Let us know if you ever see this in your news media

CPTnet 30 June 2008 AT-TUWANI:
Israeli military issues demolition orders and again blocks main access road in South Hebron Hills

On 26 June 2008, the Israeli military issued a demolition order on the partially constructed water cistern in the village of At-Tuwani, built with financial support from a Spanish NGO. If completed, the cistern will provide a vital additional water source in the arid region of the South Hebron Hills.

Also on 26 June, the Israeli military issued a demolition order on a home in At-Tuwani and on four homes in the nearby village of Umm Faggarah.
The following day, 27 June 2008, at 9:00 a.m., the Israeli military returned to the area and blocked the road between At-Tuwani and Yatta. A bulldozer massed a four-foot-high mound spanning the width of the road using boulders and earth. The roadblock not only prevents vehicular access, but also makes movement by foot and donkey extremely difficult. The same bulldozer also closed several tracks used by tractors and trucks to access nearby small dwellings.

[This bulldozer was made by the Caterpillar Tractor Co. here in the USA, against whom both Jewish Voice for Peace and the Presbyterian Church USA have been working for many years to persuade that company to stop selling these superdestructive armored vehicles, used now for decades against international laws to destroy and harm civilian buildings, orchards, olive groves, etc. in Israeli army occupied locations in the Palestinian lands invaded and still dominated by Israeli military troops, with our annual tax payer support of 5 billion dollars.
Do you detect terrorism, trying to drive out nomadic shepherds from the rural area in South Hebron? Let Obama, as well as Nancy Pelosi know how you feel about this. Barbara Lee is aware of and working on stopping this disgrace and illegal use of our aid money. Let each of these folks know what you think. --Bob F.]

Besides being the main economic hub for the region, Yatta is also the principal provider of critical services such as hospitals, secondary schools, and public administration offices.

Several communities in the South Hebron Hills are again cut off from basic supplies such as water and animal feed, because road is the main artery for the supply of water to the South Hebron Hills, which is currently experiencing a severe drought. According to Palestinian residents of the area, roadblocks have doubled the commercial price of water. A UN worker reported that roadblocks on this thoroughfare will increase by thirty percent the cost of transporting essential water aid to the area.

The new roadblock is the latest in a series of roadblocks erected by the Israeli army. The most recent, on the same site of today's roadblock, was removed by the army on 12 June. The local population removed previous roadblocks through nonviolent direct actions.
[this news item, from the Christian Peacemaker Teams, who have a small team living in Hebron in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, not far from Jerusalem. SF Bay area residents Esther Ho and Lorin Peters have been part of that changing team in recent years, carrying on their nonviolent witness and reporting.]