School patrol military escort delays twice this week.

At Tuwani, December 10 – On December 8 the military escort arrived at the meeting point at 8:16 am and on December 10 at 8:28 am. The Israeli soldiers are supposed to be at the meeting point at 7:30 am and wait for the Palestinian children from Tuba and Maghayir Al Abeed villages (South Hebron Hills) to arrive, in order to safely accompany them to school in At Tuwani village for the all path. The arranged meeting point is a very dangerous spot, attached to Ma’on Israeli settlement’s chicken barns and just a few meters away from Havat Ma’on Israeli illegal outpost. In Havat Ma’on violent national-religious Israeli settlers live, the ones from whom Palestinian children need protection in order to reach the school as safely as possible.

From the beginning of the school year the military escort arrived late in 5 of the total mornings, therefore children missed a total of more than 2 hours of school.

On December 10, while waiting the escort to arrive, Palestinian children were verbally harassed by Israeli settlers from Havat Ma’on Israeli illegal outpost who shouted to them.

2014 is the tenth year since when in 2004, after several settler violent attacks toward Palestinian children and International volunteers, the DCO issued a verbal order for a daily escort of the schoolchildren; the Israeli Knesset Committee for Children’s Rights later confirmed this order. According to the initial agreement between DCO and the major of At Tuwani, Palestinian children must use the shortest route to reach the school (about 2.5 km from Tuba and Maghayir Al Abeed). The shortest route is the road that passes between the land where the Israeli settlement of Ma’on sits from 1982 and the Hill 833, where in 2001 the outpost of Havat Ma’on was built. This is the only viable road between Tuba and At Tuwani, after 2001 settler violence became so intense that it deterred Palestinians from using it.

Since 2004 International volunteers have monitored every day the Israeli military escort and have registered several misconducts: lack of punctuality, refusal to walk with the children, refusal to complete the escort, negligence in protecting the children in case of harassments from the settlers. Also, when the military escort doesn’t come Palestinian children have to walk through a longer (about one and half hour) and still dangerous way, very close to Havat Ma’on.

10 Palestinian schoolchildren from Tuba waiting for the military escort to arrive at the arranged meeting point. Behind them there is Ma’on Israeli settlement and in front of them Havat Ma’on Israeli illegal outpost.

Havat Ma’on Israeli illegal outpost was built in 2001 on “Tel Abu Jundyia” Palestinian owned land, also called Hill 833.

La scorta militare israeliana per gli studenti palestinesi arriva in ritardo due volte questa settimana.

At Tuwani, 10 dicembre – Il giorno 8 dicembre la scorta militare è arrivata al punto d’incontro alle 8:16 e il giorno 10 dicembre alle 8:28. I soldati israeliani dovrebbero trovarsi al punto d’incontro concordato alle 7:30 e aspettare che i bambini palestinesi dei villaggi di Tuba e Maghyir Al Abeed (colline a sud di Hebron) arrivino, così da poterli scortare a scuola nel villaggio di At Tuwani per tutto il percorso. Il punto d’incontro concordato è un posto pericoloso, adiacente le stalle dei polli della colonia israeliana di Ma’on e a pochi metri di distanza dall’avamposto israeliano illegale di Havat Ma’on. Nell’avamposto di Havat Ma’on vivono violenti coloni nazional–religiosi, a causa di questi ultimi i bambini palestinesi hanno bisogno di protezione per arrivare a scuola nel modo più sicuro possibile.

Dall’inizio dell’anno scolastico la scorta militare è arrivata in ritardo in 5 mattine, questo ha fatto si che i bambini perdessero un totale di più di 2 ore di scuola.

Il 10 dicembre, mentre aspettavano la scorta, i bambini sono stati verbalmente attaccati con urla e fischi dai coloni dell’avamposto israeliano illegale di Havat Ma’on.

Il 2014 è il decimo anno da quando nel 2004, dopo ripetuti atti di violenza dei coloni verso bambini palestinesi e volontari internazionali, la DCO (District Coordination Office, una branca dell’esercito israeliano che si occupa dell’amministrazione civile dei territori occupati palestinesi) ha emesso un ordine verbale per la presenza di una scorta che accompagnasse gli studenti; poco dopo la Commissione per i Diritti dei Bambini del Parlamento Israeliano ha confermato l’ordine. Stando ad un accordo iniziale tra la DCO ed il sindaco di At Tuwani, i bambini palestinesi devono usare la via più breve per raggiungere la scuola (circa 2,5 km da Tuba e Maghayir Al Abeed). La via più breve è la strada che passa in mezzo alla terra su cui dal 1982 si trova la colonia israeliana di Ma’on e la Hill 833, collina sulla quale nel 2001 è stato costruito l’avamposto israeliano illegale di Havat Ma’on. Questa è l’unica strada percorribile tra Tuba ed At Tuwani, dal 2001 la violenza dei coloni l’ha resa impraticabile ai palestinesi.

Volontari internazionali monitorano la scorta militare ogni giorno dal 2004, e da allora registrano diverse mancanze: mancanza di puntualità, rifiuto di camminare con i bambini, rifiuto di completare il percorso, negligenza nel proteggere i bambini in caso di violenza da parte dei coloni. In più, quando la scorta militare non si presenta, i bambini palestinesi devono percorrere una strada più lunga (che gli richiede circa 1 ora e mezza) e comunque pericolosa, molto vicina ad Havat Ma’on.

Haaretz, by Chaim Levinson Dec. 9, 2014

Settlement analyst says the areas marked are in the Jordan Valley or near settlements; Civil Administration calls claims baseless

The Civil Administration has in recent years earmarked 35,000 dunams (8,650 acres) of land currently defined as military firing zones to expand settlements and outposts, according to a settlement-tracking researcher’s analysis of its figures.

Dror Etkes has analyzed the extensive geographical information in the hands of the Civil Administration and says it shows that the administration has been surveying and mapping the old state lands recently, although these are firing zones. Since 1999, a Civil Administration team – known as the “blue line team” – has been using advanced digital methods to reaffirm the boundaries of the state lands. So far, 260,000 dunams have been mapped throughout the West Bank – 35,000 dunams of which are in firing zones.

By Yossi Gurvitz, for Yesh Din (+972 Magazine)

Through the use of civilian security coordinators in settlements and outposts, the IDF has, essentially, privatized law enforcement in the West Bank. A further aspect of this symbiotic relationship is the army’s use of the coordinators to promote de facto recognition of unauthorized settler outposts.

Our first post about our report “The Lawless Zone” focused on the unclear relationship through which Israel effectively privatizes powers in the field of defense, law enforcement and policing, and transfers these to Israeli settlers. The security coordinators are residents of West Bank settlements who receive quasi-military powers. Although they are not formally empowered to issue commands to soldiers, in practice they do so, and in many cases they exploit their powers in order to expand their settlements’ territory.

This is the main problem created by the institution of the security coordinators, and accordingly our key recommendation is that the army should reassume these powers and appoint security coordinators who are officers in the permanent army and are accountable solely to the army and not to the settlements. There is another problem, however, one that highlights the symbiotic relationship between the army and the settlers.

In the mid-1990s, the Israeli government decided not to establish new settlements unless they were approved by the entire government. Since then the phenomenon of the “outposts” has developed. An outpost is the result of the seizure of land that is ostensibly private and unauthorized, but enjoys the de facto support of the authorities, including generous support from government sources. This tool is used by settlers to seize Palestinian or public land. This process was described in extensive detail both in a report prepared by Attorney Talia Sasson and in the Yesh Din report “The Road to Dispossession.” In recent years the emphasis has been on expanding and approving existing outposts, rather than on establishing new ones.

None of this could have happened without extensive assistance from the army. In one instance, the outpost of Netzach Binyamin was torched by Palestinians. The army did not provide protection and so the Israeli civilians fled. In a case involving the land seizure orders in Dura al-Qara, the army concealed the existence of the orders from the Palestinian residents to prevent them appealing, exposing a long-standing pattern of collaboration between the army and the settlers. Our latest report has identified a new dimension to this collaboration.

In 2009 the district brigades redefined the guarding areas for which the security coordinators are responsible. The changes were made after many years in which the coordinators effectively worked without any geographical restriction, since the guard order defining their operations did not specify the boundaries of the settlements. Following a petition submitted by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the army took no less than four years to prepare the amendment.

The amendment led to two changes. Firstly, the guarding area of the settlement was defined not according to its municipal boundaries, but according to the defense perception of the brigade commander. More importantly, for the first time the orders defined guarding areas for illegal outposts: 48 such outposts were allocated independent guarding areas, while 35 more were included in the guarding area of their parent settlement.

This provision constitutes the de facto approval of the outposts by the IDF – and this in an administrative process that was supposed to restrict the security coordinators’ operations.

This process happened quietly, without a government decision, without public discussion and without updating the courts, which are still hearing the issue. An ostensibly technical military order bypassed all these stages, granting official recognition to a criminal offense.

This post is presented as a public service, in case you still believe in the fairytale about the wild settler and the army that does not pick and choose its operations. The army very much picks and chooses its operations; it has always done so.

Written by Yossi Gurvitz in his capacity as a blogger for Yesh Din, Volunteers for Human Rights. A version of this post was first published on Yesh Din’s blog.

Read the full Yesh Din report here.

The Israeli occupation continues to “normalize” the violation of the Palestinian human rights

At Tuwani – Operation Dove, Nonviolent Peace Corps of the Pope John XXIII Community-Association, maintains a constant presence in the South Hebron hills, Palestinian Occupied Territory, continuing from 10 years to accompany and support the Palestinians of the area in their struggle choice by nonviolent methods in order to protect their lives and their rights.

“On the seventh day since the beginning of the Israeli state ‘Protective Edge’ military operation against the Gaza Strip (which has already killed at least 180 people and injured more than 1200), the situation here is alarming,” says a volunteer. “Although no serious things happened during the past 7 days, the local population is very apprehensive and scared. It is expected that in parallel with the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army and settlers could begin a new massive violence phase in the area. A lot of shepherds, that we usually accompany by non-armed escort during their everyday activities, now they stay in their houses and don’t approach work areas close to Israeli settlements or outposts, because scared of attacks that could attempt on their safety. ”

Operation Dove strongly condemns this further outbreak of violence: in addition to the massacre and the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, the Israeli military operation that followed the kidnapping and murder of three young Israelis, in the West Bank has led to at least 10 people killed including children, and 150 injured during the raids. More than 500 people have been kidnapped and imprisoned, many of them subjected to “administrative detention”, so without charge. More than two thousand properties were raided, damaged or looted. Towns, villages and refugee camps have been put under siege by checkpoints and roadblocks.

Operation Dove strongly condemns the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories  that dehumanizes the occupier and the occupied. This dehumanization, institutionalized, sought and wanted by the occupying state, makes possible the murder of three young Israelis by two Palestinians, as it seems, or the barbaric murder of a 16 year old Palestinian from East Jerusalem, burned alive by Israeli extremists. This occupation “normalizes” the continued human rights violations of the Palestinian people.

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

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.]

15 luglio 2014

At Tuwani – Operazione Colomba, Corpo Nonviolento di Pace della Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII, mantiene una presenza costante nelle colline a sud di Hebron, Territori Palestinesi Occupati, continuando ad accompagnare e supportare da ormai dieci anni i palestinesi della zona nella loro scelta di lottare con metodi nonviolenti per la tutela della propria vita e dei propri diritti.

“Al settimo giorno dall’inizio dell’operazione “Protective Edge” dello Stato israeliano contro la Striscia di Gaza (che ha già ucciso almeno 180 persone e ferite più di 1200), la situazione qui è preoccupante” racconta un volontario. “Nonostante non siano successi fatti gravi negli ultimi 7 giorni, la popolazione locale è molto in apprensione e spaventata. Si aspetta che parallelamente ai bombardamenti israeliani sulla striscia di Gaza, militari e coloni israeliani possano dare inizio a una nuova fase di violenza massiccia nell’area. Molti pastori che ogni giorno scortiamo in maniera non armata nelle attività quotidiane stanno in casa e non si avvicinano alle zone di lavoro adiacenti alle colonie e agli avamposti israeliani per paura di attacchi che possano attentare alla loro incolumità”.

Operazione Colomba guarda con sgomento e condanna  questa ulteriore esplosione di violenza: oltre al massacro e al disastro umanitario a Gaza, l’operazione militare israeliana seguita al sequestro e all’uccisione di tre giovani israeliani, in Cisgiordania ha portato ad almeno 10 persone uccise, tra cui bambini, e 150 ferite durante le incursioni. Più di 500 persone sono state sequestrate ed incarcerate, di cui una buona parte sottoposte a “detenzione amministrativa”, cioè senza un’accusa. Più di duemila proprietà sono state perquisite, danneggiate o saccheggiate. Città, villaggi e campi profughi sono stati messi sotto assedio da checkpoint e roadblock.

Operazione Colomba condanna l’ occupazione israeliana dei Territori Palestinesi  che disumanizza l’occupante e l’occupato. E’ questa disumanizzazione, istituzionalizzata, cercata e voluta dallo stato occupante, che  rende possibili l’assassinio di tre giovani israeliani ad opera di due palestinesi, come pare, o il barbaro assassinio di un 16enne palestinese di Gerusalemme est, bruciato vivo da estremisti israeliani. E’ questa occupazione che “normalizza” la continua violazione dei diritti umani del popolo palestinese.

Operazione Colomba mantiene una presenza costante nel villaggio di At-Tuwani e nell’area delle colline a sud di Hebron dal 2004.

Per informazioni:
Operazione Colomba, +972 54 99 25 773

[Note: 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 sono considerati illegali anche secondo la legge israeliana.]

Following almost a month of Israeli air strikes and Palestinian rocket launches in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army declared that it had launched ‘Operation Protective Edge.’  The Israeli cabinet on Tuesday authorized the call-up of 40,000 reservist soldiers after a night in which the Israeli Air Force launched dozens of air strikes inside the Gaza Strip. The operation comes as tensions are already high in Israel and the West Bank following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers and a Palestinian teenager from East Jerusalem.

11:45 p.m., July 9

Israeli soldiers open fire at armed scuba divers who approached Israeli territory from the northern Gaza Strip. According to Haaretz, large forces are currently canvasing in attempt to locate them.

Five more Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on northern and southern Gaza Wednesday evening, bringing the total death toll in Gaza to 53, according to Ma’an News Agency. One of those killed was 49-year-old Hamdi Shahab, an employee of Media 24, a Gazan media agency.

By Michael Omer-Man, 2 July, 2014

Heavy clashes take place in a number of East Jerusalem neighborhoods, leading to dozens of injuries, including two photographers from Activestills; Kerry conveys condolences to the Palestinian people over despicable murder; ‘revenge’ calls spread throughout Israeli social networks, streets of Jerusalem.

Clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli police broke out Wednesday morning when news broke of a suspected kidnapping and murder of a Palestinian teenager in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina hours earlier. Speculation that the killing was a nationalistically motivated and perpetrated by Jewish Israelis as revenge for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank appeared almost immediately in nearly every Israeli media outlet. Police initially urged caution, saying that no motive had been established, but later said they estimated it was a “nationalistic” crime.

Muhammad Hussein Abu Khdeir was walking to morning prayers for Ramadan after 3 a.m. Wednesday morning when a car pulled up and a number of passengers forced him in. Police later found his burned body in a Jerusalem-area forest. A gag order covered other details of the investigation. The family reportedly agreed to an autopsy and the funeral was scheduled for Thursday.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday condemned the “despicable and senseless abduction and murder,” adding, “[t]here are no words to convey adequately our condolences to the Palestinian people.”

“Those who undertake acts of vengeance only destabilize an already explosive and emotional situation,” Kerry continued. “We look to both the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to take all necessary steps to prevent acts of violence and bring their perpetrators to justice.”

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office published a readout from a conversation Prime Minister Netanyahu had with Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, in which he asked police to work quickly to investigate “work as quickly as possible in order to investigate who is behind the reprehensible murder and what the motive was.” The written statement added that “the prime minister calls on all sides not to take the law into their own hands.”

The uncle of one of the murdered Israeli teens said that if there the Palestinian teen was killed as a nationalistically motivated crime or revenge, it would be horrendous. “There is no difference between [Arab] blood and [Jewish] blood.”

In the two days since Israeli troops found the bodies of the kidnapped teenagers, incitement and calls for revenge have been rampant. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon spoke of “settling the score,” Prime Minister Netanyahu called the murderers “human animals” and others called for swift action against Hamas and the Palestinians.

Hundreds of Jewish Israelis, many of them teenagers, marched through the streets of West and East Jerusalem for hours Tuesday night chanting “death to Arabs” and physically assaulting at least five Palestinians along the way. Police also reportedly prevented attacks against a number of Palestinians. Police arrested 50.

A photo posted to the ‘The people of Israel demand revenge’ Facebook page

A Facebook group established Monday night, called “The people of Israel demand revenge,” garnered over 37,000 “likes” by Wednesday afternoon. Followers of the page posted photos of themselves holding signs or with writing on their skin with messages inspired by the name of the Facebook page. A number of the posters appeared to be active duty soldiers, some of whom framed their signs with insignia, military gear and weapons.

Dozens of Palestinians were wounded in the clashes in East Jerusalem on Wednesday, with Ma’an reporting that 17 required hospitalization. Five police officers were reportedly wounded, and at least four journalists were shot with sponge-tipped bullets by police. Among those shot were two journalists from Palestine TV and two Activestills photographers. Activestills photojournalist Tali Mayer, who also works for Walla! News, was shot in the face and will have to undergo surgery.

The demonstrators damaged a number of light-rail stations and maintained a standoff with riot police in the Shuafat and Beit Hanina neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. Police shut down the main roads running through the area, which are also the main arteries connecting Jerusalem and Ramallah.

http://972mag.com/palestinian-teen-murdered-in-suspected-revenge-kidnapping/92841/

For the 9^th consecutive day, Israeli forces continued to practice a policy of collective punishment against Palestinian civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), especially in the West Bank.  This campaign included large-scale incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and brutal night house raids using tracker dogs and maltreating residents of houses by expelling them outside their houses, detaining them in one room or arresting them.  Moreover, Israeli forces turned many of those houses into military sites and deliberately damaged their belongings.  This campaign was accompanied by the use of excessive force against Palestinian civilians, who demonstrated against the Israeli forces.  In addition, the raid campaign targeted charities, health centers, media offices, schools, universities and currency exchange shops.  Israeli forces confiscated their contents as well as dozens of surveillance cameras.  Israeli forces also launched many airstrikes on training sites for armed groups and civilian objects in the Gaza Strip.

In an excessive use of force, on Friday, 20 June 2014, Israeli forces killed a 14-year-old Palestinian child in Dura, southwest of Hebron.  According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), at approximately 01:00 on the aforementioned day, Israeli forces backed by military vehicles and accompanied by armored personnel carriers moved into Dura, southwest of Hebron, and stationed in a number of its neighborhoods. They deployed between the houses when dozens of Palestinian boys and children gathered in several parts of the town outskirts and threw stones and empty bottles at the Israeli soldiers.  At approximately 04:50, an Israeli infantry force comprised of around 300 soldiers deployed between the houses in Haninah neighborhood in the south of the town.  When they tried to pass through the main street to head to the area overseeing al-Ma’ajour neighborhood near the “Adoraym” military camp known as “the crazy camp”, a number of boys and children gathered to throw stones at them.  In response, the Israeli soldiers fired ceaselessly for 10 minutes sound bombs, tear gas canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets at the stone-throwers until an Israeli soldier appeared and fired live bullets indiscriminately at the demonstrators.  As a result, Mohammed Jihad Mohammed Doudin (14) was hit by a live bullet, which penetrated the right side of the chest and exited from the back.  He was then taken by a civilian vehicle to the Palestine Red Crescent Society clinic in the town, but he died upon arrival.

The At Tuwani village Women’s Cooperative together with Israeli women gave life to Two Neighbors: an against-the-odds business partnership that defies politics in favor of beauty, common sense, and shared economic benefit. The new project is leaded by a team made by Israeli women, Palestinian women and American men and women who founded the Center for Emerging Futures that holds gatherings for Israelis and Palestinians on the border between Israel and the West Bank. 

After spending time at a Global Village Square meeting organized by the Center for Emerging Futures, women from both sides of the conflict decided they would like to work together producing beautiful items which showcased their talents and heritage. They wanted to do this together, showing that Israelis and Palestinian women, who were tired of waiting for the politicians to declare peace, could work together now to improve their economic condition and demonstrate peaceful relations on a grass roots level.

http://twoneighbors.com

By Amira Hass, Haaretz, May 21 2014

Officer tells Knesset committee method used to reduce illegal construction, Palestinian population in Area C; Habayit Hayehudi MK urges crack-down on international groups who assist construction.
Military training in live-fire zones in the West Bank is used as a way of reducing the number of Palestinians living nearby, and serves as an important part of the campaign against Palestinian illegal construction, an army officer revealed at a recent Knesset committee meeting.