(Segue versione in italiano)

March 21, 2014

At Tuwani – On March 20, four settlers from Havat Ma’on illegal outpost attacked, in two different places at the same time, two internationals and seven Palestinian shepherds while grazing flocks on their own land. The settlers were armed with a gun and slingshots.

At 9.58 am a settler with a gun chased two Palestinian shepherds away, while grazing between the Palestinian village of Tuba and Havat Ma’on Israeli illegal outpost. He first shouted at the shepherds and then ran after them for more than two kilometers. The harassment  lasted for about one hour, when the shepherds finally arrived to Tuba.

In the meanwhile, at 10.03 am three settler teens fired a petard from the outpost in order to scare the Palestinians who were in Meshaha valley. About 15 minutes later the Israeli Police arrived to the place and spoke to the settlers and the Palestinian shepherds. The police allowed the latter to graze in Meshaha valley, south side of the outpost.

At 10.40 am a masked settler and two children went to the same valley and attacked five Palestinian shepherds, three men and two women. By using slingshots, the attackers threw stones against the shepherds and the internationals, for about five minutes. During the assault the settlers entered Palestinian private land. At a later stage the Israeli police arrived to the place and the attackers ran away. The policeman saw them going back to the outpost but did not try to stop them. One of the Palestinians attacked told the police the event adding that a settler with a gun was still chasing away a Palestinian shepherd from Tuba, on the other side of the outpost. The Israeli police moved to the village of Tuba together with the Palestinian and an international volunteer, while the rest of the Palestinian shepherds successfully grazed their flocks in Meshaha valley until around 12.20 am.

At 11.30 am the police car arrived to Tuba and after five minutes the policeman reached the settler who chased the Palestinian shepherds away. The settler was still close to the Palestinian village. The policeman inquired one of the Palestinians, Ahmed Jundiya, and the settler. After that both of them got in the police car and were driven to Kiryat Arba police station. The two filed a complaint against each other: the settler maintained that the shepherds were on Israeli land and Jundiya proved, thanks to his camera provided by B’tselem organization for human rights, that he was chased away while grazing his flock on Palestinian land.

The Israeli police decided to investigate more in order to define within three months whom that land belongs to. Jundiya could come back home at about 4.30 pm.

Palestinians from the South Hebron Hills face the Israeli occupation with the popular nonviolent resistance.

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

Pictures of the incident: http://www.operazionecolomba.it/galleries/palestina-israele/2014/2014-03-20-settlers-from-havat-ma-on-attacked-palestinian-shepherds-in-two-different-places-at-the-same-time-in-the-south-hebron-hills/

For further information:
Operation Dove, 054 99 25 773

[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].

March 17, 2014

At-Tuwani – On Sunday March 16, during the Jewish holiday of Purim, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians and Internationals on Palestinian fields near Mitzpe Yair illegal outpost.

In the morning, four Palestinian shepherds from the village of Qawawis were grazing their flocks south of the Israeli outpost of Mitzpe Yair, when a settler arrived armed with an iron pipe to threaten them shouting. At 9:18 am two Internationals arrived together with two further Palestinian shepherds. The armed Israeli settler then left when he saw that they were filming the scene.

At 9:28 am eight settlers arrived from the illegal outpost – one was still armed with the iron pipe – and four of them violently chased away the flocks, pushing them toward the valley underlying the outpost. Palestinian shepherds followed the settlers in order not to lose their flocks accompanied by Internationals. The Palestinians immediately called the Israeli police.

At 9:48 am the settlers came back to the outpost. In the meantime, an additional Internationals and two Palestinian members of the South Hebron Hills Popular Committee arrived at the scene. At 10:00 am one of the settlers tried to chase away one of the newly-arrived Palestinians, a member of the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem. As this happened, an Israeli policeman and three Israeli soldiers arrived by foot. At 10:20 am, as the policeman began interrogating the attendants, a further three settlers arrived. Those interrogated were the Palestinian shepherd Nail Abuaram (who filmed everything with a B’Tselem camera) and one International.

At 10:45 am, the policeman lead Abuaram and one of the Internationals to Kiryat Arba police station to give testimony of the harassments. They arrived at the station at noon.

The International was asked for the camera footage of the incident, interrogated and finally released at around 2:50 pm. Abuaram was interrogated alone for a couple of hours and was threaten of arrest until he accepted to sign a paper stating that he will not get closer than 450 meters to the area where the harassment took place for a period of 15 days. He was later released around 6:00 pm after signing the paper. The Israeli police forced the settler who attacked the Palestinians with an iron pipe to stay 200 meters far from the spot where the harassment took place for a period of 15 days.

Palestinian communities of the South Hebron Hills area are strongly involved in using nonviolence as a way to resist the Israeli occupation.

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

Video of the incident: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkhd_oJ2jkk&list=UUpKXxYTHG80BLPckf_YMHtw

[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 March 11 the Israeli police detained two Beduins from the village of Umm Al Kheer, two International volunteers and two Israeli activists. Since the early morning two Israeli engineers were taking mesures with technical equipment around the southern part of Karmel Israeli settlemet, around the latest expansion.  There is an ongoing trial about the ownership of the land between the settlement and the Beduin village, because of this is forbidden to anyone to do any kind of work on this land.

When the Beduins approached the area a military vehicle with five Israeli soldiers arrived to escort the engineers. Around 1:30 pm three Israeli settlers arrived, between them the security chief of Karmel, and at 2 pm the Israeli police reached the place. The Israeli soldiers and police showed to Beduins and Internationals maps where the municipal area of the settlemet expands also on the Palestinian owned land. When Beduins and Internationals refused to move back toward the Beduin village a Police officer escorted them on the Israeli street surrounding the settlemet. In the mean time two Israeli activists had arrived.

The Israeli Police realeased the six, giving them back IDs and Passports at 3:50 pm. The charge for the detention was “trespassing”.

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L’11 marzo la polizia israeliana ha detenuto due beduini del villaggio di Umm Al Kheer, due volontari internazionali e due attivisti israeliani. Fin dal mattino due ingenieri israeliani stavano prendendo delle misure intorno alla parte sud della colonia israeliana di Karmel, attorno alle ultime espansioni. Vi è un processo in corso riguardo l’appartenenza della terra tra la colonia e il villaggio beduino, per questo motivo è proibito a chiunque effettuare lavori e operazioni sulla suddetta terra.

Quando i beduini si sono avvicinati all’area è arrivata una jeep militare con cinque soldati per scortare i due ingegnieri. Intorno alle 13:30 sono arrivati tre coloni israeliani, tra cui il capo della sicurezza della colonia, e alle 14 è sopraggiunta la polizia israeliana. I soldati e la polizia hanno mostrato ai beduini e ai volontari internazionali alcune mappe, secondo le quali l’area municipale della colonia comprende anche terre di proprietà palestinese. Quando beduini e internazionali si sono rifiutati di tornare verso il villaggio, i polizziotti israeliani li hanno scortati sulla strada israeliana che circonda la colonia. Nel frattempo sono arrivati due attivisti israeliani.

La polizia rilascia le sei persone alle 15:50, ridandogli documenti e passaporti. L’accusa per la detenzione era “sconfinamento”.

By Gili Cohen. March 9, 2014.

Dozens of draft-age youth blasted the Israel Defense Forces and declared themselves conscientious objectors in a letter sent Saturday morning to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The letter cited the “continued occupation of the West Bank” and the military’s “penetration into civilian life, which deepens the country’s chauvinism, militarism, violence, inequality and racism.”

Itay Aknin, 19, said he signed the letter out of political motivations even though he has already received a medical exemption from military service.

“At a time when the system is very busy dealing with sharing the burden equally,” Aknin said referring to the push to reform the draft, “we think our role is not to take part in the circle of killing, in the circle of blood, and we are refusing to enlist in the army.”

Aknin, despite his strong stance against the military, has not skirted duty altogether. He volunteers in Tel Aviv as part of the National Service program.

Bat Yam resident Shaked Harari, 18, said he chose not to enlist “because of the influence of the army on society” in the areas of education, work, politics, society and economics. “We as a group believe that the army harms society and its citizens, both in Israel and in Palestine, and as long as people continue to enlist they are helping to deepen the social gaps,” Harari said.

The campaign to get more draft-age youth on board spread by word of mouth according to Harari, who said he successfully convinced others to join the pledge not to serve.

“We are not embarrassed that we are refusing,” said Harari. “We believe that this declaration can make an ideological change, and it will not happen if we don’t stand behind it and we are not honest with it.”

The organization Yesh Gvul, which advocates conscientious objection, said Saturday evening in response to the letter’s publication that “refusal is a personal decision by every person in a democratic society.”

Yesh Gvul added: “We support anyone whose democratic and humanist values drove him to refuse to take part in occupation and repression of the Palestinian people.”

“We are proud of the young people who refuse to take part in oppression and are calling on the government of Israel to sit with the government of Palestine and end the occupation,” Yesh Gvul said. “A different world is possible for both us and also the Palestinians and we both deserve true peace, and not peace as defined by the Israeli government.”

The full list of names is expected to be published this week.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.578646

On Friday March 7 at 12:30 pm two Palestinian shepherds from Tuba, a minor and an adult, were grazing their flocks on Meshaha Hill, when a settler noticed them and made a phone call. At 12:36 pm the Israeli army arrived and first made the shepherds move to the bottom af the valley and then detained them untill the police arrived. The soldiers affirmed that the land where the sheep were grazing is Israeli propriety. At 1:31 pm the Israeli police arrived. One of the Palestinian shepherds, the minor, was immediately released while the second one was asked for his personal datas before being released after few minutes. Operation Dove volunteers waited for the DCO to show them official maps about the ownership of the land, but they didn’t arrive.

The lack of rain forced the Palestinina shepherds to increase the hours of grazing on the hills and the valleis in the South Hebron Hills. Often the Israeli settlers from Havat Ma’on illegal outpost call the army to claim their propriety of the land. The past week has seen an encreased presence of the Israeli police in the valleis surrounding the Palestinian village of At Tuwani.

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Venerdì 7 Marzo alle ore 12:30 due pastori palestinesi di Tuba, un minore ed un adulto, stavano facendo pascolare i loro greggi sulla collina di Meshaha, quando sono stati notati da un colono che ha effettuato una telefonata. Alle 12:36 è arrivato l’esercito israeliano che ha prima fatto spostare i pastori in valle poi li ha detenuti fino all’arrivo della polizia. I soldati sostenevano che le terre su cui si trovavano i pastori fossero di proprietà israeliana. Alle 13.31 è arrivata la polizia israeliana. Uno dei due pastori, il minore, è stato rilasciato mentre al secondo sono stati chiesti i dati personali ed è poco dopo stato rilasciato. I volontari di Operazione Colomba hanno aspettato la DCO per vedere documenti ufficiali sull’appartenenza della terra, ma non sono mai arrivati.

La totale mancanza di pioggia ha portato i pastori palestinesi ad aumentare le uscite quotidiane con le pecore sulle colline e sulle valli a Sud di Hebron. Spesso accade che i coloni dell’avamposto illegale di Havat Ma’on rivendichino le terre chiamando le forze armate. La settimana appena passata ha visto un notevole incremento della presenza della polizia sulle colline e nelle valli vicino al villaggio palestinese di At-Tuwani.

March 2, 2014

(Segue versione in italiano)

March 3, 2014

At Tuwani – On Sunday afternoon while Palestinians were building the structure for a new kindergarten in the South Hebron Hills village of At Tuwani, Israeli officials from the District Coordinating Office (DCO) and army came to confiscate the building materials. Palestinian men, women and children, coordinated by the South Hebron Hills Popular Committee, successfully prevented the Israeli forces from taking away most of the materials through a nonviolent action. After some three hours of confrontation, the Israeli forces took away a cement mixer and cart. No official confiscation order was delivered in advance.

At 1.30 pm men were working on the kindergarten construction site when DCO officials arrived to the area, accompanied by four soldiers. The same officers and soldiers had already been there earlier that morning, to take pictures of the new building. At 2.51 pm two army vehicles with eight additional soldiers arrived on the scene. In the meantime dozens of area’s inhabitants gathered to protest the ongoing confiscation. At 3.24 pm the Israeli police arrived and checked different Palestinian IDs and international passports. After ten minutes an Israeli truck arrived to carry away the building materials, while women and children were moving those afar to prevent the confiscation. At 3.55 pm three officers from the Border Police also arrived.

Palestinians interposed themselves to stop the Israeli forces. Soldiers and policemen filmed them and violently tried to push them away. Palestinians refused to leave the construction site, remaining steadfast in the place.

At 4.18 pm an ambulance arrived to assist a Palestinian man who had previously fainted and received help from Palestinians and Israeli soldiers. In the meanwhile a cement mixer and a cart were placed on the truck, which was taken away by the Israeli forces. Throughout the action an Israeli activist, international volunteers and B’tselem staff members were present, filming the whole action.

The building under construction would become the first kindergarten for the villages of the South Hebron Hills.

On February 28 the Israeli Civil Administration confiscated playground equipment donated by the Italian government to a school in the Khan al-Amar Bedouin encampment, east of Jerusalem (Haartetz).

Palestinian communities of the South Hebron Hills area are still strongly involved in using nonviolence as a way to resist to the Israeli occupation

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

Pictures of the incident: click here

Video of the incident: click here

by Amira Hass. February 23, 2014

The Defense Ministry is in the process of legalizing the status of Avigayil, an illegal outpost in the southern Hebron Hills. Avigayil, founded in 2001 on more than 1,000 dunams (250 acres) of land, is located between the Maon and Susiya settlements. The authorization process is at an advanced stage.

Avigayil is part of a chain of Jewish settlements and unauthorized outposts in the area that is rapidly expanding into a bloc that also includes Beit Yattir, Havat Lucifer, Mitzpeh Yair, Susiya, Maon, Havat Maon and Carmel. The official combined area of the legal settlements in the area, excluding Maon and Avigayil, is 10,180 dunams.

To the east of the bloc is a 30,000-dunam Israel Defense Forces firing range, from which the Defense Ministry is trying to remove eight Palestinian villages. The case is currently in mediation.

The gradual expansion of the settlements’ residential and agricultural areas has been accompanied by regular, well-documented efforts by settlers to block the access of Palestinian farmers and shepherds in the area to increasing portions of their land. The numerous closure orders issued by the IDF for the area also limit Palestinian access to their land. The IDF says the closures are designed to prevent friction and conflict between the populations.

Administrative measures against most of Avigayil’s buildings, which were erected without permits, have been suspended since the various orders were issued. The Mount Hebron Regional Council and the Civil Administration are cooperating on drafting a master plan for the site. During a visit to Avigayl in late December, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon stressed that the work to legalize the outpost was moving ahead.

Soon after Avigayl’s founding in 2001, stop-work orders were issued, but never carried out. Avigayil was one of 26 outposts that then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised in 2003 to evacuate as part of the Road Map. Some 30 familes live in Avigayil.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.575791

On February 25 at 10.09 AM an excavator started to work in the south-east part of Havat Ma’on. There at 10.56 AM a truck arrived and downloaded a big amount of land. The excavator moved the land to form a new basement. Three settler were working on that.

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.

Operation Dove continues to monitor and denounce every illegal building activity inside the Israeli outposts in the South Hebron Hills.

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Il 25 febbraio alle 10.09 tre coloni con un escavatore hanno iniziato a lavorare nella parte sud-orientale di Havat Ma’on. Sul posto, alle 10.56, è arrivato un camion che ha scaricato due container di terra. L’escavatore ha utilizzato questo materiale per formare un nuovo spiazzo per future strutture dell’avamposto.

Secondo la IV Convenzione di Ginevra, la II Convenzione dell’Aja, la Corte Internazionale di Giustizia e numerose risoluzioni ONU, tutti gli insediamenti israeliani nei Territori Palestinesi Occupati sono illegali. Gli avamposti, Havat Ma’on compreso, sono considerati illegali anche secondo la legge israeliana.

Operazione colomba continua a monitorare e denunciare ogni attività di espansione illegale degli avamposti presenti nella zona delle colline a sud di Hebron.

Haaretz; By Nasser Nawajah

“Unlike you, and most Israelis, water is not something I take for granted. It is a daily existential struggle”.

Dear Minister Bennett:

My name is Nasser Nawajah. Although we have never met, I am sure that you have visited very close to my home. My neighbors from the settlement of Susya are very fond of you. In the last election, 270 of the 381 voters from the settlement of Susya voted for you and your party.