AUGUST 2007

From: Christian Peacemaker Teams- Tuwani/Palestine <cpttuwani@cpt.org>

At-Tuwani Reflection: "This is my home."

15 July 2007

by Peggy Gish

"Yesterday they told us we couldn't be up by the chicken barn. Today they

tell us we can't be anywhere in this valley. Tomorrow they will tell us we

can't be in our caves," an elder shepherd from the Palestinian village of

Tuba in the South Hebron Hills told two of us from the CPT At-Tuwani

team.

"This is our land and we can be here."

This was the second day in a row security personnel from the nearby Israeli

settlement, Ma'on, and Israeli soldiers came and demanded the shepherds from

Tuba leave this valley with their sheep, claiming the land belonged to the

settlement. Two weeks earlier, officers from the Israeli District

Coordination Office (DCO) had been there and declared the residents of Tuba

owned and could use this area. Now the soldiers were threatening to arrest

the villagers and us for trespassing if we didn't leave. Once again, the

Palestinian villagers refused to leave their land and asked the DCO to come

and help clarify earlier legal rulings about the disputed land.

Two hours later, heads held high, the Palestinian shepherds walked back to

their village with their sheep. The DCO representative once more made it

clear that they owned this valley and could have full use of it.

Later the villagers were more sober as they told us that while they were

happy with the outcome, they knew this was just one of many more attempts

the Ma'on security official would make to try to take more of their land,

bit by bit. They explained there is a high turnover rate for Israeli

soldiers and new ones rotate in who don't know the situation and believe

what he says and the maps he makes up to support his claims. It is like a

continuous game the settlers often win. The Palestinian shepherds also

feared today's failure for the settlers may prompt them to initiate more

attacks out of revenge.

As we sat with them in their caves and tents, residents of Tuba spoke of the

continual, almost daily attacks settlers have made on them and the

encroachment on their land. One time a group of settlers beat one of the

women on the neck and hit two of her children while they were out with their

flocks. Another time they came with slings and flung rocks at them. Other

times settlers threaten or attack villagers while they travel between their

homes to the city to get supplies. Settlers from Ma'on also recently built a

new tent structure on a nearby hilltop, from which they come and attack the

villagers. "This makes our life very hard," said one of the women from Tuba.

"They want to take away our land, but we simply want to live a normal life

with our children."

During the confrontation on the hillside one of the soldiers yelled, "Go

Home!" to one of the shepherds. The shepherd calmly replied, "This is my

home."

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Human Rights Report No. 332

Human Rights Summary:

Civil engineer beaten and turned back at Za'atara checkpoint on way to

work in Salfit

Date of incident: July 5, 2007

Place: Za'atara checkpoint, Salfit

Witnesses: Bus driver and passengers

Description of Incident:

On July 5, 2007, at approximately 9:00 a.m., a bus loaded with

passengers, travelling east on Highway 505, arrived at Za'atara

checkpoint. It was stopped by Israeli soldiers and everyone on the bus

was ordered off. All IDs were collected, and most passengers were

eventually allowed back onto the bus. However, a young civil engineer

from Kifl Haris, on his way to work in the town of Salfit, was told that

he could not proceed on the bus and must turn back. The civil engineer

told the soldiers that he travels to Salfit daily for his job, adding

that he needed to get to his job and that they were making a mistake in

denying him passage.

The young engineer reported that one soldier then poked the barrel of

his gun into his belly, which he then pushed away. Again, he said, the

soldier pressed the barrel into his belly, and once again the young man

moved it aside. The soldier then reportedly removed the man's ID from

his pocket, forcibly, and then started to punch and hit the man, while a

second soldier hit the man from behind on his head.  The young man

reported that the first soldier told him to kneel, and when he refused

the soldier began to kick him. Blood started to run down the man's head.

He said the soldiers walked him a short distance away, where they gave

him water to wash the wound and also to drink. They also offered him a

carton of chocolate milk. They then told him to go home, which he did.

The young engineer estimated that the entire incident, including the

alleged beating, lasted about one half-hour.

The young man said that he had never had a problem with the army before

and does not know why he was the only man from his village, on that bus,

that was not allowed through the checkpoint. He showed two IWPS team

members wounds on his left arm, right shin, the back of his neck and the

top of his head. He also showed a shirt which was covered in blood.

IWPS also interviewed the soldiers on duty at Za'atara checkpoint, who

denied beating the man, or even of touching him with their guns.

Report written by: Wendy

Report edited by: Beth

Report written on: July 5, 2007

Follow-up required: Yes; one IWPS team member will accompany the young man to work on his next workday.