Clarification on the Last Post

I want to make a clarification on my last post. Someone asked me if the barrier north of At-Tuwani is part of the same large barrier the Israeli government is building around the entire West Bank. The answer is no. They originally wanted to build the large barrier there, but the Israeli High Court ruled they had to build it further south. That is another reason the Court was so angry the Israeli army continued to build any type of structure north of At-Tuwani. Click here to view the route of the current/future large barrier Israel is erecting (select the first map on the right hand side). This map was created by B'tselem, an Israeli human rights organization.

They also have a map of the southern Hebron Hills region (where At-Tuwani is located). Here's a small portion of it:

• Route 317 is the Israeli bypass road north of At-Tuwani.
• The blue areas are Israeli settlements.
• Hill 833 is the Israeli settlement outpost near At-Tuwani. It has been there since 2000. The Israeli government considers settlement outposts to be illegal under their laws (Israeli citizens taking and building upon land without "legal support" of the Israeli state). Avigayil and Mitzpe Yair are also settlement outposts.
• The Palestinian village of Susiya under threat of demolition is near the Israeli settlement of Suseya.
• The red line marks the area the Israeli goverment declared a closed military zone in the 70s and later again in 1999. The Palestinian residents were harrassed by the Israeli army and even forced on trucks to leave the area both times. They won their case to stay on their land in 2000, but they still face scrutiny of their land rights by Israeli settlers in the area and sometimes the army and the Israeli Civil Administration.