Beth and Peter had planned to participate in a demonstration against the construction of the separation wall in the Bethlehem district on Friday July 20, but demonstrations were cancelled in honor of the release that day of 256 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails as a gesture of support by Israel for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

We went to At Tuwani in the afternoon, and were welcomed by Hafez, the local Palestinian leader of the resistance to Israeli occupation and coordinator of internationals providing protection for Palestinians living in the South Hebron Hills of the West Bank. Hafez has been working ardently on top of his paying job to do something for his fellow Palestinians in the South. He has been working with very limited resources and little support. But he told us that he makes progress, even if it is slow. One of his international friends has recently donated a computer to him, in order to have a place to type up and save his documentation on the abuses happening to the Palestinians there. Being in the presence of Hafez, we can tell that he is overworked and tired, but he persists. The occupation has caused so many problems for the people of the villages south of Hebron, and Hafez has stepped up to the plate as a leader.

Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills have a history of suffering from the violence of the occupation.  In previous reports we gave an account of the history of military and settler violence against the people of Tuba and At Tuwani specifically. Here are examples in other villages:

Four years ago the five extended families comprising the nearby town of Qawawis were forced from their underground homes by violent settlers who attacked them in their sleep, poisoned their wells and livestock and covered the entrances to their homes with rubble. In an unusual Israeli court case, the court said the land was theirs. However, they could not build any new structures on their land.  In February the Israeli military demolished four homes saying they were “new” structures. Three weeks later, international and Israeli activists, along with neighboring Palestinians, joined the Qawawis families in rebuilding their homes.

The town of Susiya is under threat of demolition pending a decision by the Israeli Civil Administration. The people have suffered these last twenty years from confiscation of land for Israeli settlements and army bases. They have suffered home demolitions, violent attacks against themselves and their livestock by settlers. They have had their roads closed to their use and taken over by settlers. On June 30, internationals including MPT, Israeli activists and other Palestinians joined the Susiya families in a demonstration against the town demolition plans.
In the occupied lands, by Israeli law, Palestinian owners must demonstrate that they are currently using their land. If the land is not worked for three years, the Israeli government can declare it abandoned and confiscate it. It is usually turned over to settlers. In the town of Im Neizil, this has led to an absurd, tragic situation. Palestinian shepherds are forced to plow land that has been used for grazing their sheep, in order to keep the land, and as a result they do not have adequate grazing now for their sheep.

A few miles to the west, 90,000 Palestinians in Dhahariya and neighboring villages have had to endure a roadblock since the 1980s preventing access to Route 60, the main road into Hebron. Hebron has the nearest hospital. The roadblock effectively cuts out emergency health care for these people. On May 3 of this year more than 75 Palestinian, Israeli, and other international activists removed the roadblock, using a rope to haul the huge stones off the road. Two jeeps filled with Israeli soldiers arrived during the project and ordered the group to stop. The group remained persistent while the soldiers tried to push them out of the way and run a jeep into those pulling the rope. The activists cleared a gap large enough for Palestinian cars to pass through. Two days later the military closed the roadblock again. On May 9 over 100 activists came back and removed the barrier again. A soldier rammed his rifle muzzle into an Israeli activist’s chest. Soldiers then shot into the air, and chased Palestinians, beating them from behind. The Israeli and international activists then moved in between and acted as a buffer for the Palestinians. The soldiers then turned on those being the buffer, kicking, chocking, punching, and striking them with their guns. Soldiers then prevented a Red Crescent ambulance from approaching injured activists. Another arriving ambulance was able to get through the opened roadblock and take those needing attention to the hospital. In all, 5 Palestinians and two Israeli activists were injured. The crowd of activists left with high spirits, having challenged a piece of the brutality of occupation.

At 6am on Saturday, July 21 Peter and Beth set out for Tuba, which is an hour or so walk from At Tawani around the Ma’on Israeli settlement and the Havat Ma’on outpost. When we stayed a day and night in one of the villager’s hillside cave home, he told us that the Israelis in 1984 destroyed the house he had farther up the hill. The Israeli military enforces the Israeli courts’ regular denial of Palestinian building permits. If Palestinians rebuild their demolished houses, they are destroyed again. We were also told by a woman whose cave home we also visited, that the settlers were frequently coming on her land and throwing stones at her children. Her property is the furthest away from the settlement.

It is more difficult to stay around the homes all day than to be out with the shepherds grazing their sheep. In their culture, hospitality is a given. Unless guests like ourselves are napping, someone is always with you as host. When you are served tea, someone is always watching when your glass is empty to immediately refill it. Since both of us, Beth and Peter, know only some words and phrases in Arabic, we spent many hours during the day converting their home into a “madrase” – school, with them teaching us Arabic.

At night we slept under the stars on mats, with the cooler night breezes rolling across the hills a welcome relief from the desert heat of the day.

We stayed three full days and nights in Tuba, always ready to go out to any point of conflict should events occur. The shepherds often report seeing settlers watching them through binoculars. Fortunately there were no incidents with Israelis during this stay in Tuba.