(Italian follow)

On February 11, in the morning, Israeli soldiers and police arrested one man on the bypass road (317) near the village of Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills, and then raided the nearby village of Jawwaya. The man who was arrested had obvious signs of violence, including blood and a scratch on his face, and was probably injured during the arrest. While this man was arrested on the road, Israeli army and police raided Jawayya, where they damaged a tent used by villagers for the storage of livestock food. The soldiers slashed the walls of the tent, probably with a knife.

Around 7:30 am, a family from Jawayya called international volunteers and told them that there were soldiers in Jawayya village. As the volunteers were walking to Jawwaya on the bypass road (317) they saw a police vehicle next to two other cars, which had damaged wheels and flat tires. When the volunteers arrived at the vehicles they saw one man on the ground near one of the vehicles at the side of the road. He was blindfolded and handcuffed with his hands behind his back, and he appeared to have been beaten on the face and mouth. The soldiers loaded the man into one of the vehicles with damaged tires and the soldiers then drove all of the vehicles away.

At around 8:20 am, two international volunteers arrived in the village of Jawwaya, where Israeli soldiers and police were searching houses and tents, probably looking for another man. One of the soldiers attacked one of the volunteers, and then attempted to steal a camera from another. According to Palestinian witnesses, soldiers and police slashed large holes in a tent used as a shelter for the food for the animals and they fired shots into the sky in order to intimidate the inhabitants of the village. At about 8:45 am the soldiers and police left Jawwaya.

(Italian Follow)

On January 27, at around 12:20 p.m., Israeli police detained a Palestinian shepherd in the South Hebron Hills area village of At Tuwani. He was released at about 5:00 p.m., without paying any fine.

The shepherd was grazing on the Khelly hill, near the Israeli settlement of Ma’on, when at around 11:20 a.m. the security chief of the settlement arrived at the place in order to take evidences of the Palestinian shepherd’s presence on the hill and call the Israeli forces.
At 11:35 a.m., Israeli army jeep came at the place, while the shepherd was still grazing his flock. At around 12:15 p.m., also Israeli police reached Khelly hill. The police stopped him. After some minutes, several women and children from At Tuwani village reached the place in order to disturb the Israeli forces action. Because the presence of a lot of people, the policemen chose to put the Palestinian into the jeep. After that the policemen and the soldiers checked the maps in the presence of the security chief of Ma’on and of a settler from the Israeli illegal outpost of Havat Ma’on, Yoshafat Tor. Finally the Israeli DCO reached them. At about 1:20 p.m. the policemen took the Palestinian to the Israeli police station of Kiryat Arba. After a questioning, the Palestinian was released at about 5:00 p.m.

Israeli forces attacked the participants by stun grenades, tear gas, water cannon and physical violence

(Italian follows)

January 24, 2015

Susiya – South Hebron Hills, West Bank

On January 23, during an action organized by the Al Mubadara party and the South Hebron Hills Popular Resistance Committee, claiming the right of Palestinians to access their own land near Susiya village, Israeli forces attacked Palestinians and Internationals activists by stun grenades, tear gas, water cannon and physical and verbal violence. During the action, the Israeli forces arrested four Palestinians.

At around 11 a.m. about 150 people, after they got together in the Susiya village, tried to reach a Palestinian-owned land between the Israeli army base and the Israeli settlement of Suseya in order to plant olive trees. Immediately the area was declared a closed military zone by the Israeli army, but nevertheless the demonstrators tried to arrive to the land. After 20 minutes, Israeli soldiers arrested the first Palestinian, only because he removed soldier’s hand from his breast. Few minutes later the soldiers arrested a second Palestinian. The large part of the demonstrators reached the land and started to plant the olive trees. Immediately, Israeli soldiers and policemen pushed the crowd back, in direction to Susiya village. During their charge, the Israeli forces used stun grenades and tear gas, pushing and attacking the people and arrested other two Palestinians.
At around 12.45 p.m. the participants got together on the hill of Susiya village and slowly went away from the Israeli soldiers and policemen while they were throwing tear gas and using the water cannon.

In the last five days in the South Hebron Hills area the violences by the Israeli army increased. Operation Dove registered six episodes of direct violence or harassment to Palestinians. On January 19, the soldiers killed a sheep in the Tuba village area, while they were chasing away a flock owned by Palestinians. On January 20, Israeli soldiers arrested a 14 year-old Palestinian, while he was grazing a flock near Maghayir Al Abeed village. In the same day, the Israeli army demolished 4 structures in the Ar-Rifa’iyya village.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures: http://goo.gl/jCidYm
Video: http://goo.gl/ctjy0N

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

A Palestinian child was detained without their parents being present. Families needed a Municipality aid to keep themselves in a safe place after the demolition.

(Italian follows)

January 21, 2015

At Tuwani – South Hebron Hills, West Bank

On January 20, Israeli forces detained a Palestinian child near the village of Maghayir Al Abeed and demolished four structures in the Palestinian village of Ar-Rifa’iyya in the South Hebron Hills area.

At about 9.00 a.m. IDF bulldozers started to tear down two houses and two animal shelters, belonged to the Palestinian Rabai family in Ar-Rifa’iyya. The demolitions affected a total of twenty-five people, included ten children. The Municipality placed two tents to let the people involved have a place to stay at least during the night. Only twenty days ago, on December 31, in the village of Ad-Deirat, close to Ar-Rifa’iyya, two settlers broke a window and threw a molotov cocktail inside a Palestinian-owned house, trying to burn it (read more).
Ar-Rifa’iyya and Ad-Deirat villages are located in Area C, under Israeli military and administrative control.

In the meanwhile of the Ar-Rifa’iyya demolitions, Israeli army and police jeeps reached the area of Old Havat Ma’on Hill near the Palestinian village of Maghayir Al Abeed, where some young Palestinian shepherds were grazing their flocks. An Israeli soldier run against a Palestinian child, aged 14. The soldier chase away his flock, put him inside the military jeep with one goat and detained him. After one hour, the Israeli Army released him in a seriously dangerous place between the Israeli illegal outpost of Havat Ma’on and the Israeli settlement of Ma’on. In this place several times Palestinians, including children, were attacked by Israeli settlers.
Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies stated that during 2014 the Israeli soldiers arrested 1200 Palestinian children, an issue that shows a 60% increase comparing to 2013, when the soldiers arrested 750 children.

Despite demolitions and arrests, Palestinians from South Hebron Hills are strongly committed in a nonviolent and popular resistance against the Israeli occupation.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures of the demolitions: http://goo.gl/MTRntt

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

This is the second Israeli settler’s “price tag” in the last 10 days in the area

(Italian follows)

January 10, 2015

At-Tuwani – South Hebron Hills, West Bank

On January 9, in the morning, Palestinians found 40 olive trees and 3 almond trees seriously damaged probably by Israeli settlers. In the afternoon, other inhabitants of the South Hebron Hills discovered about 150 olive trees cut and seriously damaged.

At about 10 a.m. some Palestinians from the Awad and Abu ‘Aram families discovered on their properties several 32 year-old olive trees and three almond trees cut. These trees were located near the village of Qawawis, in the South Hebron Hills area, between the Israeli illegal outpost of Mitzpe Yair and the Israeli settlement of Suseya, beside the Bypass road 317.

At about 2:35 p.m. another oversized destruction was discovered in the same area, between the Bypass road 317 and Suseya settlement. Due to bad weather conditions, neither the Israeli police nor the Palestinian owners have been able to verify the exact number of olive trees damaged. One of the 16 Palestinian owners, all from the Shatat family, estimated in about 150 the number of olive trees damaged.

This is the second Israeli settler’s ‘price tag’ against the Palestinian inhabitants of the South Hebron Hills in the last 10 days. On December 31, as witnessed by Palestinians, at about 3:00 am two settlers wrote with black spray near the front door of a Palestinian’s house in the village of Ad-Deirat this sentence: “Revenge of Jewish Kingdom“. Then, settlers broke a window and threw a molotov cocktail inside the house (read more).

Palestinians in South Hebron hills have suffered the Israeli settlers’ presence since the 70s. The settlers, occupying Palestinian-owned lands and destroying their properties, deprive the Palestinians of their main livelihood. Moreover the settlers, with their ongoing violence, prevent Palestinians from having a regular daily life and restrict their freedom of movement, thus forcing them to leave the South Hebron hills area.

Nevertheless the Palestinian communities of the South Hebron Hills area are still strongly committed to nonviolent popular resistance against the Israeli occupation.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures of the damaged trees: http://goo.gl/aLQia2

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

(Italian follows)

January 6, 2015

At-Tuwani – South Hebron Hills, West Bank

During the last school-week, the Israeli military escort failed three times in accompanying the schoolchildren from the South Hebron hills villages of Tuba and Maghayir Al Abeed.

In order to reach the school of At-Tuwani, the Palestinian children, aged between 6 and 17 years, usually walk, accompanied by an Israeli military escort, through the shortest route (about 20 minutes) that passes between the Israeli settlement of Ma’on and the outpost of Havat Ma’on (Hill 833). This route is the main road linking their villages and At-Tuwani and it is dangerous for the children since they frequently suffer from the attacks and harassment of the settlers.

On January 4, the schoolchildren waited for the escort until 7:53 a.m. but the soldiers didn’t show up. The children had to attend an exam at 8:00 so, in order to not lose additional time, chose to go through an other longer path, in which they were attacked several times in the past. International volunteers accompanied them in place of the Israeli soldiers.

On December 31, the children arrived at the designated escort meeting place at 10.30 am in order to be accompanied from At Tuwani to Tuba, but the Israeli military escort wasn’t there. The children waited in the winter morning for the army until 11.45 a.m. The children chose to go through the very dangerous shortest route between Ma’on settlement and Havat Ma’on outpost without any escort.

On December 28, the schoolchildren arrived at the designated escort meeting place at 11.08 am, but the army wasn’t there. The children waited for the army until 11.45 am. After that the children chose to go home through an other longer path, but not less dangerous, accompanied by International volunteers in place of the Israeli escort.

In this half school year (from 24 August 2014 to 4 January 2015) Operation Dove volunteers, who monitor the Israeli military escort, collected the following data: on a total of 170 cases, six times the children were not escorted on their trip from and to school. In contravention of the protective mandate of the escort, in this half school year on 98,53% of the cases (on 136 of 170 recorded cases in which the volunteers monitored the military escort) the Israeli soldiers failed to fully complete the escort, not walking until the end of the settlement. Furthermore in this period on 23% of the cases the escort refused to walk with the children, as establish the agreement between the DCO and At-Tuwani major. On 49,4% of the mornings, the children were late to school by more than 5 minutes due to escort delay. The children lost 9 hours because of late or missing military escorts. On 54,1% of their school days, the children had to wait more than 5 minutes after school for the military escort. In the afternoons, the children waited it a total of 22 hours.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures: http://goo.gl/F9Y2VA

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

Israeli settlers burn a house in Ad-Deirat. Israeli forces demolish a tent in Al-Mufaqarah.

(Italian follows)

December 31, 2014

At-Tuwani – On December 31, at about 3:00 am, Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian house in the South Hebron hills village of Ad-Deirat. In the same day, at about 12:50 pm, Israeli forces demolished a tent in the village of Al-Mufaqarah.

As witnessed by Palestinians, at about 3:00 am two settlers wrote with black spray near the front door of a Palestinian’s house in the village of Ad-Deirat a sentence, in which is recognizable only the word: “revenge“. Then, settlers broke a window and threw a molotov cocktail inside the house. The molotov cocktail damaged furniture and the television, but didn’t injure any Palestinian living in the house as they were all sleeping in another room.

In the same day, at about 12:50 pm, Israeli forces demolished a tent and a cement base for a tent, both belonging to a Palestinian family, in the village of Al-Mufaqarah. The tent was a storage of food for the sheep and for the wood used by the family to protect itself from the winter cold.

Palestinians in South Hebron hills have suffered the Israeli settlers’ presence since the 70s. The settlers, occupying Palestinian-owned lands, deprive the Palestinians of their main livelihood. Moreover the settlers, with their ongoing violence, prevent Palestinians from having a regular daily life and restrict their freedom of movement, thus forcing them to leave the South Hebron hills area.

Ad-Deirat and Al-Mufaqarah villages are located in Area C, under Israeli military and administrative control. That means that all the constructions must be approved by the Israeli administration. Israel denies Palestinians the right to build on the 70 percent of Area C, which is about the 44 percent of all the West Bank, while within the remaining 30 percent a series of restrictions are applied in order to prevent Palestinians from obtaining building permits (source: OCHA oPt).

Nevertheless the Palestinian communities of the South Hebron Hills area are still strongly committed to nonviolent popular resistance against the Israeli occupation.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures of the settlers ’price tag’ attack in Ad-Deirat: http://goo.gl/hrU4RJ

Video of the demolition in Al-Mufaqarah: http://youtu.be/Veht8zZuCfY

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

On November 2014, the Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII decided to join the BDS campaign launched in 2005 with an appeal signed by 171 Palestinian civil society organizations. It is a global campaign for Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS) direct to Israel to ensure that certain obligations are complied with, according to International law. These obligations are:

– to end the occupation and colonization of all Arab territories occupied in June 1967, and to dismantle the separation wall;

– to recognize the fundamental Right to equality of all Israeli Arab-Palestinian citizens;

– to respect, protect and promote the Right of Palestinian refugees to return to their houses and their properties, as established by UN Resolution 194.

The Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII endorsed the appeal coming from Palestinian civil society, committing to share information (through Operazione Colomba/Operation Dove) about every campaign as Stop That Train, Stop Sodastream, Stop Agrexco, Cartellino rosso all’apartheid israeliana, BDS Armamenti, No Acea Mekerot.

More info at:

http://www.bdsmovement.net/call#Italian

http://bdsitalia.org

http://bdsitalia.org/index.php/la-campagna-bds/campagna-bds

La Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII aderisce alla campagna BDS

Nel mese di novembre la Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII ha deciso di aderire alla campagna BDS. Avviata nel 2005 con un appello sottoscritto da 171 organizzazioni della società civile palestinese, è una campagna globale di Boicottaggio, Disinvestimento e Sanzioni (BDS) dirette allo Stato di Israele affinché rispetti determinati obblighi derivanti dal Diritto Internazionale e precisamente:

– terminare l’occupazione e la colonizzazione di tutte le terre arabe occupate nel giugno 1967 e smantellare il muro di separazione;

– riconoscere il Diritto fondamentale dei cittadini arabo-palestinesi di Israele alla piena uguaglianza;

– rispettare, tutelare e promuovere il Diritto dei rifugiati palestinesi di ritornare alle proprie case e proprietà come stabilito dalla risoluzione ONU 194.

La Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII ha aderito all’appello della società civile palestinese, impegnandosi a dare informazioni (attraverso Operazione Colomba) su ogni singola campagna, come Stop That Train, Stop Sodastream, Stop Agrexco, Cartellino rosso all’apartheid israeliana, BDS Armamenti, No Acea Mekerot.

Maggiori info:

http://www.bdsmovement.net/call#Italian

http://bdsitalia.org

http://bdsitalia.org/index.php/la-campagna-bds/campagna-bds