Destroyed orchard on right;
surviving orchard on left.

On Wednesday, December 12, the Long-Term Team went to the South Hebron Hills. David and Joe went to Susiya, while Brenna and Martha went to Tuba.

On the previous Wednesday, December 5, the illegal Israeli settlement outpost near Susiya held a loud Hanukkah party late into the night. The next afternoon, one of the Palestinian shepherds noticed that a grove of olive trees had been cut down. Twenty-six or twenty-seven trees had been sawn off about a foot from the ground. David and Joe took pictures of the field and the tree stumps. The Palestinians commented that, even if they had seen the cutting in process, they could not have done anything about it.  If they had called the police, the police would have done nothing to stop it.

One of the farmers
points out the damage.

Later, as David was playing violin for the Palestinians, a UN car arrived with Hamed Qawasmeh, the humanitarian affairs assistant of OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory) leading several Scandinavian visitors. He explained the situation in the South Hebron Hills to the visitors. Israel is trying to join the settlement to the ruins of an ancient synagogue (now restored) by removing the Palestinian families who are in the way. After destroying their original homes, Israel forbade them to build anything with cement, so the families renovated some caves in the area and moved themselves and their animals into the caves.  Israel then demolished those caves and their associated cisterns. The main water sources on which the Palestinians used to depend have been seized by the settlement.  The families in Susiya have had their homes demolished four times, and their current tents are under demolition orders. When David commented that it must be frustrating working for the UN, Hamed agreed, saying that as a member of the UN, he had free access to observe everything he wanted so long as he does nothing about it. 

Abu Sami and Nasser explain the situation
and its history to the UN OSHA team.
 

Hamed took information on the Michigan Peace Team, noting that the UN was concerned that Israel wanted to clear the indigenous population out of the Susiya-Tuba area as a precedent that then could justify sweeping out the entire South Hebron Hills area. He said the UN is very eager to find international groups to remain in the area to monitor the situation and protect the Palestinians.

View of South Hebron Hills on the “long route.”

Meanwhile, the Tuba team was making a wide detour to avoid settlers on horseback who blocked their usual route. Earlier in the day, Martha and Brenna had visited in Tuwani with Hafez (who they learned had been recently fired from his job with the Palestinian Authority for having missed so many days at work doing organizing for the nonviolence movement in the South Hebron Hills).  Hafez told the team members that the previous evening he had received a call from Omar in Tuba telling him that about twenty settlers had gathered on the hill across from Tuba to watch the village. Omar and the other villagers were worried about an attack and were hoping for some international protection that evening, but as it was already after dark, it was too difficult for the internationals in Tuwani to make the difficult hour-long journey to Tuba. Thankfully, the settlers did not attack Tuba that night. But when Martha and Brenna set out on the “middle path” to Tuba, they became especially alert when they spotted a man on horseback leaving the illegal settlement outpost of Havat Ma’on and traveling toward Tuba, so they walked a bit further South to avoid running into him. Soon after, they spotted four men on horseback on the hill across from them, on the path they were planning to take! Martha and Brenna ran into a young shepherd boy who offered to lead them to Tuba by the long path, a trip that took 2.5 hours of walking up and down steep rocky hills and valleys.

Omar’s wife and daughter
by their cave home.
 

Martha and Brenna visited with Omar’s brother and his family, with whom Beth and Peter stayed last summer. They then spent the night with Omar and his family. Thankfully, no incidents occurred. The families of Omar and his brother were both very eager for MPT to return and continue visiting Tuba. It is obvious that they feel safer from settler attacks when internationals are present.