At Tuwani – On the morning of Thursday 7 January, 2010, Israeli soldiers attacked and injured Palestinian shepherds from the Musa Raba’i family, as they grazed their sheep in Humra valley, near the village of At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. The soldiers also attacked the internationals accompanying the shepherds and broke a video camera. Before leaving the area the soldiers arrested one of the shepherds, Musab Musa Raba’i.

At around 10:30am Palestinian shepherds were grazing their sheep on privately owned Palestinian land when they saw Israeli settlers observing them from the outpost of Havat Ma’on. A short time later an Israeli army jeep came to the area. After stopping to speak with one of the settlers, three Israeli soldiers approached the shepherds and ordered them to leave the area. The shepherds explained that it was their land, but agreed to move further down into the valley. The soldiers followed them and grabbed at one of the shepherds, so they all tried to quickly leave the area with their sheep. A second army jeep came to the area and a further three soldiers joined in the attack escalating the violence. Soldiers hit the shepherds with their rifle butts, pushed them and while some soldiers forcibly held them to the ground others kicked them.

Other members of the family came to the area, and the women tried to intervene, hoping to deescalate the situation. However, the women were also forcefully pushed to the ground. Internationals trying to video tape the violent attack were roughly pushed and a soldier grabbed at and broke one of the video cameras.

Other villagers came to the area and tried to calm the situation by talking with the soldiers, but the soldiers ignored all pleas for calm and instead fired percussion grenades and tear gas into the small group of women and children gathered nearby on the hillside.

Israeli police reported to the scene after receiving numerous calls from internationals, but arrived as the soldiers were leaving the area. The police told CPTers that there would be a military investigation into the actions of the soldiers.

During the incident a spokeperson from an Israeli Human Right Organization called the local Israeli Army Brigade Operations Room and the Israeli Army Coordination Office to find out what was happening. She told CPT “I called several time and they had no information and no idea that something was going on in At Tuwani.”

Note to Editors: At the time of writing Moussab Mussa Raba’i is still detained at Kiryat Arba police station. One elderly woman, Umm Juma’ Raba’i, and a young woman, Umm Ribhi Raba’i, who is 2 months pregnant, had to be taken to hospital, suffering from the effects of tear gas inhalation. Three of the shepherds, Kamaal Raba’i, Majde Raba’i and Juma’ Raba’i were hospitalized for their injuries, and a young boy, Ramze Jamaal Raba’i, had his tooth broken.

Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove have maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani since 2004.

At a time when the international community is calling for a freeze on new building in settlements and the disbanding of settlement outposts, the settler community of the South Hebron Hills is continuing its expansion unabated.

Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement on Ma’on, in the South Hebron Hills area, are constructing at least five new caravans on the south-west side of the settlement. Internationals based in the nearby Palestinian village of At Tuwani first observed building preparatory work in Ma’on a few days ago. Today, as the new caravans were being built, settlers began preparatory work on a nearby hilltop for further settlement expansion.

Over the past three months, internationals have also observed settlers constructing numerous new buildings in the nearby illegal Israeli outposts of Havat Ma’on (Hill 833) and Avigail.

Since its establishment in 1981, Ma’on settlement has been a source of violence towards local Palestinians. The agricultural orchards of Ma’on are cultivated on private land belonging to a family from the nearby Palestinian village of At Tuwani. By 1997, ongoing settler violence forced the Palestinian inhabitants of three nearby villages (Sarura, Humra and Kharoubeh) to abandon their homes.

The original outpost of Havat Ma’on was established in July 1999, but was dismantled in September of that year by the Israeli military. The following year, the outpost was re-established on a nearby hilltop, Hill 833, and has remained and grown since then. Avigail outpost was established in 2001.

Settlers from Ma’on and Havat Ma’on attack and harass Palestinian children from Tuba and Maghayir al Abeed traveling to and from school in At Tuwani. In 2004, following two attacks on internationals accompanying the children, the Israeli Knesset Committee for Children’s Rights affirmed the need for a military escort for the school children. The escort continues five years later. Settlers from Avigail and Havat Ma’on outposts also regularly attack Palestinian shepherds grazing their sheep.

At noon on 5 August between the villages of Mfaggara and Jinba located in the South Hebron Hills an Israeli military bulldozer and a hummer with five soldiers created three earth mounds, blocking the road. In addition, the military damaged the road by digging it up to create the earth mounds.

The entire village of Kallet Adbea is now closed between the two of the earth mounds. In addition, the mounds affect villages south of Kallet Adbea. It is estimated that approximately 700 Palestinians living in villages in the area are affected by the mounds as they do not have access to the nearby village of At-Tuwani or north to the city of Yatta.

The earth mounds represent a serious problem to health needs of the local Palestinian population, because now the access to health services from the city of Yatta is not accessible by ambulance or car. Now, in the dry season, it is impossible for vehicles to deliver food and water to villages in the area, and for villagers to take products to the market to sell.

The Israeli military told international volunteers that the earth mounds are an attempt to close the border between Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel approximately 5 km south of the earth mounds to
“stop terrorists.” This road south to Jinba is one that is often used by Palestinian men traveling to work as migrant laborers in Israel.

[Note: According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of
Justice in the Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal.
Settlement outposts are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

In the early evening of Friday, 3 July, Israeli police detained a
Palestinian from the village of Tuba, located in the South Hebron hills.
Mohammed* was on his way to Yatta for a doctor’s appointment. He stopped to speak with his brother, who, accompanied by internationals, was grazing the family flock on private Palestinian land beside the nearby village of At-Tuwani.

At 5:00 pm three Israeli settlers accompanied by an Israeli police officer approached the brothers. The police officer asked whose flock it was and Mohammed went forward to speak with him. A few minutes later a police jeep arrived. One police officer told an international that the settlers had informed them that the Palestinians were ‘on Israeli land’.

Mohammed explained to the police officer that the land on which his
brother was grazing the sheep was owned by Palestinians, but the police officer ignored him. The police officer then threatened to arrest an international videotaping the incident if she continued to film.

The police spent considerable time consulting with settlers and at 6:30 pm took the Palestinian shepherd to Kiryat Arba police station.

Note: On the 25th of June, Israeli police arrested two
Palestinians from Tuba while grazing their sheep. Israeli police,
accompanied by Israeli settlers arrested Ahmed Omar Jundyye, age 15, and Redwan Ibrahim Jundyye, age 16. The Palestinian boys were held at Kiryat Arba police station for nearly five hours.

*Name has been changed

On Wednesday July 30, settlers attacked fourteen Palestinian children between the ages six to twelve on their way from summer camp to their homes in the villages of Tuba and Magher Al-abeed. Five settlers hid themselves along the route of the children and waited for them. When the children approached the settlers began yelling, swearing, and throwing rocks at them. One settler jumped over the settlement fence and chased the children on a path leading to the village of Tuba. The Israeli soldiers assigned to protect the children (Jeep 611019) abandoned the children approximately 500 meters earlier, thereby failing to complete the escort of the children as ordered by the Israeli Knesset.

According to the father of five of the children, “the settlers must leave. If the settlers are here, there is no safety only fear.” This is the fourth attack on the children in the last week. On the 26th of July, the Israeli army refused to escort the children, claiming that the settlers would not attack them. The next day at least three settlers chased and threw rocks at the children. A masked settler also beat a CPT volunteer Joel Gulledge, hospitalizing him with head injuries.

Since that attack the Israeli military escort arrived over an hour late on two occasions to escort the children home. One soldier told a CPTer, “I haven’t the will to come.”

CPT volunteers assert that the Israeli military bears full responsibility for these continued violent attacks on children. The military’s complicity in settler violence and failure to enforce Israeli law means that Palestinian children will continue to be victims of violence.

10 February 2008

HEBRON–Palestinian residents of the Beqa’a Valley are in danger of losing eleven homes and their health clinic. The clinic is currently under construction. The Israeli Civil Administration issued orders to the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) to demolish the homes and clinic by 14 February.

Residents in the valley have been building this clinic without governmental or outside funding, even though many have little or no paid employment. The Israeli Civil Administration refused to grant a building permit despite the difficulties residents encounter in reaching other health facilities outside of the valley. Between 600 and 700 people, mostly women and children, will use the new clinic for routine medical care, including prenatal checkups and vaccinations. Palestinian Relief and CARE International currently provide these services one day a week in other existing facilities. The residents decided to build their own clinic as the facilities they are now using are inadequate. Some patients are currently receiving care in part of one resident’s home.

(To view pictures of Beqa’a Valley residents using an existing home as a clinic, visit http://www.cpt.org/gallery/album233. )

Eleven other buildings also have demolition orders. Six of these are homes that the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD) rebuilt after previous demolitions.

Atta Jaber, a resident of the Beqa’a Valley, told CPTer Jessica Frederick (member of Christian Peacemaker Teams), “We want the world to know that with our new clinic that has the demolition order, if there was an automobile accident on the Bypass Route 60, and Israelis were injured and could not get to a hospital, we would give them medical treatment right here in this Palestinian clinic. Tell the world.” Israeli authorities demolished Jaber’s home in the Beqa’a Valley three times.