Tuwani(R)Esiste

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”.

_

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.

_

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.

—

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.

February 16, 2014

At Tuwani – Yesterday morning more than 60 Palestinian men, women and children from the South Hebron Hills and city of Hebron gathered in the Palestinian village of Susiya and together with international and Israeli activists, participated in a nonviolent action  organized by the South Hebron Hills Popular Committee. The action consisted in planting some 100 olive trees on Palestinian-owned land near the settlement of Suseya.

At around 11.00 am Palestinian activists started to plant olive trees in the Palestinian-owned fields close to the gravel road in front of the settlement of Suseya.  An army car was already there and after some minutes additional Israeli forces arrived on the spot for a total of ten border police officers, sixteen soldiers and two policemen. In the meantime, other activists were affixing placards which read “no to occupation and settlement expansion” to trees and electricity poles.

At 11.14 am the soldiers declared the area a “closed military zone” and after some minutes started pushing the activists away. A group of Palestinian slowed the Israeli forces action, giving other Palestinians the time to continue planting olive trees along the gravel road. In some cases border police officers men used harsh manners, even jostling some women.  The Israeli forces were able to make Palestinians move about 100 meters away.

As soon as the soldiers stopped pushing, Palestinian women began singing while other activists took pictures in front of the soldiers. The planting of olive trees continued. At 11.49 am an army vehicle with a water cannon arrived and some activists moved away. However, a small group of activists faced the vehicle, standing in front of it and waving placards and chanting slogan against the Israeli occupation. At 12.16 am when the planting was over, the Palestinians slowly returned to the Palestinian village of Susyia.

Among Palestinian activists was Mustafa Barghouti, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (Palestinian Parliament) since 2006 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Barghouti).

That action was a direct reply to the uprooting of eighty olive trees in Palestinian fields near Suseya, which happened only five days previously (http://tuwaniresiste.operazionecolomba.it/?p=2994).

Palestinians from the South Hebron Hills are strongly committed to accessing their land for everyday farming activities.

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

Pictures of the incident: click here

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.]

Settler while shouting against the Israeli policeman
Colono mentre urla in faccia al poliziotto israeliano

On february 14 morning three settlers from the Mitzpe Yair illegal outpost chased and attacked two Palestinian shepherds near the village of Mirkez in the South Hebron Hills.

At 10.20 am three Palestinians and two internationals arrived at the scene to record the incident and seven settlers came out from the outpost, coming very close to the Palestinians. Three soldiers were also present, and they didn’t stop the settlers who attacked the shepherd. A policeman arrived shortly after, ask questions of both sides. The settlers told the soldiers and the policeman to prevent the Palestinians from returning home via the Palestinian path and fields. A settler shouted at the Palestinians and even at the policeman. The soldiers’ behavior was really friendly with settlers: They didn’t intervene to separate the settlers and Palestinians and forced the latter to take a longer way home following the settlers’ request.

The group of settlers remained close to the Palestinians for about one hour.

One of the shepherd later filed a complaint against the attackers at the Kiryat Arba police station.

—

Nella mattina di venerdì 14 febbraio, tre coloni dell’avamposto illegale di Mitzpe Yair hanno inseguito e attaccato due pastore palestinesi vicino al villaggio di Mirkez nelle Colline a Sud di Hebron.

Alle 10.20 tre palestinesi e due internazionali sono giunti sul luogo dell’attacco per documentare l’incidente e sette coloni sono usciti dall’avamposto avvicinandosi ai palestinesi presenti fino ad arrivare a contatto con loro, senza che i tre soldati presenti tentassero minimamente di fermarli. Pochi minuti dopo è arrivato un poliziotto israeliano che ha raccolto la testimonianza di entrambi le parti. I coloni hanno chiesto al poliziotto ed ai soldati di impedire ai palestinesi di transitare sulla via del ritorno verso casa attraverso Il sentiero ed i campi di proprietà palestinesi di quella zona. Di fronte alla titubanza del poliziotto i coloni hanno dato in escandescenza urlando in faccia sia ai palestinesi che al poliziotto presente. Nonstante questo il comportamento dei soldati è sempre stato estremamente amichevole verso i coloni: non hanno mai provato ad allantonare i coloni dai palestinesi nemmeno nei momenti più caldi ed hanno costretto questi ultimi a tornare verso casa percorrendo una via più lunga, di fatto acconsentendo alle richieste dei coloni.

Per circa un’ora il gruppo di coloni ha continuato ad infastidire i palestinesi.

Uno dei due pastori palestinese attaccati dai coloni ha in seguito sporto denuncia presso la stazione di polizia di Kiryat Arba.

Settler while drinking from the soldier’s water bottle
Colono mentre beve dalla borraccia di un soldato