At-Tuwani - settlers accompanied by soldiers search the villagere
The purpose of the trip was a visit to Khalet Al Daba', a village south of At-Tuwani in Masafer Yatta.
It is important to note that the day before during the night hours, several shots were fired at the Asa'el illegal outpost, which is located on Route 317, not far from the junction between Route 60 and Route 317, and the industrial area, Meitar, and the offices of the South Mount Hebron Regional Council.
There were no injuries, but several houses had broken glass as a result of damage to the windows. Usually, such a situation predicts an accumulation of difficulties and a multitude of barriers, and indeed it was so.
At the main entrance to Samu', a barrier consisting of a huge rock and after the rock two earth embankments. A car cannot pass there.
In front of the entrance to the village of At-Tuwani, at the entrance to Yatta, a checkpoint consisting of huge roadblocks and three soldiers who check every vehicle. Both entering and exiting.
We picked up Nasser Adra from At-Tuwani, who accompanied us to visit Jaber Dababasa in Khalet Al Daba'.
On the way, Nasser told us of an event that occurred a few days earlier. About 10 settlers from the Mitzpe Yair outpost, east of the Susiya settlement, entered At-Tuwani late at night, claiming that their car had been stolen and they came to look for it. The familiar excuse is usually searching for lost sheep. The army accompanied the settlers, as usual, and of course nothing was found. The settlers harassed the Palestinians for hours and demonstrated their violencee as usual.
We are sitting in Shig, to hear details of what has been going on with them recently: The army comes at least 3 times a week, shows its presence and leaves.
By the way, on the previous visit to them, Palestinian flags decorated the fence around the area where we were sitting. This time the fence was without the flags. The reason, of course, is that the army takes them down every time they are put up.
The settler from Havat Ma'on, who established his own farm, in front of Khalet Al Daba', which we reported on in the previous visit, usually comes with his herd to the nearby olive grove, which belongs to the Dababasa family.
They call the army and the volunteers who sometimes stay with them, and then the settler leaves.
Two volunteers from ISO are currently staying in the village, a woman from France and a man from Sicily. They sleep for several days in Shig and then move to other places as needed.
Well done to them.
This morning, according to Jaber, his uncle, Saud, 60 years old, tried to reach Halat al-Daba from the village of Kharmel (in front of At-Tuwani). The army did not allow him to pass through the checkpoint, and he was forced to walk on side roads for over two hours.
Naser Adra adds that also in Susiya they set up a checkpoint from early in the morning, which did not allow the teachers who come to At-Tuwani and other villages to get to the schools on time. Only after 8, after an inspection, they are allowed to go through.
When we left At-Tuwani for road 317, at the checkpoint in front of us at the entrance to |Yatta, there were still three soldiers checking every vehicle, coming and going.
ISO = INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY ORGANIZATION.