[[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. Most settlement outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.]
SUMMARY: During recent weeks, Palestinians have documented via video threats and violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers in the South Hebron Hills. Settlers have committed these acts both against Palestinians and Palestinian property. Palestinians have passed this footage onto the media, as well as various human rights groups and lawyers who are working to pressure different Israeli bodies and officials to take legal action against the settlers. Including the incidents described in this update, CPT has received information about or witnessed settlers threatening and/or attacking Palestinians and their property ten times during this month. Most of these incidents occurred while Palestinians were grazing sheep. Despite these violent episodes, Palestinian shepherds continued to graze with their flocks in these areas and regularly confronted settler intimidation using the video camera and international accompaniment.
Summary of Settler violent attacks during one month, June 2008
(and what Israeli police and army did about it)
Sunday 1 June 2008
At around 5:00 pm, a settler car had hit five goats out of a flock of eleven, belonging to a man from Ma'in Village.
Thursday 5 June
At nearly 11:00 a.m., the Israeli military constructed a six-foot tall roadblock on the main road to Yatta.
Sunday 8 June
Four settlers attacked four Palestinian shepherds grazing near the village of Susiya. Six masked settlers arrived on a tractor, and four got off the tractor and beat an old woman, her husband, her nephew, and nephew's wife with wooden clubs. The old woman was beaten unconscious and taken to the hospital in Beersheva. The old man and his nephew went to the Hospital Al Ahli in Hebron. Paramedics treated the nephew's wife, who filmed the attacks (later used by the media and Israeli police), at the scene. The police who arrived at the scene told the family that it was "probably Arabs" that beat them up. The family lives on the other side of Suseya settlement in Wadi Ijhaash, isolated from the other Susiya families by a thirty-minute walk. After the video appeared in international media, the Israeli police took into custody two settlers from Suseya settlement.
Wednesday 11 June
Settlers entered the village of Tuba and accused the villagers of stealing clothing and other things from the Hill 833 outpost settlement (called by the settlers, Havat Ma'on.) Palestinians from the village filmed the settlers as they entered Tuba. The settlers threatened to come back at night, because the Palestinians filmed them, but did not return.
Thursday 18 June
In Mashakha valley, three settlers with slingshots chased a Palestinian shepherd and his sheep. Benvie taped the incident and the Palestinian has secured a lawyer to take up his case with the Israeli police.
Tuesday 24 June
Israeli settlers beat two Palestinians near the village of Qawawis. The two men were hospitalized in Yatta with a rib and an eye injury, respectively.
Thursday 26 June
The Israeli military delivered demolition orders for the newly built cistern in and a house in Tuwani, and four buildings in the Palestinian village of Umm Faggarah.
Friday 27 June
The Israeli military constructed a new barrier on the road from Tuwani to Yatta
Sunday 29 June
Palestinians in Tuba reported that at least ten Israeli settlers from the settlement of Ma'on stole four camels and a baby camel, belonging to nearby Bedouins. The camels roam free during the day and return to the Bedouin village in the evening. The camels' owner has since called the Israeli police, but the camels remain in the possession of Ma'on settlers. A Palestinian from Tuba said two years ago, settlers stole camels from the Bedouin. The military and police got involved, and they supported the settlers, insisting that the Bedouin pay 2,000 NIS for the return of their own camels.
At approximately 5:00 p.m., the Israeli military created another roadblock on alternative route Palestinian cars were taking to Yatta.
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