long,sad story of largely US Jewish settlers vs. Palesintians

CPTnet22 January 2010
[ the Christian Peacemakers Team in the Hebron area has had participants from the Bay area for many years, including Lorin Peters most recently and Esther Ho in previous years.  They try to restrain by their reports like these, the largely US Jews who built illegal settlements on Palestinian land and too often attack or harass the long term inhabtants, Christian and Muslim Palestinians, mainly farmers, in  self righteous mission by claiming "God's promise of the Land" to them as Jews, a little late after several millennia since the original claim was made and Jews did settle Israel as part of the Middle East.  But the actual historic process was peaceful most historiians claim, and not by "divine right violence"
.  Modern Christian and Jewish Zionists need to rethink what they are doing agianst international law and my understanding of God's will, for peaceful settlement of disputes using neutral mediation or arbitration, not violence of any kind.. --Bob F. ]

AT-TUWANI UPDATE: October-December 2009

[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  also.]
SUMMARY
During this fall, Israeli soldiers and settlers continued to push Palestinians off their roads and grazing lands. Soldiers vandalized and destroyed Palestinian vehicles, invaded villages, continued to deny Palestinian children access to schools, and consistently rejected Palestinians the right to graze on their own land. Israeli occupation authorities continued to prevent development of Palestinian infrastructure in the South Hebron Hills through a policy of withholding building permits and issuing demolition orders for structures built without permits. The Israeli authorities carried out this policy to the point of confiscating Palestinian-owned materials and equipment.
    Settlers also used physical violence against Palestinians and their international accompaniers. Enhancement of settler mobility continued with use of high-power all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) that have frightening speed on hilly, boulder-strewn terrain. As usual, settlers were often masked and armed with guns or slingshots.
    Despite these challenges, Palestinians in the At-Tuwani area continued to organize local marches, plowing actions, and joined in nonviolent actions with other Palestinian communities committed to resisting nonviolently Israeli occupation.
    On team during this period were volunteersTarek Abuata, Janet Benvie, Laura Ciaghi, Jessica Frederick, Maureen Jack, Steve Heinrichs, Joshua Hough, Sarah MacDonald, Sam Nichols, Michael Sharp (intern), Ryan Shiffer and Melanie Southworth.. Members of Operation Dove (the Doves) were also in the village.
Israeli settlers continue harassment and attacks on Palestinians and internationals
Sunday, 4 October
In the morning, while two young shepherds from Tuba village were grazing their flocks in Umm Zeituna Valley, accompanied by Benvie and a Dove, a settler on a four-wheel ATV chased the shepherds and their flocks. After school, three settlers rode their ATVs on the north side of the Havat Ma'on settlement outpost, near the gate where Palestinian children were awaiting their Israeli army escort home. Three Israeli settler automobiles and an ATV came up from the settler highway, toward the children and CPTers, but turned and went southward around the outpost.
Wednesday, 14 October
Shepherds in a valley near Tuba told accompanying CPTers, Frederick and Hough, that they had postponed grazing their usual land in Umm Zeituna Valley because recent maneuvers by settlers on ATVs had so severely affected the pregnant sheep that some had miscarried. Because many sheep were still pregnant, the shepherds chose to avoid Umm Zeituna .
Sunday, 18 October
CPTers and Doves documented more instances of shepherds retreating to avoid settlers and soldiers. They also learned that on the previous Thursday settlers had plowed fields in Umm Zeituna, which is privately owned by Palestinians from Yatta.
Wednesday, 21 October
A shepherd from Maghayir Al Abeed, accompanied by Shiffer and Nichols, was initially observed by an Israeli settler who made calls from his mobile phone, and later approached by three soldiers in a jeep. He quickly moved his flock toward home, as the soldiers watched to ensure that he left the area.
Tuesday, 27 October
For the second consecutive day, Israeli soldiers were absent for both the morning and afternoon escort of children from Tuba and Maghayir al Abeed, resulting in the students being vulnerable to settler attack. In the morning, the children, accompanied by Shiffer and a Dove, took a much longer route in an attempt to avoid settler harassment, but were nonetheless blocked by four settlers, one masked and armed with a slingshot. The children turned around and ran back to Tuba, missing school.
Wednesday, 28 October
The children in Tuba wanted to head for school at 7:00 am instead of waiting for soldiers they suspected would not come. Frederick and Nichols accompanied them from Tuba. After walking partway and seeing an Israeli settler shepherding a flock, they detoured even farther through the hills. Later, a UK television crew from SkyNews visited Tuba and walked with the children in order to create a news broadcast. This broadcast can be viewed here.[you must go to the CPT website:  http://www.cpt.net/ ]

Sunday, 8 November
After the morning school escort, two CPT Doves accompanied shepherds on in Umm Zeituna Valley. Four young settlers came on a tractor, threw rocks and chased the shepherds away. Through the next several hours, the settlers plowed the large cultivable area along the bottom of the valley which is privately-owned Palestinian land. The Doves called and reported this illegal activity to Israeli police, who did not respond. (See the 9 November CPTnet release, "Israeli settlers plow privately-owned Palestinian fields; Israeli police fail to intervene.")
Thursday, 12 November
Settlers again appeared near Mashakha, where Maghayir al-Abeed and Tuba shepherds were grazing, accompanied by Ciaghi and Shiffer. The settlers phoned the settlement security guard, who drove up and scared the shepherds away.
Tuesday, 17 November
About 11:00 a.m., in a valley south of At-Tuwani where Tuba residents often pass because Israeli settlers confiscated their only road, Ciaghi and MacDonald encountered two young parents with three small children on their way home to Tuba. Because the CPTers had recently seen settlers nearby, they walked with the family. Four settlers appeared about fifty meters away, and the CPTers tried to position themselves between the settlers and the family. A fifth settler appeared and the whole group ran to encircle the family and CPTers.
      When the Palestinian man told the settlers that they were only trying to go home, a settler shoved him. Ciaghi tried to intervene, but the settler pushed her down the hillside. The settlers then attacked both CPTers, dragging, hitting and kicking them, stealing their two video cameras, and finally disappearing in the direction of the outpost. The Palestinian family reached home safely.
     Later, Israeli police arrived to take the CPTers' testimony. To date they have not apprehended any suspects. (See the 18 November CPTnet release, "Israeli settlers threaten Palestinian family, beat and rob CPTers")
Wednesday, 25 November
Heinrichs and a Dove went with an Israeli peace activist accompanying a Palestinian water delivery convoy to the remote village of Bir al-'Id, which is completely without water. A settler vehicle came and blocked the convoy part-way down the road, followed by Israeli soldiers and police, who delayed the convoy three and a half hours, before the Israeli DCO came and decided it could proceed. This was the first of multiple attempted convoys that have successfully reached Bir al-'Id.
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 landowner. The DCO officers told the landowner that he could plow no closer to the outpost than he had already plowed. The landowner told CPTers that until two years ago he was able to plow all the 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 landowners 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.
Wednesday 30 December
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 ninety minutes late to escort them to school. (See the CPTnet release, "AT-TUWANI: Israeli army negligence permits Israeli settler attack on children" and video testimony of the incident.)