians, including children walking to school. In response to this profound injustice, Palestinians are organizing demonstrations, refusing to comply with military orders, filing complaints against settlers, and courageously working their land despite the risk of arrest and attack. They don’t need President Obama to tell them to practice nonviolence.

Palestinians have practiced nonviolent resistance for the last 60 years. From the “Great Revolt” during the British Mandate to the first Palestinian intifada in 1987, to the loose-knit but powerful community-based movement of today. Certainly, it’s inaccurate to omit armed resistance from Palestinian history, but it is equally false to claim that Palestinians are unfamiliar with nonviolence. President Obama missed the point in his Cairo speech — Palestinians do not need to be admonished towards peacefulness. It’s radical Israeli settlers and the Israeli government who do.

Instead of preaching to Palestinians, Obama should insist emphatically on the dismantlement of Israeli settlements that violate international law and the enforcement of laws to prevent Israeli settlers from attacking Palestinian villagers, a frequent occurrence in the south Hebron hills. After 42 years of Israeli military occupation, it is time for an American president to call on Israel to stop its violence towards Palestinians.

Joy Ellison is an American activist with Christian Peacemaker Teams, an organization that supports Palestinian nonviolent resistance. She lives in At-Tuwani, a small village in the south Hebron hills which is nonviolently resisting settlement expansion and violence. She writes about her experiences on her blog, “I Saw it in Palestine.”

Palestinians demonstrate against Susiya settlement expansion

Christian Peacemaker Teams

5 May 2009

Over one hundred Israeli and Palestinian members of Combatants for Peace gathered peacefully in the Palestinian village of Susiya on 5 May to mark the installation in the village of solar panels and a wind turbine which will provide electricity to the Palestinian village in the South Hebron Hills.

After viewing the panels and turbine, and listening to leaders of the nonviolent resistance in the South Hebron Hills, the group walked towards a house that settlers from the nearby Susiya settlement had built on Palestinian land. Soldiers met the group and read aloud an order declaring the area closed. The group then returned to the village and remained for two hours, talking together and learning about the effects of the occupation on the area.

The original village of Susiya was established in the 1830’s when Palestinians from the South Hebron region purchased the land on the outskirts of the region. Israeli settlers established the settlement of Susiya in l983, and in l986 the Israeli military evicted the villagers from their original cave homes. Some of the families returned to their land but lived in homes scattered over several hilltops.

In the l990’s the military established a military base about 2 km away, and under this military protection Israeli settlers were able to expand onto more of the land that originally belonged to the village of Susiya. Settlers became increasingly violent, and stopped Palestinian farmers form cultivating their land; regularly attacking them. During the l990’s three Palestinians were murdered. In 2001, after the murder of a settler, the entire village was again forcibly evicted by the Israeli army, which used heavy machinery to destroy the cave homes. Over one thousand olive trees were destroyed, and wells were blocked up with sand and rocks. Fields
were destroyed, and livestock were buried alive in pens. Residents were again forcibly removed, but again many returned to their land. Since that time the village has waged a legal battle in the Israeli courts for the right to exist.

Israeli settlers destroy crops near village of At-Tuwani

Christian Peacemaker Team

18 April 2009

On 18 April Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills reported that Israeli settlers had destroyed a large privately owned Palestinian wheat field by allowing a flock of goats and sheep to graze on it. Palestinian owners discovered the destruction when they arrived to harvest the crops on the morning of 18 April.  The field, located in Meshaha Valley, is the property of a family living in the nearby village of At Tuwani.

Also that morning Israeli soldiers declared a large area of land east of At Tuwani to be a closed military zone and forced Palestinian shepherds
and their flocks to leave their land. Land owners and internationals were told they would be subject to arrest if they remained.   The soldiers also ordered Palestinian landowners to advise the military every time they intend to access their own land within the zone.  Israeli soldiers refused to provide Palestinian land owners with copies of the map of the military zone boundaries and would not state how long the closure would last. Throughout the morning, a group of at least ten Israeli settlers conferred with the soldiers.

The Palestinian owners of the land said the area of destroyed crops was approximately 40 dunum (or approximately 10 acres).  Palestinians from At Tuwani and nearby villages have repeatedly observed settlers from the illegal outpost of Havot Ma’on with a flock of sheep and goats grazing on Palestinian land east of the outpost in recent months.  Israeli settlers with the flock have threatened Palestinian shepherds and disrupted the grazing of Palestinian flocks on several occasions this spring, prompting Palestinians to file legal complaints against them.

The crop destruction represents a severe economic loss, as the area is experiencing an extremely dry spring and the field was one of the few near At Tuwani which produced a spring wheat crop.  Spring crops and the raising of sheep and goats are central to the economy and way of life in Tuwani and the surrounding small villages of the South Hebron Hills, and disruption by the Israeli military or settlers of agricultural work at this time of year constitutes a substantial threat to the villages.

Israeli forces arrest a German national and an Italian national in At-Tuwani

11 April 2009

A German national and an Italian national were taken by Israeli forces while accompanying farmers at 11am. Both individuals have been taken to the police station at Kyrat Arba. Palestinian farmers in At-Tuwani rely on the presence of International and Israeli human rights workers to mitigate violence from settlers.

As soldiers in the area frequently ignore settler violence and rarely interfere to protect the farmers, international volunteers provide support for the Palestinians. The grazing action began around 8.30 am, and the German and Italian nationals were arrested at 11am.

At-Tuwani is a village of 300 Palestinians located in South Hebron Hills. Residents make their living through farming, primarily wheat, barley, olives and grazing sheep. At-Tuwani is also one of several villages under daily threat from extremist settlers living in the area. Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills are daily nonviolently resisting settlement expansion and violence at the hands of settlers and soldiers.

Internationals accompany Palestinians as they perform agricultural work on their land and in other nonviolent demonstrations. Internationals accompany Palestinians as they work their land, use video to document settlers, soldiers, and police, and intervene as Palestinians request.

Urgent action for Palestinian school children from Tuba and Maghaer-al-Abeed

Luisa Morgantini

11 April 2009

Of utmost concern for CPT and Operation Dove is the safe travel of Palestinian school children who walk from the nearby villages of Tuba and Magaher-al-Abeed to At-Tuwani’s elementary school. These school children face a treacherous daily walk past the illegal Israeli settlement of Ma’on and the illegal outpost of Havat Ma’on. For years, armed adult settlers have attacked, threatened and harassed the children along the path from Tuba to Tuwani. In 2004 the Knesset recommended that the Israeli military provide the children with an armed escort. However, since settlers constructed a gate across the road one year ago, the escort soldiers have refused to walk with the children far enough to ensure their safety.

In the past two weeks internationals working with Operation Dove and Christian Peacemaker Teams have twice witnessed settlers grazing sheep directly in the path of the children at the time they walk home from school. Because the children have been physically attacked in the past, and threatened with death by settlers earlier this school year, they are terrified by the presence of these settlers. Since an incident on March 24 in which settlers were present at the end of the children’s walk home, internationals and the children have repeatedly asked the soldiers to walk with the children until they are out of danger. On April 1 settlers again came onto the land between the outpost of Havat Ma’on and the village of Tuba while the children were walking. Members of CPT and Operation Dove were present and the children ran towards them crying and very frightened.

Internationals now request that concerned people make calls to the Communications office of the Southern District Commander of the Israeli Military. It is an Israeli phone number, (country code 972) 2 996 7200. Please ask Commander BenMoha to instruct the soldiers who perform the escort of the Tuba and Magaher-al-Abeed school children to accompany the children all the way past the Ma’on chicken barns and past any settlers present. Please stress that this is particularly necessary because of the repeated presence of settlers in this area at the time of the children’s walk home, and remind the commander that settlers used violence against the school children on fourteen occasions in the 07-08 school year and on two occasions during the current school year.

For a complete report on the school escort, including maps, photographs and interviews with the children, please see “A Dangerous Journey.”

In addition to phone calls, Operation Dove and CPT ask that people send the IDF Public Appeals office a simple message.

Sample message: (no more than 75 words)

Subject: Request to Commander BenMoha
Palestinian school children from Tuba and Magaher-al-abeed must walk past militant settlers from Ma’on and Havat Ma’on to attend school in At-Tuwani. The Knesset recommended in 2004 that the IDF escort these children. Currently soldiers refuse to escort the children far enough to ensure their safety. In order to do so they must accompany the children all the way past the Ma’on chicken barns and past any settlers present.
IDF Public Appeals Fax: 011-972-3-569-9400.
IDF Public Appeals Phone: 011-972-3-569-1000.