Life Anew

I apologize for the tardiness of this update. I’ve been spending my time acclimating to life here, which has been exciting but also very tiring. Let’s see...where do I even begin?

I’ve felt extremely welcomed and taken care both by Tala and her aunt (who I’m living with) as well as by other friends and co-workers. Tala, who I met in 2007 while doing my masters at American University, often calls the United States her adopted home. I wouldn’t yet say the same about Palestine, but it is definitely a very comfortable and fascinating place for me. I feel a deep peace that this was the right move to make.

Since arriving in Palestine on Saturday, April 3, I’ve been all over the place:

• I went to Jerusalem for Easter Sunday. However, the visit was twinged with sadness, both because of Palestinian Christians being denied entry into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher the day before and because I wasn’t celebrating the day with my community at New Community Church.

• Thanks to a birthday present from Tala, I am now the proud member of a gym called Solo here in Ramallah. They offer you a free physical trainer every time you go, and Mike definitely kicks my ass…just give me a couple more months and I’ll be able to take on my mom in regards to her quads:) Seriously though, it’s been lovely to have a place to get my endorphins going and to develop a routine outside of work.

• I spent 5 days in the Hebron area meeting women and partners connected with a women’s center located in Dura (I’m doing a bit of work for the organization that supports the center). I felt really privileged to hear people’s stories, both their challenges surrounding occupation and cultural expectations and their hopes/dreams for the future. There’s a lot of energy amongst the women there and I’m excited to see the advances the center will make in the coming years. And the lovely family I stayed with must have slaughtered most of the animals in the Hebron area…I’ve never eaten so much meat in my life!

• This week was my first full week at my job at Ruwwad. I’ve been running around with my boss to different meetings around Ramallah and Jerusalem, and learning a lot from my coworkers in regards to their work with the concept and practice of youth empowerment, and in regards to language. I think that’s one of the reasons I’ve been so tired; I’m constantly soaking up new information and new Arabic words. My favorite new Arabic phrase is “Inta awta min ishafra alard,” which basically means “You’re scum.” And no, that statement wasn’t directed at me, but I will use it:)

• And finally, I went to Nablus last night, a city in the northern part of the West Bank. I’ve always wanted to go there as my Arabic teacher in the states grew up there and I’ve always heard Palestinians rave about the city’s famous sweet called kanafe. Tala and I perused their farmer’s market, paying only 60 shekels (about $20) for a ridiculous amount of fresh vegetables and fruit. The terrain of the city (hills and mountains) was breathtaking, and the kanafe was like a piece of heaven…Nablus could quickly become my favorite city in Palestine.

Hope you all are well. Please send me your news. And may God bless and challenge you and those with whom you’re living life.

Gaza Lamentations

There is much to add to this blog from the fall. However, I would like to begin the new year by drawing your attention to a blog focusing on the horrible events in Gaza: http://lamentations-gaza.blogspot.com. A friend of mine is the editor and people are submitting narratives, articles, poetry and photography/art from all over the world: Palestine (including Gaza), Ireland, the United States. Please read it, pass it around your friends and family, and write something if you feel so moved.

Here is a piece I wrote earlier this week that you can find on the Lamentations-Gaza blog:

A phone call for Gaza

While drifting in and out of sleep during a layover in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport this morning, I was finally brought into consciousness by a call from Lauren, a dear friend who lives near Los Angeles, California.

“I heard the updates about Gaza this morning and wanted to call you. I am so sorry.”

What more can be said at a time like this? I’ve had trouble putting any words to the images I’ve seen from Gaza since Saturday and to the feelings welling up inside of me as I think of friends in Palestine and of Palestinian friends here in the States wishing they were home with their loved ones. All of my past study on the political and historical context of the horrific events of the last few days has helped me to explain to people here what is happening, but even this doesn’t seem like enough as the bombs continue to fall.

“I don’t know what the Gaza Strip looks like, but I heard on the news this morning that the population density is similar to New York City.”

Like Lauren, I also have never been to Gaza. My first glimpse of what the Strip is like came from a friend I made during my undergraduate years. We met while I was reading the BBC in the library computer lab. At our tiny Midwestern Christian university it wasn’t common for Hassan to find someone reading news on the BBC, let alone news on Palestine. So, he struck up a conversation. Throughout that year (2002), I watched him ride a roller coaster of emotions. Calling home to Gaza to hear familiar voices was as therapeutic for Hassan as it was frightening. Practically every time he picked up the phone he received news that another friend had died or another family member was out of work. Hassan humanized Gazans for me in a way the BBC never could. They became more than numbers on a webpage: they were his obstinate mother whose strength kept the family going; they were Hassan’s depressed father who after months of unemployment was ashamed of not being able to provide for his family; they were his sister who loved learning and devoured every book that crossed her path; they were his younger brother who hated living in Gaza, but had no way of leaving. They were people sharing life with one another, hoping for better days amidst a world of pain and oppression.

“It doesn’t seem right to be heading towards Disneyland today as a war is just beginning.”

Lauren’s words echoed my thoughts. What do you do at a time like this? Living an entire ocean away, how can you adequately take in what is happening and respond in some way? These thoughts are not new, of course. Every tragedy has the power to bring such questions to the surface. I wanted to invite my friend to the protests happening in Washington, DC this week. However, knowing her pocket book couldn’t handle the expense and knowing one or two protests are not enough to move my government, I instead told her about this blog.

“Please send it to me. And I promise I’ll send it out to everyone I know. It’s the least I can do.”

And writing this piece this morning as I travel home to DC is the least I can do, and hopefully it is just the beginning. To those in Gaza, please know you are not forgotten. And to those outside of Gaza, whatever your opinion on this war, do not forget that Gazans are more than casualty numbers or the titles of “civilian and combatant”. They are human beings like you and me.

A Bittersweet Memory

So, I’ve been avoiding writing one final blog entry about this summer…not sure why, but the process of putting thoughts and experiences down seemed so exhausting when I first returned two weeks ago. Now, it feels like it’s going to be a relief, like I need to get something out or I will explode!

I promised I would write about the action that happened in At Tuwani on August 2. When I think about that day, which was actually a really successful action for Palestinians in the area, the first thing that comes to mind is a young girl named Amira. She’s the same feisty girl I wrote about in June who declared that she didn’t like At Tuwani because of the incursions by Israeli soldiers and settlers. Amira is a very interesting little girl, at times really aloof and at other times extremely intense and focused.

One ridiculously hot afternoon in July, Joy and I were working on a piece of writing when Amira showed up. We were intent on finishing the document before the computer battery died and she was intent on convincing us she needed to take our bottle of bubbles to her house. I tried a million ways to tell her she had to use them at our house (as every kid in a radius of two miles would be banging down our door to do the same if we let her take them), a million ways to tell her we could talk to her after we finished writing, but she wasn’t having any of that. She tried pleading, peering over our shoulders, playing with the keyboard, staring us down, speaking loudly with another girl from the village about how unfair we were being to her; she was relentless. Joy remarked at one point, “She’s driving me crazy, but this girl is going to make a great resister.”

Well, Amira got to test out those resistance skills on August 2 as she and her neighbors tried to march from At Tuwani to villages her classmates come from, villages she has never before seen in her life though they are just a 20 minute walk from her house. The Israeli police and army refused to let us march the route on which the children and CPTers had been attacked by Israeli settlers a week earlier. In fact, they proceeded to push the marchers back, attempted to arrest others, and one soldier even went as far as choking my teammate Tarek as he pinned Tarek down on the ground. Things were at a stand still. In the end, they Palestinians negotiated with them and gained permission to march on the road between Havot Maon settlement outpost and the settlement of Maon. As I mentioned before, no Palestinian has stepped foot on that road in the past eleven years except for the children from the villages of Tuba and Maghayer el Abeed who are escorted by the Israeli military to school. The simple act of walking on this road was a miracle in and of itself.

I was one of the last people to arrive at the final agreed-upon march route, and as I reached the crest of the hill overlooking the marchers I saw Amira walking slowly towards me.

“Sarah, I’m scared,” she muttered.

“You’re scared?”

“Yes."

For some reason, I didn’t hesitate in my reply. I merely said, “Don’t be scared, Amira. We are all together, right? We are much stronger together. It will be ok.”

She nodded her head and took a hold of my hand as we made our way down toward the road. I don’t remember seeing her join the group of 150 or so Palestinians who set off with drums and banners, nor did I see her after she returned, but I know she was able to catch a glimpse of the place her classmates’ call home for the first time in her eight years of life. She was able to participate with her community in letting those who had threatened and beaten her neighbors know that this community wasn't going to run away in fear. It was such a tiny victory, but it brought me tremendous joy.

I will never forget the elation of seeing people I have come to call friends march to see their neighbors that day and I will never forget Amira’s panicked face as she said, “Sarah, I’m scared.” As a result of realities surrounding the Israeli occupation, Amira is being forced to grow up very quickly; her world is not the carefree world I knew when I was her age. So, for me, August 2, 2008 is a bittersweet memory, but one I will hold onto for a very long time.

One of my young neighbors getting ready to march.

Palestinians trying to convince the Israeli police to let them march.

March from At-Tuwani to Tuba a success

CPTnet
3 August 2008
AT-TUWANI: March from At-Tuwani to Tuba a success

On 2 August, more than one hundred children and their parents from the South Hebron Hills marched from the village of At-Tuwani to the village of Tuba, calling for an end to settler violence and settlement expansion in the area. The march was a part of the annual South Hebron Hills summer camp for children and a response to recent settler attacks on children walking to the summer camp in At-Tuwani.

The children and their parents, accompanied by a few Israelis and internationals, took the most direct path to the village of Tuba. For the past eleven years, school children escorted by the Israeli military have been the only Palestinians able to use this road. Palestinian parents organized the march to call attention to the violence faced by school children, the failure of the Israeli army to protect them and the effects of Israeli settlement expansion.

The march initially attempted to take the path that children use when unaccompanied by the Israeli military, around the settlement outpost Havat Ma’on (Hill 833)—which the Israeli government ordered dismantled in 2006. The Israeli military then declared the whole area a closed military zone and restrained the march with force, targeting leaders. Seeing a soldiers attack and try to arrest a Palestinian man, a CPTer tried to intervene. Soldiers knocked them both down and started choking the CPTer. Other participants in the demonstration then intervened nonviolently and stopped the attack. An Israeli and Kristin Anderson—who has worked both with CPT and Operation Dove (an Italian peace group that, with CPT, forms the At-Tuwani team)—were arrested.

Palestinian organizers negotiated with the soldiers, and the Israeli military agreed to accompany the children and parents on the short path, using the road between Ma’on settlement and Havat Ma’on (Hill 833).

A large group of settlers came out of Ma’on and harassed the marchers. A smaller group of settlers followed directly behind the marchers, but Israeli military and police prevented them from attacking the group. One village elder accompanying the children walked this road for the first time in years. Surprised by the settlement expansion, she shared with a soldier about how she plowed this land years ago.

Participating in the march were children from the villages of Tuba and Maghaer Al-Abeed, whom settlers have regularly attacked as they walked to primary school in At-Tuwani. The children rely on an Israeli military escort to accompany them to school and prevent Israeli settlers from attacking them, but the Israeli military has recently declined to carry out the escort for summer camp. The most recent settler attack took place on 27 July, when the Israeli military refused to escort the children. Settlers flung rocks at the children with slingshots and physically assaulted CPTer Joel Gulledge, inflicting a head wound requiring stitches.

Trying to walk the original planned route of the march where settlers have recently attacked children and CPTers.

Palestinians marching along the road between Ma'on settlement and Havot Ma'on settlement outpost. Most of the marchers hadn't stepped foot on this road for over eleven years, even though the land itself is owned by various Palestinian families.

CPTer faces possible deportation

I was at this action yesterday and will write more about it later and include photos. It was a really big success for Palestinians in the area. As far as the CPTer mentioned below, Kristin was released at 2am and her legal status is still unknown. They were trying to charge with assaulting a soldier, which is completely false and we have video footage of the event to prove it.

CPTnet2
August 2008
AT-TUWANI: CPTer faces possible deportation

The Israeli authorities detained Kristin Anderson, a U.S. citizen working with Christian Peacemaker Teams in the South Hebron Hills, today during a non-violent action in At-Tuwani. Israeli soldiers took Anderson's bag and passport, and police detained her when she stayed behind to retrieve them; they then took her to the Kiryat Arba police station. The Israeli authorities may move her to the Russian Compound in Jerusalem for a trial and possible deportation.

The public witness was a response to four attacks Israeli settlers perpetrated against Palestinian children in the last week as they walked to or from summer camp in At-Tuwani. About 300 Palestinian adults and children as well as Israelis and internationals marched from At-Tuwani to Tuba to protest the continuing violence and the expansion of the settlement outpost Havat Ma'on.

Israeli settlers attack Palestinian children, CPTers, on journey home from summer camp

CPTnet
27 July 2008
AT-TUWANI: Israeli settlers attack Palestinian children, CPTers, on journey home from summer camp.

[Note: According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.]

At 1:50 pm, on Sunday, 27 July, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian children between the ages of six and fifteen and Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) members Joel Gulledge and Jan Benvie, who were accompanying them as they walked to their village of Tuba. The children had been attending summer camp in At-Tuwani.

As the fourteen children and two CPTers were walking in a valley south of the Havat Ma'on settlement outpost, one masked settler came down the hill, hurling stones with a slingshot. The children and Benvie ran ahead, but saw other stone-throwing settlers approaching them from the opposite side of the valley. None of the stones struck the children, however, and they were able to run to safety.

When the masked settler saw Gulledge filming the attack, he began directing his stones at Gulledge. The settler hit him in the leg with a rock, inflicting an injury that made it impossible for Gulledge to run away. The settler then wrested the camera from him, and began beating him with a rock and the camera. After that, the settler ran off with the camera. Gulledge was treated for his injuries at a hospital in Hebron and then returned to At-Tuwani.

In autumn 2004, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian schoolchildren and At-Tuwani team members-three of whom required hospitalization for their injuries-in the same area as the attack on 27 July. Because of international media coverage of these attacks, the Israeli Knesset recommended that the Israeli military provide a daily escort for the children to go to and from school.
In the past week, the mayor of At-Tuwani has had several meetings with the District Coordination Officer (DCO)-the branch of the Israeli military that deals with civilian matters in the occupied Palestinian territories- in an attempt to arrange a military escort for the children. The DCO told him the children should walk the short, direct route to summer camp, unescorted.

On 22 July, only seven children were willing to risk walking alone to At-Tuwani. They informed the At-Tuwani team that at least eight other children did not attend the summer camp because they were too afraid to walk without a military escort. On the morning of 23 July, the army again refused to escort the children. Three settlers, one of whom was masked and carrying a stick, chased the children while they walked unescorted to the summer camp. After escorting the children on 24-25 July, military personnel informed the At-Tuwani team on 26 July that the army would no longer accompany the children, who were waiting for the army to arrive while four settlers from the Israeli settlement outpost of Havat Ma'on shouted at the children. The personnel would not give the name and brigade of the commander refusing to provide the escort. When the a CPTer explained the current, dangerous situation, the military personnel said, "I don't think the settlers will attack the children."

Photos of the children and CPTers walking the route between At-Tuwani and Tuba today and of Gulledge after the attack are available at http://cpt.org/gallery/album252.

Children and CPTers preparing to walk home from the summer camp. The trees in the background are part of the settlement outpost.

CPTer Joel Gulledge following the attack by Israeli settlers.

"Because I refuse to live in slavery"

My final day in At Tuwani was absolutely perfect. I had set my alarm for 5:30am, hoping to possibly learn from one of the women in the village how to make bread. As soon as my alarm sounded, I groaned and turned it off…what the hell was I thinking getting up at 5:30am?! About 45 minutes later, I heard a rush of feet passing by my bed (everyone sleeps outside during the summer) and a woman screaming, “Foreigners, get up! There are settlers in the valley and young shepherd boys are there with their sheep! Get up!”

I lifted my head to see a crowd of villagers running toward the valley, including a woman who was eight months pregnant. My teammates and I stumbled around to get our stuff: running shoes and cameras. I ran up the hill with Joy and when we reached the top we noticed all of the Palestinians sitting on rocks peering down into the valley, no settlers in sight. Joy and I made our way down and asked some young shepherd boys where the settlers were.

“What are you talking about? There are no settlers here,” they replied.

So, we headed back up the hill, Joy remarking about the ridiculousness of her polar bear pajama pants that had now been introduced to the entire village. We were happy it was merely a “settler drill.”

Come to find out later, one of the woman from the other side of the village thought she had seen three settlers walking down from the settlement Ma'on toward the valley. Such a sight assures harassment and possibly even a beating, so she yelled to her neighbors who immediately dropped their morning chores and ran down, getting others to join them along the way. This is what I love about this village: they refuse to be bullied. It’s common for other villages to hide when settlers come, but At Tuwani comes out in force and lets them know they will not be intimidated. My teammates and I are often just there to document and be a witness to how they are confronting the situation. Despite all they are facing, these people will not bow their heads, and this gives me hope.

That evening, I joined my friend Tala in Ramallah, a world away from At Tuwani. I often say I feel like Ramallah is Las Vegas after coming from the village, and this night was no different. We went to the premier of a new documentary on Palestinian rappers called Slingshot Hip Hop (check out the trailer at www.slingshothiphop.com/trailer). The film introduced us to six different rap/hip hop groups, Palestinians from Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel Proper using their words and beats to express not only their anger and frustration, but also their refusal to let go of hope for their future. Though sitting in Ramallah, the words of these artists transported me back to At Tuwani:

My feet are the roots of the olive tree
Keep on prospering, fathering and renewing branches
Every branch
Grown for peace
Every branch
Under the pressure of occupation
Refusing to give up
So why don’t I have freedom?
Because I refuse to live in slavery.

I Don’t Have Freedom, by Dam

Buckets and Demonstrations

CPTnet
16 July 2008
AT-TUWANI REFLECTION: Buckets and Demonstrations

by Joy Ellison

"Mumkin daloo?"

Every evening when the heat breaks and it's time to draw water from the well, the children of At-Tuwani come to our house and ask us for our bucket. Our bucket is small and gray and exactly the same as every other bucket in the village; I think it's purely the thrill of asking us crazy foreigners "mumkin daloo?" ("Can we have the bucket?") that keeps the kids coming. Usually we hand over the bucket and return to whatever we are doing. But last night, my teammate Sarah politely turned down our young neighbors.

"We're on strike today. We're having a demonstration," she explained. "I'm very sorry, but I can't give you the bucket."

The reason for our daloo (bucket) demonstration was simple. The previous evening, seven-year-old Samih never returned our bucket. He forgot it and left it to spend the night at the well; it did not make its way home until yesterday afternoon. My teammates decided to express our discontent in the firmest and most easily understandable way we could--through non-violent resistance.

The girls asking for our bucket knew immediately what we meant by "demonstration." Here in At-Tuwani the youngest child can tell you about the violence and injustice that the village is facing. Children alert us when the army sets up checkpoints and they have christened our frayed Oscar the Grouch doll "Gadalia" after the armed Israeli settler who threatens their parents routinely. But from the oldest man in the village to the young girls who asked for our bucket, everyone in At-Tuwani also understands how the village is resisting the Israeli occupation. Children observe their parents nonviolently confronting Israeli soldiers. Little boys accompany adults as they graze sheep on their land in defiance of threats made by Israeli settlers. Women clear away roadblocks knowing they might be arrested. Everyone is familiar with nonviolent demonstrations and our neighbors vigorously debate their strategies.

Recently Sarah interviewed one of my favorite little girls for a short video on life in the village. "My name is Amira," my young neighbor said. "I live in At-Tuwani. I love At-Tuwani because...no!" she declared. "I don't love At-Tuwani. There are settlers and soldiers and they always cause problems!" Amira may be well aware of the situation facing her as she grows up, but she is also learning what resistance means under the tutelage of her parents and relatives. A few months ago she sagely informed me, "Wherever they go, soldiers always cause problems. But they don't come to At-Tuwani as often now because the people here are strong." When Amira grows up, whatever challenges her village faces, I'm sure she and her neighbors will be ready to organize nonviolent actions far more powerful than a "mumkin daloo" strike.

CPT reports on the South Hebron HIlls from the last month

I just finished posting all of the CPT reports on things that have happened in the South Hebron Hills since the beginning of June, as well as a couple photos. As you'll notice, I mentioned some of these events in my own personal writing on this blog. These reports can also be found at CPT's website: www.cpt.org/news/cptnet. If you visit the website, there is a way for you to sign up to receive CPT reports via email.

At-Tuwani Update: June 2008

CPTnet
2 July 2008
AT-TUWANI UPDATE: June 2008

[[Note: According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.]

SUMMARY: During recent weeks, Palestinians have documented via video threats and violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers in the South Hebron Hills. Settlers have committed these acts both against Palestinians and Palestinian property. Palestinians have passed this footage onto the media, as well as various human rights groups and lawyers who are working to pressure different Israeli bodies and officials to take legal action against the settlers. Including the incidents described in this update, CPT has received information about or witnessed settlers threatening and/or attacking Palestinians and their property ten times during this month. Most of these incidents occurred while Palestinians were grazing sheep. Despite these violent episodes, Palestinian shepherds continued to graze with their flocks in these areas and regularly confronted settler intimidation using the video camera and international accompaniment.

Sunday 1 June 2008
At around 5:00 pm, a settler car had hit five goats out of a flock of eleven, belonging to a man from Ma'in Village. (See 6 June CPTnet release, "Israeli settler kills goats with car in South Hebron Hills.")

Thursday 5 June
At nearly 11:00 a.m., the Israeli military constructed a six-foot tall roadblock on the main road to Yatta. (See 7 June CPTnet release, "Israeli military again blocks main access road in South Hebron Hills.")

Sunday 8 June
Four settlers attacked four Palestinian shepherds grazing near the village of Susiya. Six masked settlers arrived on a tractor, and four got off the tractor and beat an old woman, her husband, her nephew, and nephew's wife with wooden clubs. The old woman was beaten unconscious and taken to the hospital in Beersheva. The old man and his nephew went to the Hospital Al Ahli in Hebron. Paramedics treated the nephew's wife, who filmed the attacks (later used by the media and Israeli police), at the scene. The police who arrived at the scene told the family that it was "probably Arabs" that beat them up. The family lives on the other side of Suseya settlement in Wadi Ijhaash, isolated from the other Susiya families by a thirty-minute walk. After the video appeared in international media, the Israeli police took into custody two settlers from Suseya settlement.

Wednesday 11 June
Settlers entered the village of Tuba and accused the villagers of stealing clothing and other things from the Hill 833 outpost settlement (called by the settlers, Havat Ma'on.) Palestinians from the village filmed the settlers as they entered Tuba. The settlers threatened to come back at night, because the Palestinians filmed them, but did not return.

Thursday 18 June
In Mashakha valley, three settlers with slingshots chased a Palestinian shepherd and his sheep. Benvie taped the incident and the Palestinian has secured a lawyer to take up his case with the Israeli police.

Tuesday 24 June
Israeli settlers beat two Palestinians near the village of Qawawis. The two men were hospitalized in Yatta with a rib and an eye injury, respectively. (See 30 June CPTnet release, "Israeli settlers inflict injuries requiring hospitalization on shepherds in South Hebron Hills.")

Thursday 26 June
The Israeli military delivered demolition orders for the newly built cistern in and a house in Tuwani, and four buildings in the Palestinian village of Umm Faggarah. (See 30 June CPTnet release, "Israeli military issues demolition orders and again blocks main access road in South Hebron Hills.")

Friday 27 June
The Israeli military constructed a new barrier on the road from Tuwani to Yatta (See 30 June CPTnet release, "Israeli military issues demolition orders and again blocks main access road in South Hebron Hills.")

Sunday 29 June
Palestinians in Tuba reported that at least ten Israeli settlers from the settlement of Ma'on stole four camels and a baby camel, belonging to nearby Bedouins. The camels roam free during the day and return to the Bedouin village in the evening. The camels' owner has since called the Israeli police, but the camels remain in the possession of Ma'on settlers. A Palestinian from Tuba said two years ago, settlers stole camels from the Bedouin. The military and police got involved, and they supported the settlers, insisting that the Bedouin pay 2,000 NIS for the return of their own camels.

At approximately 5:00 p.m., the Israeli military created another roadblock on alternative route Palestinian cars were taking to Yatta.

Israeli military issues demolition orders and again blocks main access road in South Hebron Hills

CPTnet
30 June 2008
AT-TUWANI: Israeli military issues demolition orders and again blocks main access road in South Hebron Hills

On 26 June 2008, the Israeli military issued a demolition order on the partially constructed water cistern in the village of At-Tuwani, built with financial support from a Spanish NGO. If completed, the cistern will provide a vital additional water source in the arid region of the South Hebron Hills.

Also on 26 June, the Israeli military issued a demolition order on a home in At-Tuwani and on four homes in the nearby village of Umm Faggarah.

The following day, 27 June 2008, at 9:00 a.m., the Israeli military returned to the area and blocked the road between At-Tuwani and Yatta. A bulldozer massed a four-foot-high mound spanning the width of the road using boulders and earth. The roadblock not only prevents vehicular access, but also makes movement by foot and donkey extremely difficult. The same bulldozer also closed several tracks used by tractors and trucks to access nearby small dwellings.
Besides being the main economic hub for the region, Yatta is also the principal provider of critical services such as hospitals, secondary schools, and public administration offices.

Several communities in the South Hebron Hills are again cut off from basic supplies such as water and animal feed, because road is the main artery for the supply of water to the South Hebron Hills, which is currently experiencing a severe drought. According to Palestinian residents of the area, roadblocks have doubled the commercial price of water. A UN worker reported that roadblocks on this thoroughfare will increase by thirty percent the cost of transporting essential water aid to the area.

The new roadblock is the latest in a series of roadblocks erected by the Israeli army. The most recent, on the same site of today's roadblock, was removed by the army on 12 June. The local population removed previous roadblocks through nonviolent direct actions.

One of the homes in Umm Faggarah that the Israeli army delivered a demolition order to.

Israeli settlers inflict injuries requiring hospitalization on shepherds in South Hebron Hills

CPTnet
30 June 2008
AT-TUWANI: Israeli settlers inflict injuries requiring hospitalization on shepherds in South Hebron Hills

On 24 June 2008, around 6:30 p.m., two Israeli settlers beat two unarmed Palestinian shepherds from Mantiquat Shi'bal Butum. The settlers came down from the nearby Israeli settlement outpost of Mitzpe Yair to an area where the shepherds, aged fifty-five and twenty, routinely graze their sheep. Armed with stones from the hillside, the settlers injured the ribs of the older shepherd and the eye of the younger. A Palestinian in the area called the Israeli police and ambulance, both of which arrived fifteen minutes after the beating.

The police spoke with the two settlers identified by the Palestinians as the attackers. They took the settlers' ID numbers and issued police reports to the Palestinians present. However, the police took neither settler into custody.

At 7:30 p.m., the ambulance took both shepherds to the hospital in the nearby town of Yatta. Both have since returned home.

This incident marks the second violent attack on Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills in the last month. On 8 June, four masked Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian family of four in Susiya, beating the sixty-year-old matriarch of the family unconscious. The family videotaped the beating. Currently, a court case is pending against the two settlers from Suseya.

A Difficult Week

So, it has been a difficult past week. I wanted to write about something funny, something cute, but unfortunately these things have not been so much on my mind as of late. The marathon day I had on Monday really took its toll on me. While out with Palestinian shepherds in the morning, grazing in an area pretty far from the illegal Israeli settlement outpost of Havot Ma'on, a car from the outpost started to drive towards us. The shepherds took off to another hill out of sight of the settlement and we stayed to film the car coming.

When the car arrived, my teammate Laura and I were further down the original hill; though we couldn't see the settlers, we could see a couple rocks being thrown over the side of the hill. One of the shepherds asked us if we could move up a bit and get photos of them throwing rocks, and as we moved up we saw two settlers, one of whom was masked. Laura, tired of running from these guys (this is almost a daily occurrence) decided to walk to meet them and I followed with the camera.

The two Israeli settlers seemed almost caught off guard. The one who was unmasked reached up to put his hand over the camera lense, but promptly removed it and a conversation ensued. I had seen him before, and so had the Palestinian shepherd who was watching us from the other hill. This settler had been responsible for killing five of the shepherd's sheep, with no charges placed against him. The settler told my teammate that this land, all of this land, belonged to him and his fellow Jews as it was given to their fathers and mothers by God. Laura said that even if that was true, why should they harrass and beat Palestinians who are living there as well. He replied very frankly that the Arabs were the ones trying to kill them and that she should read the truth written in the Torah. She replied by saying it is also written in the Torah that one should seek justice as well as truth. He called her stupid and began to walk away.

As they walked back to their car, I could see another settler car approaching. We decided to make our way towards the Palestinian shepherds. As I looked over my shoulder, I noticed the second car arrive and a settler armed with a gun step out of the driver's side. I knew he probably wouldn't shoot at that time since we were there and cameras were rolling. Once we arrived where the shepherds were waiting, they greeted us as if we had come back from the dead. One of them told me he had had his phone ready with the number of the Israeli police (they have jurisdiction in this area), just in case something happened. I smiled, knowing we had each other's back. After the settlers left, the Israeli army arrived (most likely called by the settlers). They didn't approach us, though, and we headed back to the shepherd's cave for a nap and lunch.

This event was only part of that day; the other part included responding to a call about two Israeli settlers from a different settlement outpost beating two Palestinian shepherds. We got the information out in a media release the next day. And then yesterday, the Israeli army built a massive roadblock of stones, blocking people in the villages of the South Hebron Hills from the nearby town of Yatta. I am so tired...but people here keep living and pushing on and I sometimes wonder how they do it without going insane.

I would appreciate thoughts and prayers for people here and for me and my teammates. Not all is gloom and doom, but the systematic oppression in this place has its way of creeping up on you and overwhelming you at times, at least this is what I've been feeling the last few days.

To a Palestinian Child--Instructions for Living in the South Hebron Hills

CPTnet
21 June 2008
AT-TUWANI REFLECTION: To a Palestinian Child--Instructions for Living in the South Hebron Hills

by Laura Ciaghi

Do not go into nearby orchards to steal cherries. Twenty-five heavily armed adults from the neighboring Israeli settlement may attack your village, screaming, pushing and threatening your parents while soldiers and police stand and watch.

Make sure to have unarmed internationals with you on your way to school. When adult settlers attack you, the internationals might end up as battered as you, but their injuries will give you your only chance to have the media tell your story.

Do not get sick (or try to be born) at inappropriate times such as nights, Jewish holidays, U.S. presidential visits-or when the local military commander has planned a checkpoint between your house and the hospital for no particular reason. You will make the soldiers feel uncomfortable when, following mandatory security policies, they refuse to let you pass by foot or in your parent's arms, because they suspect you may have swallowed a bomb. If you cough, vomit or look sad, you might confirm their suspicions.

Learn by heart some good invocations to chase away bad dreams. When soldiers come to your house in the middle of the night, aim their rifles at your elder brothers whom they have pushed against the wall, and then detonate sounds grenades as a way of saying "goodbye," you will fall asleep again afterwards and wake to be a cute, joyful, polite child the following morning.

Through the Eyes of a Child

So, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for you) this post is going to be short. I have been lounging around on my break soaking up sitting on couches in my friend Tala's house in Ramallah and time has just flown by. It's funny how a couch can feel like a luxury after living in At Tuwani for almost two weeks. I love the village, but they don't have couches:)

Anyway, there's so much to write about...but I'm just going to choose one short story. In goofing around with the video camera one quiet afternoon, I asked one of the little girls in the village to tell me her name, where she lives, and why she likes living in At Tuwani. Other children had done so and I expected to hear answers about liking the people, enjoying the summer camp, etc. When she got to the part about why she liked the village, it went like this:

"I love Tuwani because...no, I don't like Tuwani because there are the settlers and the army that come to the village."

She said this very matter of factly. A few days before, Israeli soldiers had shown up with two jeeps. My teammate Joy and I went to meet them. They said they had received a call that two sound grenades were found in the village, which was true. These grenades had been used and left after the Israeli army entered the village late one night in May, pulling everyone out of their beds at 1am, lining the men (and some CPTers) against a wall and searching them, while setting off flares and sound grenades during the entire ordeal. We called one of the Palestinians in the village and he helped direct the soldiers to where the two sound grenades were: one in a field where shepherds graze and wheat has been harvested recently, and the other just below the elementary school. The soldiers seemed a bit nervous as they went around, with their guns up and ready to shoot anyone that maybe hiding to ambush them. Children watched as the soldiers successfully removed the used sound grenades and left the village.

Children here are learning a lot from the army incursions and settler attacks that happen in the very place they call home. Fortunately, they are learning more from their parents as far as standing firmly and creatively in the face of such powerful forces. One such lesson came after a shepherd from a nearby village lost three sheep to the gun of a settler a couple months ago. The very next day, every shepherd in the immediate area was out in the same valley with their sheep. They were sending a message that they would not be terrified by such violence. Instead they would respond to it with courage and solidarity.

The little girl's answer to why she liked At Tuwani was very honest, and I am glad to know that despite the bleakness of the situation here people have still not lost their gusto. These are the lessons that will be passed onto the next generation.

Showing one of the girls in Tuwani her interview. The photo was taken by her little sister who apparently wasn't too concerned with getting our heads in the picture.

Video on At-Tuwani

Sorry I have been out of communication for a while. I will write something soon about my last week and a half in At-Tuwani and the surrounding villages, but in the meantime please view this video that was put together on nonviolent struggle in the area:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NsesMjWkAl8

Celebration and Mourning

Just wanted to let everyone know I arrived and am heading down from Jerusalem to At Tuwani today. Don't have much time to write anything substantial. There have been so many tourists here the last few days, which I'm guessing is due to celebrations of Israel's 60th anniversary. Israeli flags line the streets of Jerusalem and many Israeli Jewish homes have flags hanging our their windows. There have been fireworks displays every night this past week as well as other events in the city. Palestinian Jerusalemites (Palestinians who live in Eastern Jerusalem and have residence IDs in Israel but are not citizens) seem happy for the business so much tourism brings, but less than ecstatic about the celebrations. Though the celebration of Israel as a state is a happy occassion for many, for Palestinians it is a reminder of 60 years of dispossession. One people's joy is another's pain. I'm interested to go into the West Bank today and see what Palestinians have been doing to commemorate what Israelis call the War of Independence and what Palestinians call the Catastrophe.

Daily Life in the South Hebron Hills

I just ran across this short video clip on B'tselem's (an Israeli human rights organization) website today. It focuses on life in the Palestinian village of Tuba and the harassment against them by the nearby Israeli settlers. Tuba is near Tuwani and I stayed there a couple times to accompany shepherds and document harassment by settlers. There is also footage from after the 2004 attack by masked settlers. They attacked Tuba children and two CPTers who were walking to school.

http://btselem.org/English/Video/200509_Southern_Hebron_Hills.asp

All in a Day's Work

CPT's work in the south Hebron Hills as well as the normal events in the area can be difficult to understand. Below you'll find an update CPT sends out about events in At-Tuwani and the surrounding villages. For those of you who don't receive these updates via email, I hope this will give you a better idea of the work we do and the challenges facing people in the area:


AT-TUWANI UPDATE: 11-24 July 2007

Every day during this period, the team accompanied Palestinian shepherds in fields near Israeli settlements and settler outposts. The team monitored several temporary Israeli military checkpoints on the Palestinian road leading from At-Tuwani north to Yatta. On team during this period were members of Operation Dove ( called "Doves") and CPTers Diane Janzen, Sarah Scruggs, Matthew Chandler, and Peggy Gish.

Wednesday 11 July
CPTers Chandler and Janzen monitored a temporary checkpoint on Road 317 in the late afternoon. The soldiers briefly stopped a Palestinian fromAt-Tuwani who later told Janzen the soldiers had yelled at him to run towards them. He had just kept walking, and when he got to the jeep, the soldiers asked him why he did not run and he told them he had already walked two km. When the soldiers saw the CPTers coming down the hill one said,"Here come the sons of bitches."

Friday 13 July
Chandler and Gish walked to Tuba in the morning. About 10:00 a.m., a settler security guard and the Israeli army arrived in the area and told the Tuba shepherds they were on Ma'on land. The soldiers said the shepherds were allowed to be on the farmed land lower in the valley, but not up on the hillside. After several minutes of arguing, some of the Palestinians started to leave the area and the soldiers left with the settler security guard.

Saturday 14 July
In Tuba, the settler security guard and the army came again and told the Palestinians they were on Ma'on land. When Chandler and Gish arrived, Palestinians were telling the soldiers the whole valley was theirs and the Israeli military's civil administration, called the District Coordinating Office (DCO), confirmed this ownership two weeks earlier. The soldiers threatened to arrest one of the teenage boys. A Palestinian asked Chandler to call the DCO. The DCO finally promised to send someone after a call from an Israeli peace activist.

Two more army jeeps, a police jeep, and two border police jeeps arrived and an hour later, the DCO. All of the Israeli forces congregated to speak tothe DCO captain. Afterwards, the police returned the IDs to the Palestinian men and said the valley in question was in fact open to the Palestinians for grazing, but not for farming. One Palestinian told him that assertion was false and said he wanted to speak to the DCO directly.

The DCO captain came and explained the entire valley did indeed belong tothe people of Tuba, and they could use it freely. However, he insisted the Palestinians coordinate with the DCO whenever they want to work the land. One Palestinians told him there was no point in this coordination because the DCO never comes when they do call.

Sunday 15 July
Janzen and Scruggs visited a family in the village of Mughayir el Abeed. The father of the family told the CPTers that at 10:00 a.m., a truck drove toward him, his sons, and their sheep. A settler emerged from the truck and pointed a gun at them. The Palestinians then descended into the valley and the settler drove away.

Monday 16 July
Janzen and Scruggs went to observe a temporary checkpoint on Road 317, where the police had stopped a car coming from Yatta and were blocking the passage of other vehicles. One of the police officers asked for Scruggs' ID. After she gave him her passport, he told her if she did not stop taking photos and leave in two minutes he would arrest her. Scruggs moved to the other side of Road 317 and Janzen arrived. About ten minutes later, the Israeli police moved their vehicle to allow other vehicles to pass. After another fifteen minutes, police returned the IDs to the Palestinians and drove away.

Wednesday 18 July
While accompanying shepherds in Khoruba valley, Janzen and Scruggs observed a Palestinian woman walking with her children in the valley toward At-Tuwani. A settler came down from the wooden house in Hill 833 and sat above the road the family was going to walk on. The Palestinians moved to the opposite side of the valley and continued on their way.

Thursday 19 July
In the afternoon, Gish, Chandler, Janzen and Scruggs joined residents of At-Tuwani in a meeting with consulate staff from Australia, Ireland, Norway, and Portugal at the school in At-Tuwani.

At 4:45pm, a plain truck entered At-Tuwani from Hill 833 and drove to a Palestinian home nearby. When Janzen and Chandler arrived, they saw two armed men in the truck: the driver was in civilian clothes, and the passenger in an army uniform. The driver had a still camera and was taking pictures of everyone, but left almost immediately after Janzen and Chandler arrived.

After the truck left, the Palestinians told Chandler and Janzen the men said they were with the DCO, but did not act like typical DCO personnel. They told everyone at the house they had to go inside, and when they did not, the armed men cocked their guns and threatened to start shooting. In the midst of this encounter, they took pictures of construction at the house, saying it was forbidden and would be demolished.

After the incident, one of the Palestinians called the DCO, who said they would come to At-Tuwani. Chandler and Janzen waited at the house until sunset. The DCO never came.

Friday, 20 July
Chandler and Gish responded to a call from a Palestinian regarding settlers from Susya settlement planting on Palestinian land near Qawawis. The CPTers filmed and took pictures of three settlers working in the field and then returned to At-Tuwani.

The same Palestinian man from Susiya called later saying the police and Palestinian landowners had come to the area. When Chandler and a Dove arrived, the police were speaking with the settlers who had been working the land. Up to twenty settlers from the Susya settlement gradually arrived and talked with each other on the side of the road. An army jeep and later two more and two border police jeeps arrived.

An hour later, when the DCO officer arrived, he went first to speak with the police and army present. Several settlers argued with them. In the meantime, settlers approached the Palestinians, Chandler and the Dove. The border police intervened to try to keep the two groups separate. Finally, the DCO spoke with one of the Palestinian landowners and told him they had to investigate the matter further to decided who owned the plot of land. Then they declared the area a closed military zone.

Saturday, 21 July
A group of seventy-five Palestinian children from the Hebron area led by a Palestinian peace activist arrived in At-Tuwani for a solidarity visit. When they walked back to their busses parked on Road 317, an army jeep was there. The soldiers said the driver of one of the busses was suspicious because he had Israeli plates stored in the bus, and Palestinians plates on the bus. The soldiers insisted the group must wait for the police to arrive and showed no regard for the children who were forced to wait in the heatwithout water.

The police arrived after about forty-five minutes. The children protested while waiting, chanting and crowding around the army and police, saying, "We want to go," and, "We want water." The police and army responded by shouting at the children to go away. After about an hour and a half the police gave the driver of one bus a citation for parking illegally on theroad. The group then left for a tour of Qawawis.

Sunday, 22 July
Chandler and Gish returned to the plot of land near Qawawis where settlers had been working on Friday to join four other internationals in documenting Israeli settlers' efforts on the Palestinian-owned land. Soldiers tried to stop them from going out into the field where the settlers were working, but they went anyway. After the settlers left, they went out and filmed around the work site, where the tractor sat. When they got back to the road, about fifteen teenage settlers came, took their pictures and taunted them. Another military vehicle and police also came to the scene.

When the Palestinian landowners arrived, the CPTers and internationals stood around them and their car to protect them from the settler youth. The landowners spoke to the police, who told them they would have to go to the Kiryat Arba police station the following morning to file their complaint.

Monday, 23 July
The owners of the land where settlers from Susya had been working the previous evening went to the Kiryat Arba police station as directed, but the police did not allow them in to file their complaint.

A Palestinian came by in the evening and told the team he had just returnedfrom the Israeli High Court case regarding the wall along Road 317. The court ruled the Israeli army must disassemble the wall within two weeks and everyday after that time, if they have not removed it, they must pay the Palestinians in villages south of the wall a large sum of money.

Tuesday, 24 July
A Palestinian reported to the team in the late afternoon that the army had started to disassemble the wall along Route 317.

On Shepherd Boys and Soldiers

From June 30:

We went to meet them this morning at around 7:30am, and they were no where in sight. After climbing over the crest of the hill, I called one of the older men in the family and he said they weren't coming today..."Maybe tomorrow." I can't blame them; I don't think I'd want to come back either.

For the past couple weeks, my teammates and I have been accompanying young shepherd boys as they graze their sheep and work on their olive trees located near the Israeli military base in the area. The base was built in the late 90s and since then, it's been difficult for them to get access to their land. With international accompaniment, they felt more comfortable and decided to give it a go. Several times, Israeli soldiers harrassed the boys while I was there and told them they had to be a certain number of meters from the base...one day it was 300 meters, the next it was 100. I asked them for an order stating the actual distance, and they always said there was none. Usually, the soldiers would ignore the boys until they started to head home with their sheep. Then they would come down from the base and tell them to go home and threaten them in what little Arabic they knew to "Be careful!" I spoke with one soldier on a couple occassions...he said he doesn't agree with everything the army is doing in the area, but he needs to follow orders.

Last night, I conducted a video interview with one of the shepherd boys. A few days earlier, he was punched in the face by an Israeli soldier at the base. Two of my teammates, Nicoletta and Georgia, were present at the time. The soldiers shouted for the boy to come up to the base; Nicoletta called out to him to wait for her. He didn't wait. On the video of the event, you see the boy surrounded by soldiers and then he walks away from the base with blood dripping from his nose. As I replayed the footage for him to identify who hit him, he easily picked out the soldier. It was the gate guard, an Israeli of Ethiopian origin. My heart sank.

Israel has a very diverse population; Jews from all over the world live there. And just as in the United States, certain groups have a harder time than others as they integrate into public life. Ethiopian Jews are newer immigrants to the state of Israel. It is widely talked about that Sephardic Jews (from the Middle East and Africa) do not have nearly as much economic or political power as Ashkenazi Jews (of European origin). They are usually part of the lower classes and there is the feeling that the Ashkenazi elite could care less about their communities and their concerns. Many of the Sephardic Jews that serve in the army have a reputation of being really tough; as if they are trying to prove their loyalty to ensuring the security of Israel. They want to make it known they are part of the state.

I honestly don't know what was going through the soldier's head when he punched the shepherd boy. Perhaps he was ordered to do it, but I felt pained for him and also pained for the 11 year old boy in front of me. They probably have more in common than they know. I think we all share more similarities with our "enemy" than we'd like to admit, both good and bad.