Nonviolence Training in At Tuwani             

On Sunday, October 22, David and Brenna traveled to At Tuwani, a village in southern most part of the West Bank, to participate in a nonviolence training organized by Palestinians who are carrying out a nonviolent struggle to reclaim their land and their rights. The training, led by two Austrian members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and a Palestinian woman, was the fourth in a series of trainings in the Southern Hebron Hills region.

The trainings were organized by the region’s recently formed nonviolence committee, but the origin of the movement began      through the inspiration and courage of Hafez, a man who has dedicated himself to upholding the dignity and the rights of his people. Hafez was born and raised in the Southern Hebron Hills, an area of the West Bank declared in the Oslo Accords as “Area C”, meaning it is under full Israeli military and civil control. In practice, this means that Palestinians living in Tuwani and the surrounding villages are not allowed to build any structures, whether homes or schools or medical clinics, without first obtaining permit from Israel. Israel has denied the majority of permit applications. Therefore, most of the homes in Tuwani, including the home of Hafez, have received demolition orders from the Israeli military, stating that the family homes are illegally built and that they will be demolished at the convenience of the military (even though the homes were present long before Israel or “Area C” ever existed). In the past two decades, several homes, including the home of Tuwani’s mayor, have been bulldozed. Families in this are under constant threat of their homes being destroyed, and are very vulnerable to attacks by nearby Israeli settlers.

Below we have summarized an interview conducted by David, Martha, and Brenna with Hafez a few days after the training. The story has been slightly reworded for easy reading in English:

Hafez

“In 2003, I began inviting international and Israeli peace activists to visit me in my home. I wanted to show them what life under occupation was like. Soldiers soon realized that I often had guests coming to my home, so they began invading my house and trashing it to intimidate me into stopping. I asked my wife and my mother whether I should continue. We decided that if we gave into the military, than nothing would change. So we kept inviting activists to our home. Twelve times in one month, the Israeli Army occupied and trashed my home. So the next time the they invaded, I told them that they could come every day if they wanted – they could come three times a day—but I wasn’t going to give up. The Israeli peace activists also reported in their media what was happening to me. After that, the soldiers left my family alone.

“In 2004, I started associating with the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), who had come to stay in our village while we were building a medical clinic. Every night after we had worked on the clinic, Israeli settlers and soldier would demolish what we had accomplished, but we continued building. The presence of an international group with access to media helped us put a stop to such attacks, and today the clinic is almost complete.

New health clinic – two stories completed

“In 2005, two CPT members who were accompanying children home from school were attacked by Israeli settlers. Both were sent to the hospital – one with a punctured lung, the other with a broken arm. The incident was widely reported in the media and gained worldwide attention. This alerted me to the importance of working with the media in a nonviolent campaign.

“On April 22, 2006, I organized our area’s first nonviolent demonstration.
The Israeli military had begun construction on a wall that was to be built along the main highway that Palestinians are restricted from using. The wall didn’t include an opening for the crossroad that Palestinians must use and that leads into Susiya, a neighboring village. It was a low wall, but it was enough to cut off traffic, and to prevent shepherds from herding their sheep across the road to pastures they owned on the other side.

Our protest was only to demand an opening in the wall.

“We had alerted the media, and many came – from Europe, Palestine, Israel, and Arab countries – it was wonderful! We gathered at the place where the wall was being constructed. However, once the demonstration began, the police gave us ten minutes to leave. So I told the villagers, ‘OK, we have ten minutes to demonstrate. So let’s stay here for ten minutes, and then leave.’

“My friends then told me that the police were looking for me, so I started back towards the village to get out of their way. Still, the police found me and arrested me. They beat me badly – both in At Tuwani and all the way to the jail. During the beating, they broke one of my ribs, though I didn’t know it at the time. In the car ride on the way to the police station, the soldiers mocked me: ‘Ah, we have heard about you! So you are the hero of the South!’

“The police at the jail saw how badly I had been beaten, and saw that I couldn’t breathe very well. They told the soldiers that they had to take me to the hospital, and bring back a paper signed by a doctor saying that I was OK. The soldiers called the military nurse, who took one look at me, said that I was fine, and signed the paper.

“I wasn’t able to lie down in jail because of the pain. I tried sleeping sitting up, but every time I would lean a little to right or left, the pain was intense. Four days later, they finally brought me before a judge, because my brother had gotten me a lawyer. I told the judge I didn’t care how long he threw me in jail, I just needed to be taken to the hospital.

“The police put me in shackles in the police van, drove five officers to their individual homes, and finally got around to taking me to the hospital. Driving in the bumpy van with a broken rib in shackles was torment. I was taken to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, where I was given an MRI and other tests. The Hadassah doctor said to the police, ‘What are you doing? This man has a broken rib’; They gave the police a prescription for me, but the police ignored it and just took me back to jail, where I stayed for another week and a half. I had been travelling from 9 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. the next morning.

“I was charged with the crime of beating thirteen people – soldiers and police – with a stick, even though I never touched anybody. CPT has a video of the entire demonstration, which proves that I did nothing. Still, I have had four trials so far. Each time, the judge delays the trial, saying more evidence is needed. I must appear again in court this December.

“After two weeks, I was released from jail, but with several conditions – the most important being that I take part in no further demonstrations. I was told that if I violated the conditions, I would be subject to three months in prison and a fine of 25,000 shekels (about $6,000 – a fortune for Palestinians).

“When I came home, I saw that all the people from all of the villages were waiting for me to greet me. I was so touched and inspired. I realized I had to say something. So I looked at them and said, ‘How about another demonstration?’

Nonviolence Training

“I rested for one week, then organized another very large demonstration against the wall. This time I did not stand with the demonstrators. Since my conditions said I had to be 150 meters away from any actions, I stood 200 meters away on a hill and directed the demonstrations from my cell phone: ‘You go there, and you go over there!’ People listened to me and respected me. For this I am so grateful.

“By this time, the wall had been completed. But this demonstration was completely peaceful – no violence on either side. It was a beautiful day.

“While I was in jail, I realized that if nonviolent actions were to continue in the Southern Hebron Hills, we would have to form a nonviolence committee, so we could continue the struggle even if I am jailed again. So we formed such a committee, and we continued a demonstration every week until the war in Lebanon broke out last summer. The committee realized that without media attention, our demonstrations would have no real impact, so we decided that it would be more fruitful to hold nonviolence trainings for the villagers. The first three trainings were attended by about 500 men, women, and children. The fourth one, held during Eid (a Muslim holiday), still turned out 100 people!

“In August 2007, the whole wall came down – and this was a result of our nonviolent demonstrations! Now that the wall has come down, our next goal is our land and agriculture: olive harvest season has begun, and we want to make sure the villagers can harvest their trees without being prevented by soldiers or attacked by settlers. We want to make sure shepherds can graze their sheep on their land safely. We need international accompaniment and media in order to do this.

“Many Americans have come to help us, which is very good. Most Palestinians think that America only wants to punish us, so it is good for Palestinians to see Americans coming to support us.

“And finally, the Palestinians who have lived in this area for their whole lives know that the most important form of nonviolent resistance is patience. They have been patient, and will continue to be patient. They know that the occupation cannot last forever.”