On Saturday 23 January Palestinians will demonstrate against the recent destruction of a grove of olive trees and plant new trees, in order to show their determination to continue accessing and cultivating their land. On the afternoon of 14 January Palestinians discovered that a family-owned olive grove in Khoruba valley had been destroyed. Twenty mature olive trees were broken at their trunks. The family believes that Israeli settlers from the Ma’on settlement and Havot Ma’on outpost are responsible for the vandalism. This is the fifth time since 1997 that settlers have destroyed the olive trees in this grove. This most recent attack on Palestinian agriculture follows a month of Israeli settler violence and harassment aimed at preventing Palestinian farmers from plowing their fields and thus earning their livelihoods.
Demonstrators will gather in At-Tuwani village and walk together to the nearby olive grove at 9:30am.
Summary: December 2009 was marked by invasions of Palestinian villages in the area by Israeli occupation forces, continued denial of the right of Palestinian children to access education, and consistent rejection of Palestinian owners’ rights to cultivate or graze sheep on their land. Despite the invasions, challenges faced in accessing education, and obstacles to cultivating the land, Palestinians in the At-Tuwani area continued to organize local marches, plowing actions, and joined in nonviolent actions with other Palestinian communities committed to nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation.
Israeli Military Incursions
Tuesday 1 December 2009
In the early morning hours, the Israeli military invaded the village of Maghayir Al-Abeed. Approximately 50 soldiers, 10 jeeps, and a number of helicopters conducted training operations, including shooting exercises, in the village.
Wednesday 2 December
Two military vehicles entered At-Tuwani at 4:15 am and went to a number of houses, pounding on doors, harassing the inhabitants, and checking identification. The soldiers pointed their guns at Palestinians and internationals who opened windows and doors to investigate the noise.
Tuesday 15 December
The Israeli secret police (Shin Bet) entered At-Tuwani and photographed the village. Plainclothes police officers asked villagers about all newly constructed buildings, caves, and cisterns in At-Tuwani. A police officer demanded to see Hough and Nichols’ IDs as soon as they approached the scene. The officer questioned the CPTers as to why they were living in the village, where they were living, which organizations worked in the area, and additionally about the newly constructed houses in the village.
The same morning, there was also an unmarked white airplane that flew unusually low and quietly over the village. Villagers in Tuba also reported seeing the plane, saying that it flew around Tuba in patterns that led them to believe it was taking photographs.
Denial of Right to Education
Thursday 10 December
The villagers of At-Tuwani organized a solidarity demonstration in response to the difficulties faced by the school in Al-Fakheit, located 5km southwest of At-Tuwani. Marchers participated to draw attention to Israel restrictions on the freedom of movement on Palestinian children and teachers.
Following the march, several community leaders gave at the Al-Fakheit School. This was followed by several hours of activities for and by the children of Al-Fakheit School. These included drama, music, dabka dancing (a traditional Palestinian dance), face painting, and a quiz show. Nearly 150 people attended the event, including various activists and journalists, as well as a Palestinian theater troupe from the northern West Bank.
The Israeli military maintained a presence sporadically throughout the march. While the march proceeded from At-Tuwani to Al-Fakheit, the Israeli military and police declared At-Tuwani a closed military zone in an attempt to prevent activists or journalists from entering the area. See a gallery of photos from the march here.
Monday 14 December
Nichols and Southworth monitored the Beit Yatir checkpoint, on the southern border of the West Bank, where Palestinian children from the village of Lesaafer pass through on their way to school. Lesaafer is on Palestinian land annexed into Israel by the separation barrier, forcing the residents of the village to pass through the checkpoint to access work, education, or other services. The children, who walk from Lesaafer through the Beit Yatir checkpoint to their school in Imneizel, are sometimes detained for more than one hour.
Sunday 20 December
In the afternoon the Israeli military detained teachers, children, and internationals returning from Al-Fakheit School. Soldiers confiscated the ID of the driver, who was transporting the teachers and students, and forced him and MacDonald to drive to a remote field south of the Palestinian village of Jinba. The schoolchildren and the teachers were forced to walk home. The soldiers proceeded to examine the truck’s registration and serial numbers, took photos of the truck, and confiscated the ignition key.
After hours of detainment, the Palestinian driver and MacDonald were told to leave the area. The owner of the truck was not able to retrieve his vehicle because the soldiers remained by the vehicle for some time. On 2 January, the owner found his vehicle completely destroyed in an Israeli military firing zone. Many of the vehicle parts had been confiscated or smashed, including the headlights, battery, and much of the engine. (See the CPTnet release: SOUTH HEBRON HILLS: Israeli army confiscates truck,
forcing children and teachers to walk an hour to homes.) Christian Peacemaker Teams and OD have been providing accompaniment for the teachers and students of Al-Fakheit School who face continuing delays and movement restrictions at the hands of the Israeli military.
Wednesday 30 December Video to the right.
An Israeli settler from the Israeli outpost of Havat Ma’on chased and attacked Palestinian schoolchildren from the villages of Tuba and Maghayir al-Abeed while the children were waiting to walk to school. Tareq Ibrahim Abu Jundiyye reported, “the younger kids started crying as we were running away because they were afraid the settler would catch them. I mean, we had to run away, if I would have stayed I would have been struck on the head by a rock.” The Israeli army exposed the children to this attack by arriving more than 90 minutes late to escort them to school. (See the CPTnet release: AT-TUWANI: Israeli army negligence permits Israeli settler attack on children.)
Thursday 31 December
During the afternoon escort of Palestinian school children from Tuba and Maghayir al-Abeed, an Israeli settler woman approached the children. After a verbal altercation between the settler and the children, the woman made a phone call, and the Ma’on settlement security guard chased the children into At-Tuwani village, some distance from where the children meet their Israeli military escort.
Palestinians Plowing Land Despite Obstacles
Thursday 3 December
Nichols and Southworth accompanied Palestinians plowing land between Qawawis and Susiya. After a few hours of plowing, Israeli settlers from Mizpe Yair (Magen David) forcibly stopped the plowing. One settler stood in front of the tractor while the other stole its key. Shortly after the settlers made several phone calls, the military, police, and District Coordinating Office (DCO, the branch of the Israeli military which deals with Palestinian civilian affairs in Area C) arrived. The DCO prohibited the Palestinians from plowing the plot. Instead, the military allowed Palestinians to plow only a small additional portion of the field.
Saturday 5 December
Palestinians living in Yatta attempted to plow the field between the Palestinian village of Um Fagarah the Israeli outpost of Avigail. Israeli settlers, accompanied by Israeli soldiers, forcibly stopped the work of the Palestinians. The settlers brought aggressive dogs and ignored the Palestinians’ and internationals’ requests to control them. After several minutes of arguing, a soldier jumped up on the tractor and screamed orders and threats at the Palestinian driving the truck. After this incident the Palestinians decided to return home instead of risking the confiscation of their equipment.
The same day, Palestinians also attempted to plow a valley between the Palestinian village of Shi’b Al-Butum and the Israeli outpost of Mizpe Yair (Magen David). Settlers and the outpost security guard immediately approached the farmers and remained present until a group of Israeli soldiers arrived. The soldiers immediately stopped the work, simply claiming that plowing in the area was forbidden. The soldiers refused to look at the landowner’s paperwork, which showed him to be the owner of the entire valley. Officers from the DCO arrived and spoke with the settlers and the Palestinian land owner. The DCO officers told the land owner that he could plow no closer to the outpost than he had already plowed. The land owner told CPTers that until two years ago he was able to plow the all valley, up to the outpost. The last two years, the Israeli military has prohibited him plowing all of the land that he owns.
The same DCO officers stopped another Palestinian man from plowing his land on an adjacent hillside. The DCO officer detained the owner’s son, who was driving the tractor, and threatened to arrest him and confiscate the tractor if he continued to plow. The officer chided the driver, telling the young man he did not want to be a bad boy by disobeying an officer. The officer said he was prohibiting the work was because the man was plowing on the hillside, claiming that Palestinians could only cultivate privately-owned land in a valley.
Sunday 6 December
Israeli settlers plowed privately-owned Palestinian land in Umm Zeituna valley. In 1999, Palestinian families living in Umm Zeituna were forced off the land by settler violence. The Palestinian land owners have been reluctant to return to their land because of continuing settler violence and harassment. The owners have filed multiple complaints to the police regarding the violence against them and the confiscation of their land. However, no legal action has been taken against the settlers.
Saturday 12 December
Villagers from At-Tuwani plowed Khelli valley, privately-held Palestinian land between At-Tuwani and the settlement of Ma’on. The Israeli military declared the area a closed military zone. The Palestinians finished later in the afternoon, when the military had left the area.
Palestinian Nonviolent Resistance Unites
Tuesday 29 December
Women and men from the entire South Hebron Hills region went on a solidarity visit to the Palesitinian villages of Bil’in and Ni’lin. The visit began with a demonstration at Ofer prison and military base, near Ramallah. Several nonviolent resistance organizers have recently been imprisoned at Ofer. Palestinians from Bil’in, Ni’lin, and the South Hebron Hills gathered at Ofer to call for the release of these leaders. (See ISM article on this demonstration.). After the demonstration, the villagers from the South Hebron Hills proceeded to Ni’lin and Bil’in to hear those communities talk about their resistance to the confiscation of their land and the restriction of their freedom of movement.
The Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron released this incident report for the period between December 17 and December 31, 2009.
December 17, 2009
Shortly after morning worship, the team’s neighbor told them that soldiers were on the roof of the apartment building. When Herbert, Schroeder, and Shiffer filmed them and asked why they kept coming up to the roof, they did not respond. Kern brought up tea and cookies, but none of the soldiers accepted this hospitality.
The team decided next time the soldiers came up to the roof again, they would videotape themselves singing “Joy to the World” there for a digital Christmas greeting. When soldiers did not subsequently appear, the team decided to record a digital greeting anyway.
December 18, 2009
After consulting with their neighbor, team members decided to keep the stairwell door locked through the morning in case the soldiers arrived again. A lawyer from the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) told the team that legally, the soldiers have no right to enter the house without a warrant.
December 19, 2009
In the afternoon, Schroeder, Kern, Shiffer and a member of EAPPI went to al-Bweireh with Hani Abu Haikel, a member of the team’s advisory committee. They continued to interview families regarding the affect of the Hill 18 (26) settler outpost on the neighbourhood students returning from school. One mother said that the thing she would like most to change is the opening of the main road into al-Bweireh, currently blocked in three locations. She also said that international accompaniment of children walking home will help bring peace of mind.
December 20, 2009
Shiffer and Schroeder went to al-Bweireh to accompany the children coming from school. Boys from the Za’atari family told Shiffer and Schroeder that on 17 December settlers had attacked them. The youngest boy had visible scrapes on his face and hand.
December 21, 2009
Schroeder and Funk monitored school patrol from outside and inside the Ibrahimi Mosque Checkpoint. At 7:25 a.m., and Israeli policeman approached Funk and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Keeping an eye on school children on their way to school.”
“You have no right to stand there, only TIPH can legally stand there.”
“We have been here for years and it has never been a problem.”
“You have no right to be watching soldiers.”
“We do not interfere with the soldiers. We were invited to be here by the municipality.”
“You have no right to be here.”
“I believe we do, but I will respect your wishes today.”
“Bring a paper next time to show you have the right to be here.”
In the afternoon, Kern, Herbert, and Schroeder went to al-Bweireh to accompany the children and to interview the mother of a child who had been attacked by the settlers the previous week on Wednesday. A member of the team’s Advisory Committee drove the team there and translated for them. From the interview they learned the following:
The seven-year-old was with a brother and cousin when the settlers attacked. As they ran toward a nearby house, he tripped and fell, which caused the wound on his face and hand. His brother ran back to pick him up and carry him to safety. The injured boy is especially afraid of settlers, so much so that he sits beside his brother in 7th grade for an hour-and-a-half after his own school dismisses, rather than walk home without him. A settler on horseback tried to snatch up his younger sister a few weeks ago, and the house is attacked two to three times a week. The settlers who chased the boys on 17 December could have been anywhere from sixteen to twenty years old. They had a dog with them. The police refused to allow Mr. Za’atari make the complaint the next day without the seven-year-old present and then asked the boy, when he arrived, if he had taken pictures of the settlers.
December 22, 2009
Schroeder and Funk visited Tel Rumeida this morning. While they were at Hani and Reema Abu Haikel’s house, Reema stood watch by the doorway in case settlers or soldiers caused trouble for men they had hired to prune grapes and do other yard work. After about ten minutes, Reema alerted Funk and Schroeder that soldiers were in the yard and had ordered the workers to go home. When asked why, the lead soldier said: “This is neither Arab or Jewish land. When people clean the land, the next thing is they begin to build for the land in question.” The Abu Haikels hold clear legal title to the land from the time of the Ottoman Empire.
December 24, 2009
During morning school patrol, team members received Christmas greetings from a number of Palestinians who passed them while they were monitoring checkpoints. After the patrol, the team packed up special foods they had prepared and traveled to At-Tuwani to celebrate Christmas with CPTers there. The taxi driver who drove them back to Hebron from At-Tuwani, in honor of the holiday, tuned to a radio station that played only “Jingle Bells” over and over.
December 25, 2009
The team went to St. Catherine’s Church in Bethlehem for the Christmas morning service. People from six different continents were worshipping there. One of the priests had the task of preventing photojournalists from trampling the worshipers.
December 26, 2009
At about 12:00 p.m., the team heard soldiers walking up to CPT’s apartment roof. Herbert and Shiffer asked the unit commander for a warrant, his name, and the name of the individual who ordered the roof occupation. The commander failed to show a warrant or offer the necessary information. Two members of TIPH International arrived ten minutes later, and within a few minutes of their arrival, the soldiers left the roof.
Kern, Schroeder, and Hani Abu Haikel went out to visit al-Bweireh families. At the entrance to the neighborhood, a man said settlers had been stoning houses at 2:00 a.m. Friday morning. One house that received the worst stoning belonged to a family whom the team had known in 1995-96 and who had since moved to Jerusalem. A neighbor called the police in Kiryat Arba, who did not come. Then he called the owner in Jerusalem, who called the police in Jerusalem, who called the police in Kiryat Arba and told them to come to the house.
At a house directly across from the Givat Ha Harsina settlement house, a woman told them that settlers threw stones daily and about twice a week at night–usually after midnight. The children in the household are not allowed to play in the yard, because of the constant stoning.
She said they leave the gate open so that children coming home from school can run to safety in their yard when the settlers start stoning them, but that settlers then stone their house even more.
In the taxi on way home, a man had several sacks of firewood. Abu Haikel said wood fires are called called “the fruit of winter” in Arabic.
December 27, 2009
At al-Bweireh, Herbert videotaped a brief interaction between a settler boy and older male settlers. During their discussion they passed a knife back and forth.
In the evening, the team got a call from their neighbor, saying that she had heard shots fired and heard that settlers had beaten someone at the Qitoun checkpoint. [See the 5 January 2009 release here.]
December 28, 2009
Kern and Funk went out for school patrol in al-Bweireh a little later in the afternoon than usual. (The team had decided to stagger the times they went out to the neighborhood so that settlers would not anticipate their presence.) At the top of the road that descends into al-Bweireh, they saw three of the older girls running toward their home in the distance and then spotted a settler who was the cause of their flight. They learned that earlier in the day, a settler had chased one of the boys, who fell off a stone wall trying to escape, and then aimed a pistol at the boy.
Later in the afternoon, while Kern was checking in with Hani Abu Haikel, he said in an urgent manner that he had to go because he heard yelling at the checkpoint. Herbert, Shiffer, and Schroeder rushed to the scene, and found Abu Haikel, who said that soldiers had stopped his cousin and told him to stand up against the wall. Abu Haikel told them the soldiers had been targeting his family. On another night, the Abu Haikel family had a party and the military arrested several people who attended and sent his uncle to the police station where he was detained for several days.
December 31, 2009
Around 9:00 a.m., a local human rights activist called to report that the Israeli military was demolishing buildings in al-Bweireh. Kern and an EAPPI arrived in time to document the military loading a small Bobcat bulldozer onto a truck after demolishing a barn, dovecote and garage (See the 13 January CPTnet release here.)
The Christian Peacemaker Team is an ecumenical initiative to support violence reduction efforts around the world. To learn more about CPT’s peacemaking work, visit cpt.org
In the last month, the Israeli military has been detaining children for extended lengths of time in the Old City, and at times appearing to be “practicing” soldiery by randomly selecting boys off the street and searching them.
In one incident, a fifteen-year-old neighbor of the Hebron team was cutting a rope on a package of materials in his father’s shop when soldiers saw him. They grabbed him, blindfolded him, and led him off to their military gate at another checkpoint close to a settlement. The father followed the soldiers, pleading for his son, trying to explain why the son needed to use a knife.
The next week, another neighbor boy, age fourteen, was running an errand for his father who asked him to hurry because there was another meeting that he, the father, needed to attend. Unfortunately, this boy was wearing a coat similar to a child whom the soldiers said had thrown a stone at them. Six soldiers apprehended him. Even before the soldiers had released him, four more soldiers led a ten-year-old boy and his eight-year-old brother behind the gate also. The soldiers insisted they too were throwing stones. At this point, one of the CPTers stepped up to the gate on the Palestinian side to take a picture of the action through the cracks in the gate. One of the soldiers from the other side forcefully threw or kicked a stone at the gate close to the CPTer’s ear.
After one hour, the father of the two younger boys arrived from his work, punished his boys in front of the soldiers, and then led them home, his hands squeezing the neck of the smallest boy. The CPTer looked at the soldiers responsible and said: “Are you happy now?” As one soldier put his arm around a fellow soldier, he responded, “Yes, I am happy now.”
A Palestinian bystander commented: “See, if they can’t punish the father, they will get the children, harass them until the family finally moves away.”
Masafer Yatta/South Hebron Hills – On Sunday, December 20, the Israeli army disrupted transportation of children and teachers from Al-Fakheit school to their homes. The Palestinian driver, accompanied by one CPTer, was on his way to pick up children and teachers after school when, at about 1pm, soldiers in a Humvee followed and stopped the pickup truck used as a school bus. The soldiers confiscated the driver’s ID, searched the truck and personal belongings in it, and ordered that the driver follow them to a field south of Jinba.
Because the soldiers refused to allow the truck to take the children to Jinba, teachers and students had to walk an hour through the hills to get there. The headmaster reported later that two children became ill from the heat and required medical attention.
The Palestinian driver and CPTer spent over an hour in the field with the soldiers, who demanded the truck’s registration and ignition key, examined the engine for serial numbers, took photos of the truck and made various phone calls. According to the soldiers, the truck’s registration was invalid and they were calling the police to confiscate the truck. “In Israel we have rules,” one soldier told the CPTer.
More soldiers arrived, along with gear and a small water tank, but no police. At 2:45 the soldiers finally returned the driver’s ID, allowing him and the CPTer to leave by foot.
Al-Fakheit school opened this year to accommodate students living in Maghayir Al-Abeed, Markaz, Halawe, Fakheit, Majaaz, and Jinba. Previously, children from these villages attended school in Yatta, which required them to live in the city Sunday through Thursday. Now the teachers at Al-Fakheit school travel from Yatta each day and pick up schoolchildren along the route.
Children and teachers face ongoing obstacles when traveling to school. The Israeli military heavily patrols the road and surrounding area, randomly preventing Palestinians from accessing their education and work. Teachers and school children traveling to Al-Fakheit are sometimes stopped and searched by the Israeli military. In August 2009 the Israeli military attempted to dismantle the road with heavy machinery, worsening the road’s already poor condition after years of Israeli authorities prohibiting Palestinians from making repairs or improvements.
As a result of these tactics, it takes Palestinians extended amounts of time to reach their destination, and they are often late for school or work. In addition, the Israeli military is threatening to permanently close the road, which would completely deny Palestinians’ access to education, work and their lands. The army’s presence and interference with residents’ movements in this area undermines the basic human rights of Palestinians by hindering their ability to live in their villages and cultivate their lands.
