Tuwani(R)Esiste

Press Release of the incident: http://snipurl.com/280gnp9

Were sheep really almost stolen from the illegal outpost of Havat Maon – or did its residents use soldiers to harass residents of the nearby village of a-Tawani?

By Amira Hass – October 14, 2013

On Sunday, October 6, residents of the unauthorized and illegal West Bank outpost of Havat Maon suspected that someone was trying to steal sheep from the flock owned by Yehoshafat Tor. “A resident of Havat Maon spotted two suspicious people on the farm’s land,” declared a news item on the right-wing website Hakol Hayehudi (“The Jewish Voice”). The item went on to explain, “Despite the looming suspicion that this was a criminal act, Israeli army troops decided to initiate the procedure known as ‘Dark Knight 3,’ pointing to the suspicion that an armed terrorist had infiltrated the community. Nearby communities were also alerted that an infiltration might have taken place.”

At nightfall, the dark knights raided the nearby Palestinian village of a-Tawani, whose olive trees are vandalized at least once a month (as of press time, the last time this happened was October 4). The police and the army never catch the vandals. This is the village whose residents are frequently stopped by certain Israelis from taking their animals out to pasture while the army stands idly by or actively stops them as well. This is the village where children cannot attend school without an escort, either from the army or international peace activists, for fear of being attacked by Havat Maon residents.

A single flash bomb got the village’s inhabitants out of their homes, and they discovered settlers in their village. “There are settlers in the village, there are settlers in the village,” they shouted. When the settlers began walking toward the school, the residents followed. “We asked them why they had entered the village, and they didn’t answer,” Mahmoud Salman told Eitay Mack, an independent lawyer. They had flashlights, which they pointed at homes and school and trees. Then they went toward the wadi. Then the villagers saw soldiers with the settlers. “We asked the soldiers why there were settlers in the village, but they didn’t answer,” Salman said. At that point, the soldiers began searching homes.

Salman’s father, Salman Rabai, 68, heard knocking so loud that it shook the front door, and the soldiers shouting “Open up, open up!” Rabai, who describes himself as ill and elderly, limped toward the door, leaning on his cane. When he opened the door, the dark knights aimed their rifles at him. They kept the weapons trained on him as he limped, on their orders, to every door in the house and opened each one.

“I asked them what they wanted,” Rabai told Mack, but they did not answer. They touched nothing in the house; they only looked. But that was enough to make Rabai’s 3-year-old granddaughter tremble with fear for a long time afterward.

Then the soldiers went to the neighboring home, as Rabai followed them. “My nephew — it was his house — was afraid and didn’t want them to come in. He told the soldiers there were small children inside. One of the soldiers got annoyed and pulled out a hand grenade. He threatened to hurl it if he wasn’t allowed inside. I intervened. I told the soldiers to calm down, that everything was all right. I opened the door myself. Another soldier took the grenade away from the comrade who had made the threat and told him there was no need to search the house. Then they went to another house.” Oops — maybe the sheep-stealer/armed terrorist was hiding there?

The soldiers got into an argument in the other house, too. One of them ordered all the residents out, including the small children who had already gone to sleep and were now frightened. But one of them said, “The little ones can stay inside.” In the end, more soldiers arrived, aimed their rifles, searched and forgot to order the inhabitants out.

Aisha Harini and her five children were already asleep. Later, Harini would hear that her husband and eldest son had been stuck at the village entrance. She awoke to loud knocking on both metal doors of her home. The soldiers also knocked on the windows, breaking the glass. “I was afraid to open the door by myself, without my husband. The children and I hid in an inner room. All the children, except for two who hadn’t woken up, clung to me. Two of them were crying. I told them to calm down and didn’t speak with the soldiers. I heard them go up onto the roof. They stayed there for about 20 minutes. Then…I saw soldiers ransacking the room and looking in the refrigerator. They also moved two sacks of grains.”

Meanwhile, another group of soldiers blocked the village entrance with jeeps, stones and tires. Gradually, residents — including women, children and babies — who had returned from Yatta and were not allowed to continue to their homes gathered there. It was cold. The soldiers shouted and took car keys from the drivers. They yelled at them, ordering them to stay in their cars and forbidding them from talking on their cellphones. The women tried to take their frightened children home. The soldiers, those chivalrous knights, shoved them violently and blocked their way. After about an hour and a half, more army vehicles arrived. Seliman Adra recalls that a Border Police officer told them: “‘Take your cars and get back on the road to Yatta. There’s an incident in progress here.’ When we asked them to let the women and children go home, the soldier said, ‘I don’t want to let you in — I don’t want there to be a conflict or a fight.’” Later, Adra realized that the “conflict” the soldier referred to was with the settlers who had broken into the village.

Were suspicious figures really spotted in Havat Maon? Or did the settlers enlist the soldiers as part of their upgraded scheme to harass the village? The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit did not respond to questions from Haaretz as Eitay Mack has filed a complaint with the Military Advocate General.

La Corte Suprema chiede la mediazione tra Stato e comunità palestinesi a rischio evacuazione. I palestinesi accettano ma sono chiari: “Non ce ne andremo dalle nostre terre”.

di Operazione Colomba per Nena News

At-Tuwani, 11 ottobre 2013, Nena News – I giudici della Corte Suprema israeliana hanno scelto la mediazione tra lo Stato e gli oltre mille palestinesi che potrebbero essere sfrattati dalle loro case e dalle loro proprietà (in quanto inserite dentro l’area dichiarata “Firing Zone 918” – area di esercitazioni militari dell’esercito israeliano) come strada per tentare di mettere fine alla battaglia giudiziaria iniziata circa 15 anni fa.

Il mediatore proposto dal tribunale è il giudice Yitzhak Zamir. La difesa, ovvero i palestinesi, hanno già accettato la decisione della Corte, mentre lo Stato israeliano, il 4 ottobre, ha chiesto più tempo per decidere se accettare la mediazione oppure no. La cosa risulta a dir poco assurda, dato che lo Stato nell’estate del 2012 aveva risollevato la questione presso l’Alta Corte dichiarando una necessità urgente dell’utilizzo dell’area.

I palestinesi hanno accettato la mediazione, pur sapendo che questa si inserisce all’interno di un processo che al massimo potrà portare al rispetto della legalità, ma non raggiungerà la giustizia.

Così, infatti, commenta il suggerimento di mediazione il coordinatore del Comitato Popolare di resistenza delle colline a Sud di Hebron (dal 1999 le comunità palestinesi dell’area hanno intrapreso un’incredibile esperienza di resistenza popolare nonviolenta, sostenuti da attivisti israeliani e internazionali): “Abbiamo il dovere di chiedere giustizia, ma non ci siamo mai fidati totalmente della giustizia israeliana, perché è inserita nella strategia dell’occupazione. Noi crediamo nei nostri diritti, noi crediamo nel nostro destino: restare su questa terra. Ed è una lotta costante. Quando dico lotta costante intendo che la gente dell’area deve affrontare tutte le strategie che l’occupazione mette in atto allo scopo di cacciare i palestinesi dalle loro terre, strategie che vanno dall’impossibilità di accedere ai servizi, alle violenze dei militari e dei coloni. Vivere qui, in queste condizioni, e resistere all’occupazione non è affatto facile. Il prezzo che questa lotta ci richiede è molto alto. Ma noi siamo pronti a sopportarlo”.

Sulla stessa linea il commento di Salem Musa, quando gli chiediamo che cosa desiderano le persone del suo villaggio: “Il nostro messaggio per tutto il mondo è che noi vogliamo rimanere sulla nostra terra. Non abbiamo un altro posto dove andare. Vogliamo vivere qui. E viverci con l’acqua corrente, l’elettricità e le strade carrabili. Non vogliamo che l’esercito ci impedisca di muoverci o pascolare le greggi. Non vogliamo più soffrire a causa dell’occupazione. Vogliamo rimanere sulla nostra terra, ma senza soldati”.

Salem vive ad Al Majaz, uno degli otto villaggi che rischia di essere evacuato. Una vicenda che dura dagli anni ’70, quando le terre intorno al suo e ad altri 13 villaggi palestinesi sono state dichiarate da Israele “Firing Zone 918”, area di esercitazioni militari a munizioni vive. Nel 1999 tutti i villaggi dell’area sono stati forzatamente evacuati (per maggiori informazioni clicca qui). Dopo appelli all’Alta Corte di Giustizia israeliana, l’evacuazione è stata sospesa e gli abitanti sono tornati alle loro case. Ma nell’estate del 2012 il Ministero della Difesa israeliano ha chiesto all’Alta Corte di riaprire il caso, rimettendo di nuovo a rischio la possibilità dei palestinesi di abitare e condurre la propria vita quotidiana nell’area.

I pastori e gli agricoltori palestinesi di questi villaggi si trovano ad affrontare decisi impedimenti a migliorare le loro condizioni di vita. La mancanza di strade carrabili, di servizi sanitari, dell’elettricità e l’impossibilità di costruire qualsiasi infrastruttura in un’area considerata ad utilizzo militare, rendono la vita una sfida giornaliera. A questo si aggiungono minacce e violenze da parte dell’esercito. La notte tra il 3 e 4 luglio, ad esempio, trenta soldati hanno fatto irruzione nel villaggio di Jinba (uno degli otto che rischia l’evacuazione), accompagnati da due coloni che accusavano i palestinesi di aver rubato loro delle pecore. I soldati hanno perquisito diverse case palestinesi, sfondandone le porte e lanciando bombe sonore, una delle quali è entrata in una casa e un’altra ha colpito un uomo che dormiva all’aperto. I soldati hanno picchiato quattro palestinesi, mentre tre sono stati detenuti per tutta la notte. Questo è solo uno di molti episodi di intimidazione.

Nonostante questo, Salem e gli altri circa mille palestinesi che vivono nell’area non hanno dubbi su quale sia il posto dove costruire il proprio futuro. E non hanno dubbi sul fatto che la proposta di mediazione sia insufficiente. Come si può mediare tra la richiesta di pastori e contadini che vivono da generazioni su queste terre, e qui vogliono rimanere, e le pretese di un esercito occupante che reclama la stessa terra per esercitazioni militari (con la motivazione che esercitarsi qui rappresenterebbe “un risparmio in termini economici e di tempo”), andando contro le convenzioni di Ginevra e dell’Aia? I palestinesi vedono nella mediazione, piuttosto, una delle tante strategie dell’occupazione per continuare a non fare giustizia, poiché la questione non è solamente se questi villaggi verranno evacuati o meno, ma l’area militare in sé viola i diritti umani di chi lì abita e le leggi internazionali.

Così, infatti, conclude il coordinatore del Comitato: “Al di là delle analisi politiche, la questione è semplice: quello che sta avvenendo qui è un’ingiustizia e una violazione di tutti i principi dell’essere umano, dell’umanità. Ma noi siamo convinti che verrà il giorno che vedrà la fine di questa ingiustizia. Dobbiamo perseverare nel nostro impegno nella resistenza nonviolenta. Ciò significa che affronteremo tutte queste politiche di occupazione attraverso azioni e manifestazioni nonviolente, grazie alla solidarietà e al supporto di israeliani e di internazionali. Finché non otterremo giustizia. Finché l’occupazione non finirà”.

Despite finding the man guilty of operating outside his authorized territory and committing a criminal offense, Israeli army hasn’t removed him from position.

by Chaim Levinson – October 10, 2013

The security coordinator for the West Bank settlement of Avigail who is responsible for the placement of a roadblock preventing access to the adjacent Palestinian villages will remain in his position.

A Haaretz investigation found that Ahikam Halleli, the security coordinator for that area, who was responsible for initiating and implementing the incident, got off with a mere rebuke by the Israel Defense Forces commander in Hebron, Major-General Avi Bluth.

On August 18, several settler youths from the outposts Mitzpe Yair and Avigail built a roadblock on the dirt road leading to four Palestinian villages – Jinba, Bir el-Eid, Markaz and Hallawa – all located in Firing Zone 918.

Human rights organizations summoned the army, who arrived to the area, spoke with the youth and cleared the rocks. Upon leaving, the settler youth once again blocked the road until nighttime. Israeli soldiers and police returned and once again re-opened the road. Palestinian residents also complained of a stench coming from a water cistern nearby, likely due to an dead animal left there by the youth.

Residents of Avigail say that Halleli did it to avenge the theft of a car from the Mitzpe Yair outpost a few days earlier.

“He emailed all the residents,” a settler living in the area said, “writing that there were several car thefts committed recently, including the day before. Residents were requested to arrive the next day at 6:30 in the morning to help block the road. Ahikam qualified the activity as ‘important.'”

Local settlement councils employ security coordinators, paying their salaries. The army is responsible for vetting each one, and is also his exclusive acting supervisor. Settlement security coordinators are subject to military disciplinary law and IDF investigations and army commanders sign off on maps delineating the territories within which they can act.

In this case, Halleli was operating outside his authorized territory, in addition to committing a criminal offense.

Following Haaretz’s request for a response, Major-General Bluth summoned Halleli for an investigation. Halleli admitted he initiated the roadblock, but Bluth decided to make due with a reproach and keep him in his position.

Halleli has in the past been involved in transferring material for illegal settlement construction. In that case as well, as a result of a Haaretz inquiry, he was called in for an investigation and merely rebuked. He claimed he did not know the materials were being used for illegal construction, and promised it would not happen again.

Halleli refused to comment on this case. The IDF Spokesperson said in a response that a thorough investigation was conducted following the incident, including a conversation between the army commander and the said security coordinator.

“During the conversation it was made clear beyond any doubt that this behavior is not in line with the IDF’s values, and constitutes an impaired decision, as a result of which proper procedure was restated. This was an isolated incident that does not reflect general behavior, as the IDF consistently examines its civilian security officials.”

The press release about the incident occurred on August 18: http://snipurl.com/27ystqj

Video of the incident: http://snipurl.com/27nvjb3

PRESS RELEASE

Israeli army invaded South Hebron Hills village of At Tuwani overnight 

Access roads to the village were blocked and soldiers broke into Palestinian houses

(Italian follows)

October 7, 2013

At Tuwani – Large Israeli military forces broke into the South Hebron Hills village of At Tuwani Sunday night and surrounded it. The army blocked accesses to the village and searched numerous Palestinian homes, finding nothing.

At 7.10 pm At Tuwani inhabitants informed Operation Dove volunteers about shooting that occurred near the Havat Ma’on outpost. From the Palestinian home located closest to Havat Ma’on, the volunteers noticed that headlights from the outpost were shining light on the entire Humra valley, located beside it. The volunteers then saw several people walking in the valley, flanked by military jeeps.

At 7.40 pm several flares were shot from various positions around At Tuwani, as Israeli military jeeps and soldiers on foot began to approach the Palestinian village from three different directions. At the same time five settlers and three soldiers entered At Tuwani. The soldiers left the settlers alone, who checked the area using headlights. The settlers were from Mitzpe Yair, Avigayil and Havat Ma’on, all Israeli outposts located in the South Hebron Hills area.

At 8.10 pm two international volunteers went to the entrance of At Tuwani, where they found eight military vehicles. Israeli soldiers were stopping Palestinian cars, searching them, body-searching all the male passengers and taking the vehicle keys. Two army jeeps remained there to block the road and did not allow anyone to enter the village while six jeeps entered At Tuwani. In total five Palestinian-owned cars with about eleven men, three women, an elderly person and a child were stopped. The soldiers allowed the people to return home after more than two hours.

In the meanwhile, soldiers broke into Palestinian homes in At Tuwani and searched them, frightening the inhabitants and in some cases threatening to arrest Palestinians and internationals who were filming the events. The Israeli army searched the local mosque, five homes -one with just women inside- and two stables, without finding anything.

At least ten army and two Border Police vehicles invaded the village, in addition to numerous soldiers on foot.

The reaction of At Tuwani inhabitants demonstrates how they are strongly involved in using nonviolence as a way to resist the Israeli occupation: all village residents demonstrated solidarity in the homes invaded by the soldiers;; some residents were filming the developments; the women made pressure on the soldiers, who ran after them, to open the road. Finally, some Palestinians invited soldiers to drink tea while they were breaking into their houses.
The absence of aggressive behaviors toward the soldiers and the constant presence of cameras substantially contributed to a decrease in the level of violence.

The Israeli army left At Tuwani village at 10.30 pm, providing no explanation about the military operation to the internationals and the local inhabitants.

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

Pictures of the incident: http://snipurl.com/27y2is8

Video of the incident: available soon

[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.]

——- 

PRESS RELEASE

48 young olive trees destroyed in South Hebron Hills

(Italian follows)

October 3, 2013

At Tuwani – This morning Palestinians discovered 48 olive trees destroyed alongside bypass road 317 near the South Hebron Hills area village of Qawawis.

The olive tree grove belongs to Ali Shetat from Qawawis and had been planted six years ago. At 10 am this morning the owners, several internationals and B’tselem staff members gathered near the destroyed trees, waiting for the police. After 20 minutes the Israeli police and army arrived on the scene and documented the incident.

On May 10, 62 olive trees were cut during the night in a field next to bypass road 317, near the village of At Tuwani. On a small wall near the olive grove the slogan “price tag for those who steal” wasfound. The “price tag policy”  (Hebrew: מדיניות תג מחיר) is, according to  B’tselem, the name given to “acts of random violence aimed at the Palestinian population and  Israeli security forces” by radical Israeli settlers.

The number of Palestinian-owned trees uprooted and damaged in the South Hebron Hills area from the beginning of 2013 now stands at 139. This is a substantial increase over 2012, when 101 olive trees were damaged.

Just in the last two months and right before the olive harvest season, 22 olive trees were destroyed in this area.

Olive trees are an essential resource for the Palestinian community in the South Hebron Hills area, and their damage causes serious economic loss.

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

Pictures of the incident: http://snipurl.com/27xa6yg

[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.]

PRESS RELEASE

Negligence of the Israeli soldiers exposes Palestinian children at risk on the way to school, South Hebron Hills

(Italian follows)

October 2, 2013

At Tuwani – In the afternoon of October 1, the Israeli military escort left ten Palestinian children from Tuba and Magayir Al-Abeed alone on their way back from school.

Every day the escort accompanies to school the children on the road that passes between the settlement of Ma’on and the outpost of Havat Ma’on.

After school the children had to wait near the Israeli outpost of Havat Ma’on (Hill 833) for over 1 hour and 40 minutes, but the army did not arrive. Therefore, the children start to walk through a longer way (more than one hour instead of 20 minutes) accompanied by some internationals. This path is dangerous because it runs beside the outpost and along this way the children were repeatedly attacked and chased by the settlers. Operation Dove volunteers and Israeli associations called several times the Israeli army; since the first call the army officer kept declaring that the escort was on its way.

On September 29 the escort delay was more than 1 hour and 15 minutes. Since the beginning of the current school year (August 25) the escort has rarely fulfilled its duty. The children had to wait the escort for about 16 hours in total. On 61% of the mornings the children were late at school more than 5 minutes and on 69% of the school days they had to wait after the school for the military escort. Furthermore, in contravention of the protective mandate of the escort, the Israeli military failed to fully complete the escort on the 89% of the cases (the soldiers did not walk until the end of the settlement on 49 of 55 total cases). This situation of exposure to violence and lack of security compromises their fundamental right to education.

This military escort was established in November 2004 by “Children Rights Committee of the Knesset”, to protect the children from the several attacks that they have suffered since 2001 by settlers of Havat Ma’on on the route to the school. To avoid the attacks, the children were using a path two hours long.

For further information on the military escort and how it was carried out in the past years, the report “The Dangerous Road to Education. Palestinian Students Suffer Under Settler Violence and Military Negligence” is available at: http://goo.gl/CXfi9

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

Pictures of the incident: http://snipurl.com/27wx5tl

[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 September 22, after having asked to the Israeli singer to cancel the performance without success, the South Hebron Hills Popular Committee, Ta’ayush and Israeli activists organized a protest against Ehud Banai concert in Suseya settlement. For more information clic here.

Pictures of the event: http://snipurl.com/27ve8fa

On September 22, three masked settlers from Havat Ma’on outpost (Hill 833) chased away internationals and then damaged two olive trees in Humra valley.

Twenty-two are the Palestinian olive trees destroyed and damaged in Humra valley since August 2013.

———-

Il 22 settembre tre coloni mascherati dall’avamposto di Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), hanno prima inseguito alcuni internazionali e poi hanno danneggiato due alberi di ulivo nella valle di Humra.

Sono 22 gli ulivi palestinesi distrutti e danneggiati in questa valle da agosto 2013.

Il cantante israeliano Ehud Banai domani si esibirà nella colonia di Suseya, nelle colline a sud di Hebron. Questa è una lettera di un abitante del villaggio palestinese di Susiya, più volte evacuato e che subisce le violenze da parte dei coloni del vicino insediamento omonimo.

By +972, September 21, 2013

Several weeks ago a number of Israeli left-wing individuals and organizations launched a campaign to pressure Israeli singer Ehud Banai not to perform in the south Hebron Hills settlement of Susya.

Alongside the campaign, Israeli organizations Rabbis for Human Rights, Breaking the Silence and Ta’ayush offered to take Banai on a tour of the area, including Palestinian Susya, a village that was forcibly evicted in order to make room for the Jewish settlement of the same name. Banai turned down the offer, saying he didn’t have time but said he would do so after the concert.

Mr. Banai eventually canceled his show in the settlement of Susya, citing anger and vitriol directed toward him by the settler community following a Facebook post asserting that he opposes the occupation.

On September, 18, however, he posted yet another Facebook post (both have since been deleted) announcing that he will perform in Susya as planned on September 22.

The following is an open letter to the Israeli singer by Nasser Nawajaah, a resident of Palestinian Susya. (Translated by Talia Beth Krevsky)