The School in at-TuwaniThe Situation in Tuwani
It has been quiet this week because all the planting and plowing is done and the rains haven't begun, which means there is nothing green for the sheep to graze on so they stay home and eat grain. During the planting and plowing there were a number of nasty settler encounters. The problem here--and in much of the West Bank-- is a land dispute. Jewish settlers living in the nearby Maon Settlement want to claim and use land owned by Palestinians. We accompany Palestinians to prevent settlers from taking it by force or intimidation.
There was an Israeli high court decision recently that affirmed the right of these villagers to plow and plant their own land, but still there have been problems with settlers, especially in the areas not covered by the court decision. And it seems to us that the Israeli army is more accountable to the settlers than they are to their own court system. We expect the problems to start up again as soon as the rains begin and Palestinians will want to use their grazing land, also coveted by settlers. That should start any day now--the rains are late, but in the last few days winter has been blowing in, and winter brings rain.
We continue to accompany a group of about a dozen Palestinian children to and from school every day. Accompaniment means watching to make sure the Israeli soldiers come at the appointed time to walk with them to protect them from attack by the settlers. It has been going smoothly, and recently they began using the shortest path to school, the one where I was beaten, which takes them only about 20 minutes each way. There have been problems still with settlers; recently they came out even with the soldiers present and managed to hurt one of the children.
This morning we awoke to find Israeli soldiers bulldozing closed the main road out of the village and into Yatta, the nearest larger city. They periodically close it and Palestinians open it up by digging it out by hand, because people need to use the road to get to school and work, and to transport food and supplies to the village. This time the soldiers put such big rocks in the way that they will be nearly impossible to move. But I have confidence that the Palestinians will figure out a way!
The reason for the closure, we assume, is that a settler was killed near Hebron, about an hour away from Tuwani (give or take). In a normal democracy, with normal rule of law, police investigate the crime and punish the perpetrator. Here, Israelis punish all Palestinians through closures, bulldozing, roadblocks, and other measures, before anyone even knows who committed the crime. I do not get this mentality. It is a form of collective punishment, and is evidence of the fundamental flaw in Israeli policies toward Palestine. Until those policies change, there will be no peace here.
It has been quiet this week because all the planting and plowing is done and the rains haven't begun, which means there is nothing green for the sheep to graze on so they stay home and eat grain. During the planting and plowing there were a number of nasty settler encounters. The problem here--and in much of the West Bank-- is a land dispute. Jewish settlers living in the nearby Maon Settlement want to claim and use land owned by Palestinians. We accompany Palestinians to prevent settlers from taking it by force or intimidation.
There was an Israeli high court decision recently that affirmed the right of these villagers to plow and plant their own land, but still there have been problems with settlers, especially in the areas not covered by the court decision. And it seems to us that the Israeli army is more accountable to the settlers than they are to their own court system. We expect the problems to start up again as soon as the rains begin and Palestinians will want to use their grazing land, also coveted by settlers. That should start any day now--the rains are late, but in the last few days winter has been blowing in, and winter brings rain.
We continue to accompany a group of about a dozen Palestinian children to and from school every day. Accompaniment means watching to make sure the Israeli soldiers come at the appointed time to walk with them to protect them from attack by the settlers. It has been going smoothly, and recently they began using the shortest path to school, the one where I was beaten, which takes them only about 20 minutes each way. There have been problems still with settlers; recently they came out even with the soldiers present and managed to hurt one of the children.
This morning we awoke to find Israeli soldiers bulldozing closed the main road out of the village and into Yatta, the nearest larger city. They periodically close it and Palestinians open it up by digging it out by hand, because people need to use the road to get to school and work, and to transport food and supplies to the village. This time the soldiers put such big rocks in the way that they will be nearly impossible to move. But I have confidence that the Palestinians will figure out a way!
The reason for the closure, we assume, is that a settler was killed near Hebron, about an hour away from Tuwani (give or take). In a normal democracy, with normal rule of law, police investigate the crime and punish the perpetrator. Here, Israelis punish all Palestinians through closures, bulldozing, roadblocks, and other measures, before anyone even knows who committed the crime. I do not get this mentality. It is a form of collective punishment, and is evidence of the fundamental flaw in Israeli policies toward Palestine. Until those policies change, there will be no peace here.
