(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”.

_

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”.

Activist’s footage shows settlement security coordinator telling soldiers to make arrests.

By Amira Hass, October 27 2013 – Video by Operation Dove

VIDEO: http://bcove.me/kbzpg6me

The Israeli army will launch an internal investigation into two cases in which soldiers allegedly arrested Palestinian shepherds on false pretexts, the IDF Spokesman’s Office has told Haaretz.

The investigation, under the auspices of the Israel Defense Forces advocate general and the army’s criminal investigation division, will be studying allegations that troops from the Kfir Brigade arrested Palestinian shepherds near the village of A-Tuwani in the southern Hebron Hills, taking them away from their flocks and pastureland for hours.

In the first incident, as shown in a video taken by an international activist who was at the scene, the soldiers arrested a shepherd on the direct order of an Israeli man named Gedalia, who is the security coordinator of the settlement of Maon. In the second incident, a commanding officer claimed the grazing was forbidden because it was too close to the outpost of Mitzpeh Avigayil. The shepherd testified that the soldiers struck and abused him.

In the A-Tuwani region, international and Israeli activists escort the local farmers and shepherds to their fields because of constant attacks by the residents of the outposts and settlements. The army and police often send the farmers and shepherds away to prevent friction with the settlers. But this was the first time in local memory that shepherds were kept from their pastureland by arrests made on the orders of settlers.

On the morning of Tuesday, October 15, Maon security coordinator Gedalia arrived at Ghali Hill, where Mohammed Shawahin, 31, of the nearby village of Jawiya, was grazing his flocks. Shortly after Gedalia appeared, a military vehicle containing four soldiers, three men and a woman, arrived. Shawahin got the message and tried to leave. But the woman soldier shouted at him: “You’re not going anywhere. Don’t you hear me? I’ve got a gun. You stay here. Don’t you hear me? You stay here. I don’t care. You stay here. Right here.”

It was then the sheep began dispersing. The security coordinator told the soldiers, “He [the shepherd] isn’t carrying an identity card.” In the video documentation, the sergeant can be heard asking, in Hebrew, “What do you want us to do?” The security coordinator said, “He was here yesterday, too — the exact same thing. I want you to hold him, find out who this person is, find out who this terrorist is.”

Shawahin offered to return to his home, a few hundred meters away, and come back with his identity card. The international activist tried to tell the soldiers that two days before, different soldiers had appeared and confirmed that grazing in the area was permitted. But the commanding officer decided to arrest Shawahin anyway, and handcuffed him. Shawahin was taken by jeep to an army camp in the settlement of Sussia. Ninety minutes later he was taken to the settlement of Shim’a, about 17 kilometers southwest of where he was arrested. He returned home on foot about seven hours after he was arrested.

On the morning of October 16, the same jeep appeared, only with different soldiers this time, on the road near the wadi and the privately-owned land on which Nael Abu Aram, 26, of the village of Qawawis, was grazing his flock. Two teenage boys were with him. Abu Aram testified that one of the soldiers took the pipe one of the teenagers was carrying and began striking the sheep to disperse the flock. The soldiers insisted that Abu Aram answer them in Hebrew and refused to believe him when he said he did not speak Hebrew. For several seconds, he managed to film the commander of the troops (Duchifat Battalion soldiers who completed their training in March 2013) telling him: “You’re not allowed to be here, right? You’re not allowed to be here, because this is [the unauthorized outpost of] Mitzpeh Avigayil. You’re not allowed to be here. There’s a Jewish community here, and you’re not allowed near it.”

Abu Aram said that when he tried to use his cellphone to call for help, the commander held his hand strongly, twisting his fingers. “He almost broke them,” he said. The soldiers handcuffed him, blindfolded him and made him get into the jeep. He says he was held for two or three hours at the army base in Sussia, in one of the prefabricated buildings (which he managed to see when his blindfold was removed for a few minutes). There, he testified in a video recorded by activists of the Ta’ayush Arab-Jewish Partnership, the soldiers struck, abused and cursed him while he was still handcuffed and blindfolded. He said they struck him on the chest, back and legs, held a burning cigarette to his mouth and extinguished it on his face, near his mouth. Later on, he was taken to the area near Shim’a, about 15 kilometers from the place where he had been arrested. He returned home about six hours after his arrest. On the afternoon of the same day, the same commanding officer from the Duchifat Battalion tried to arrest another shepherd in the same area on the same pretext — being too close to the settlement — but the shepherd firmly refused to get into the jeep. Because several international activists were present, together with a Ta’ayush activist, the commanding officer backed down.

The IDF Spokesman’s Office responded: “Each of these two incidents will be investigated thoroughly by the relevant parties, including the military advocate general and the army’s criminal investigation division, to clarify the circumstances. We emphasize that IDF troops act on the orders of their commanding officers in the field and are not subject to the orders of security coordinators.”

“Un vincitore è un sognatore che non si è mai arreso” (N. Mandela)

Chi vive, ha vissuto o semplicemente è vicino ad Operazione Colomba conosce bene questa frase stampata sulle magliette che indossano i volontari che condividono la vita con le vittime delle guerre, presenze di pace nei conflitti armati.

Siamo certi che per far avverare un sogno bisogna osare. Non lasciare che le paure prendano il sopravvento. Ci vuole coraggio. A volte il coraggio di fare una proposta, per rispondere ad una necessità.

La richiesta parte dalle comunità palestinesi dei villaggi delle colline a sud di Hebron. Palestinesi che, una ventina di anni fa, decisero di scegliere la nonviolenza come unica strategia di resistenza. per continuare ad abitare le proprie terre e rispondere all’occupazione armata e civile israeliana. Parte da queste parole di un membro del Comitato Popolare: “La nonviolenza è come un albero, che per crescere ha bisogno di acqua. Ognuno di noi, uomini, donne, bambini, anziani cerca di dare il proprio contributo. Ma abbiamo bisogno anche di voi. Aiutateci a dare da bere all’albero della nonviolenza”. 

La strada per l’inferno è lastricata di buone intenzioni. La riproduzione casuale mi passa questa bomba con la nonchalance che solo un computer può avere. Frase già sentita molte volte, ma gli esplosivi spesso hanno bisogno di un detonatore e forse qui l’ho trovato. Mi trovo nelle budella di un conflitto che sanguina da decenni, ma sento solo gente che chiede la pace. La chiede il soldato israeliano orgoglioso della sua divisa e della sua arma, tanto quanto il palestinese che sogna una terra per il suo popolo dove nessun israeliano possa più metter piede, armato o meno.

Non è il fucile puntato che fa impressione, e nemmeno il sasso scagliato di chiunque sia la mano dietro, quanto l’uomo che la comanda cercando la pace. Non ci sono giusti nel naufragio della vita, siamo tutti vittime e carnefici.
Possiamo essere carnefici di un popolo oppresso perché vittime di un sistema troppo forte, carnefici di menti violentate dall’odio perché vittime di ingiustizie troppo grandi, ma sempre con le migliori intenzioni e le nostre giuste ragioni. Sembra quasi disumano uscire dal sistema causa-effetto della catena dell’odio, ingiusto essere proprio io l’anello che cede perché tutta la catena si spezzi.

Chi parte con la Colomba sa bene quante di quelle volte ti arrivano come freccette frasi del tipo “ma non hai paura?… bè sei coraggiosa…”. E tu vorresti rispondergli solo “certo che ho paura! E che c’entra il coraggio?”.

Mi piacerebbe pian piano riuscire a spiegare quanto qui c’entra il coraggio, e quanto c’entra anche la paura.
Questa paura che è talmente terribile quanto in fondo semplice da raccontare.

A volte è la paura nuda e cruda per la propria incolumità, di essere arrestato, di essere picchiato o colpito da un sasso di fionda.
Altre volte è la paura del disarmo totale, che la telecamera non ti basti o ti venga tolta, che le tue parole o i tuoi gesti non riescano ad abbassare la tensione come vorresti.
Spesso è la paura di prendere la decisione sbagliata, di perdere il controllo della situazione.
Ancora più spesso è la paura per i Palestinesi, per la violenza che li vediamo subire a gesti e a parole; e questa è una paura che toglie il fiato, che rischia di farti perdere il senso del tuo esserci, del nostro esserci.
Coraggio è scegliere di esserci e di esserci insieme.
Qui coraggio è convincerti che il NOI supera sempre l’IO.
“Due non è il doppio ma il contrario di uno” direbbe Erri De Luca.
Il noi supera l’io negli sguardi d’intesa e nella cieca fiducia quando siamo in azione sul campo.
Lo supera quando dagli errori traiamo forza e non senso di sconfitta.
Il noi supera l’io quando il ragazzino impaurito ti si aggrappa alla camicia o quando il giovane ha la forza di tirare fuori anche lui la telecamera ed è come se ti dicessero che anche loro hanno scelto di fare parte della propria storia.
E’ un coraggio di insieme, di chi sa che per seminare speranza non pretende di eliminare la paura, ma non le lascia mai avere l’ultima parola.

S.

In the morning of August 15, Palestinian shepherds were attacked by Israeli settlers and subsequently harassed by the Israeli army in the South Hebron Hills. Three Palestinians from the village of At Tuwani were grazing their sheep and working the land in Humra valley around 6:30 am, when three settlers came from the nearby Israeli outpost of Havat Ma’on and threw stones to chase them away. One of the Palestinians has a camera provided by the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem but as the settlers attacked, the man walked away but remained in the valley.

The settlers then returned to the outpost and Israeli soldiers arrived to the area. One settler talked to soldiers and accused one of the Palestinian shepherds of having gotten too close to the outpost and pushing his sheep amongst the outpost trees.  Palestinians and Operation Dove volunteers showed the soldiers the six damaged olive trees discovered in the Humra valley the previous day. Soldiers responded  that this was probably a “price tag” attack since the settlers claim a Palestinian stole sheep from the outpost some days before. Around 8:30 am the army left the area. No Palestinians or Israeli settlers were detained.

La mattina del 15 agosto 2013 tre palestinesi del villaggio di At Tuwani stavano pascolando le pecore e lavorando la terra nella vicina valle di Humra quando, intorno alle 6:30, tre coloni sono usciti dall’avamposto di Havat Ma’on tirando pietre contro i pastori nel tentativo di farli fuggire. Uno di questi ultimi portava con sé la telecamera fornita dall’organizzazione per la difesa dei diritti umani B’tselem ma, a causa dell’attacco improvviso, non è riuscito a riprendere.

Successivamente i coloni sono tornati indietro verso l’avamposto e i palestinesi sono rimasti in valle. Poco dopo sono arrivati i soldati che, dopo aver parlato con uno dei coloni presenti, hanno accusato i pastori di aver portato le pecore all’interno del bosco dell’avamposto. A quel punto i palestinesi e i volontari di Operazione Colomba hanno mostrato ai soldati i sei ulivi tagliati il giorno precedente nella medesima valle. I militari hanno risposto che, probabilmente, il taglio di ulivi è stato frutto di una azione di “price tag”* ad opera dei coloni. Questi ultimi, infatti, nei giorni precedenti, avrebbero denunciato il presunto furto di una pecora da parte dei palestinesi. Intorno alle 8:30 l’esercito è andato via, senza prendere misure nei confronti di nessuno.

* Il così detto “price tag” è un’azione di vandalizzazione volta a punire la vittima per una presunta violazione precedente, di solito usata come scusa pretestuosa. Soltanto tre mesi fa i coloni hanno tagliato 62 alberi di ulivo in un campo situato nelle vicinanze del villaggio di At Tuwani (http://tuwaniresiste.operazionecolomba.it/?p=2259).

Settler while talking with soldiers

Palestinian shepherd while talking with soldiers and showing the cut trees in Humra valley

On August 6 at about 6 p.m an armed settler chased two Palestinian shepherds in the South Hebron Hills’ Umm Zeitouna valley. The shepherds report that the settler shot his gun, targeting one of them. The bullet didn’t reach the shepherd, but hit a stone near his feet. The settler followed the fleeing shepherds until reaching the nearby village of Tuba. In the entrance to Tuba a Palestinian came out to speak with the settler, taping everything with a camera.

The settler attacked the Palestinian, pushing him and kicking his leg, aiming the gun at him and spitting at the camera. The settler threatened him in Hebrew and Arabic. At about 6.45 p.m the settler went away in the direction of Ma’on settlement.

In the Umm Zeitouna valley settler harassments and attacks against Palestinian shepherds are becoming more frequent. Despite this, the shepherds continue to graze their sheep in the valley, following a nonviolent strategy to claim their right.

Il 6 agosto 2013, intorno alle 18.00, un colono armato ha rincorso due pastori palestinesi nella valle di Umm Zeitouna. Secondo la testimonianza dei pastori, il colono avrebbe sparato mirando ad essi. Il proiettile avrebbe colpito una pietra vicino alle gambe di uno dei due palestinesi. Come mostrano le immagini, il colono ha inseguito il gregge fino al villaggio di Tuba. Lì ha incontrato un altro Palestinese, venutogli incontro per parlare.

Il colono ha attaccato il Palestinese tirandogli calci e spingendolo. Gli ha anche puntato il fucile al petto e sputato sulla telecamera, minacciandolo in arabo ed ebraico. Intorno alle 18.45 il colono si è mosso in direzione della colonia di Ma’on.

Nella valle di Umm Zeitouna le aggressioni e gli attacchi dei coloni stanno diventando sempre più frequenti. Nonostante ciò, i pastori Palestinesi continuano a pascolare le loro greggi in questa valle, perseguendo una strategia nonviolenta.

Since the end of May, when Israeli settlers from Karmel built a shelter and planted trees on a Palestinian-owned hill to take possession of it, Bedouin inhabitants of the South Hebron Hills village of Umm Al Kheer have faced daily harassment from Israeli settlers and soldiers. If initially the situation was seemingly harsher, with arrests and incursions into the village, the harassments have now became a daily occurrence.

Bedouin shepherds are still not allowed to pass with their flocks on the hill that leads them to the land where they graze their sheep each day, a hill for which no official document exists stating that is not private land owned by Palestinians. Israeli soldiers stand every morning under the shelter built on the hill to ensure Palestinians pass around and do not cross the hill. Tension is always higher on Saturdays, with the presence of Israeli police, settlers and more soldiers than usual. Bedouin shepherds accordingly require Israeli or international activists to accompany them each Saturday as they lead their flocks back to the village.

The inhabitants of Umm Al Kheer will object to the new plan of the Israeli government to build 80 new housing units in the Karmel settlement, a plan currently pending approval.

Da quando, alla fine di maggio, i coloni israeliani di Karmel hanno costruito una tettoia e piantato alberi d’ulivo su una collina di proprietà palestinese per impossessarsene, gli abitanti beduini del villaggio di Umm Al Kheer (colline a sud di Hebron) hanno dovuto affrontare soprusi quotidiani da parte di esercito e coloni. Se inizialmente la situazione poteva sembrare più grave, con arresti e incursioni nel villaggio, l’ingerenza da parte dell’esercito israeliano è ora divenuta una realtà quotidiana.

Ai pastori beduini è ancora proibito passare con le proprie greggi sulla collina che conduce alla terra su cui pascolano ogni giorno. Nessun documento ufficiale afferma che quella collina non è proprietà privata palestinese. Eppure, dei soldati israeliani si posizionano ogni mattina sotto la tettoia costruita sulla cima della collina per controllare che i palestinesi passino intorno e non attraversino la collina. Di sabato la tensione è sempre maggiore, con la costante presenza di polizia, coloni e più soldati rispetto al solito.

Gli abitanti di Umm Al Kheer sono intenzionati a presentare un’obiezione al piano di costruzione dell’attuale governo israeliano per 80 nuove unità abitative nella colonia del Karmel, piano in attesa dell’approvazione finale.

Photo from Ta’yush