At-Tuwani - military operations in the village

Place:

A-Tuwani

Dura-Al Fawwar Junction

Sansana (Meitar Crossing)

South Hebron Hills

Zif Junction

Observers:

Muhammad and Daphna; Translator: Natanya

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May-29-2022

Morning

At-Tuwani - the army in the village

Photo:

Daphna Jung

South Hebron Mountain Shift Report, 29.05.2022.

Participants: Muhammad and Daphna; Translator: Natanya

Sunday, after Jerusalem Day ....!

Many workers entered the Meitar checkpoint; parking lots are as usual.

We made a big detour on Route 60, to see what happens after Jerusalem Day and the tension in the territories. For most of the route, the intersections were open, no checkpoints and military vehicles were seen.

Al-Fawwar Junction: both the passage of cars and people is as usual; there is no special alert....

At the Qilqis / Hebron junction, the entrance to Hebron is open. At the entrance to the Qilqis, new gates info-icon have been set up so it will be possible to close them...

There is more expansion at the junction.

Zif Junction, also no checkpoint, and no jeeps manned at the entrance.

We met with Nabil at the Zif junction and it turns out that just before we arrived, soldiers had come to his store, because they had heard gunshots at night! They ransacked the store in search of weapons and took the cameras.

We continued on 356. At the entrance to Umm Ashukhan (a little after the Zif junction), there were army vehicles, with armed soldiers, and it seemed that they were entering the village perhaps to continue the search.

We continued to At-Tuwani. We met Nasser who told us about how difficult things are with both the government and the soldiers in the daily lives of the residents.

in the morning at 04:00, they set up a checkpoint at the entrance, preventing workers and teachers from going to work and confiscated vehicles (former Israeli vehicles, which are sold for dismantling, but until dismantling, are used for driving in the immediate vicinity).

About a week ago, at 02:00 at night, army vehicles arrived with a skimmer, closed in on At-Tuwani and confiscated Palestinian vehicles on the grounds that they were smuggling workers into Israel. They entered the mosque and intentionally broke windows. They also broke into an old mosque and caused damage to the loudspeakers, etc. They took the car keys of the guard and damaged his car.

The soldiers also started walking around the village on foot, entering houses claiming that they were looking for workers who intended to enter the country illegally. Meanwhile people started waking up to go to work, and wanted to take out the cars and dismantle them.

The volunteers, too, woke up, went out and took pictures. Nasser fears that they will also take and confiscate tractors, which are used both for agricultural work and as transportation...

The tension and fear of military operations is great....

The photo documents the military operations in At-Tuwani.

Location Description

Dura/Al Fawwar Junction

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Junction on Route 60: west - the town of El Dura, east - the Al Fawwar refugee camp. There is a manned pillbox at the junction. From time to time the army sets up flying checkpoints at the entrance to El Fawwar and Al Dura. Al-Fawwar is a large refugee camp (7,000 inhabitants in 2007) established in 1949 to accommodate Palestinian refugees from Be'er Sheva and Beit Jubrin and environs. There are many incidents of stone-throwing. In the vicinity of the pillbox there are excellent agricultural areas, Farmers set up stalls adjacent to the plots close to the road. In recent months the civil administration info-icon has set up dirt embankments thereby blocking access to the stalls, and making it impossible for the farmers to sell their vegetables.

Updated April 2021, Michal T.

Zif Junction

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Connects to Road 356 to Yata - the district city of the southern Hebron Mountains. Usually open to traffic and the nearby pillbox is unmanned. But the army and police are present from time to time, sometimes setting up a checkpoint and sometimes detaining residents of the big city. Sometimes the Israeli police inspects vehicles and distribute driving reports to Palestinian vehicles..

Yata / Southern Hebron hills

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Yatta is a city located in the South Hebron Hills region. It is located in the border zone between the fertile area of Hebron and its surroundings and the desert of the Hebron Hills. Yatta has about 64,000 inhabitants. The surrounding villages are called Masafar Yatta (Yatta's daughter villages). Their inhabitants subsist on livestock and agriculture. Agriculture is possible only in small plots, especially near streams. Most of the area consists of rocky terraces.

Since the beginning of the 1980s, a number of settlements have been established on the agricultural land cultivated by the Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills region: Carmel, Maon, Susia, Masadot Yehuda, Othniel, and more. Since the settlements were established and Palestinians cultivation areas have been reduced; the residents of the South Hebron Hills have been suffering from harassment by the settlers. Attempts to evict and demolish houses have continued, along with the withholding of water and electricity. The military and police usually refrain from intervening in violent incidents between settlers and Palestinians do not enforce the law when it comes to the investigation of extensive violent Jewish settlers. The harassment in the South Hebron Hills includes attacking and attempting to burn residential tents, harassing dogs, harming herds, and preventing access to pastures.

There are several checkpoints in the South Hebron Hills, on Routes 317 and 60. In most of them, no military presence is apparent, but rather an array of pillboxes monitor the villages. Road blocks are frequently set up according to the settlers and the army's needs. These are located at the Zif Junction, the Dura-al Fawwar crossing, and the Sheep Junction at the southern entrance to Hebron.

Updated April 2022

רהווה - ככה חיה משפחת אבו שארח' ברהווה בוואדי למרגלות ההתנחלות טנא עומרים

Apr-25-2024

Michal Tsadik

Rahwa - this is how the Abu Sharakh family lives in the Wadi at the foot of the Tene Omarim settlement

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Meitar

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Sansana (Meitar Crossing)

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The checkpoint is located on the Green Line and serves as a border crossing between Israel and the West Bank. It is managed by the Border Crossing Authority of the Defense Ministry. It is comprised of sections for the transfer of goods as well as a vehicle checkpoint (intended for holders of blue identity cards, foreign nationals or diplomats and international organizations). Passing of Palestinians is prohibited, except for those with entry permits to Israel. Palestinians are permitted to cross on foot only. The crossing has a DCO (District Coordination Office), a customs unit, supervision, and a police unit.

In the last year, a breach has been opened in the fence, not far from the crossing. This breach is known to all, including the army. There does not appear to be any interest in blocking it, probably as it permits needed Palestinian workers without the bureaucratic permits to get to work in Israel. Food stalls and a parking area economy have been created, but incidents of violent abuse by border police have also been recorded.

Updated April 2022

At-Tuwani

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The locals came to At-Tuwani during the 20th century from the village of Yatta. They settled in abandoned ruins, utilizing the arable land, pastures for grazing sheep and the abundance of natural caves for habitation. The residents who settled in the caves came from families who could not purchase land for houses in the mother villages, as well as shepherds who did not have enough land to graze. They were joined by clan members who quarreled with other families in the mother locality.
Some of the residents today live in concrete buildings built above the caves. In the area of the village are several water cisterns and an ancient water well called Ein at-Tuwani. Local residents are forced to buy water in containers and transport them through many road blocks to the village. With the help of international organizations, an electrical system was installed in the village. In the late 90s of the 20th century, an elementary school was established in the serving several small villages in the area.
In 2004, MachsomWatch began visiting and reporting from the Khirbet Tuwani cave village, which suffers badly from the settlers of nearby outposts, and especially from the extremist Ma'on outpost. . The settlers contaminate cisterns, poison the flocks and uproot trees.

Particularly notable is the harassment of children from the surrounding villages on their way to school in at-Tuwani, so much so that military escort of children is required to separate them from the attackers (this was arranged following an initiative of the organization's members). In the past year, the escort has been without the vital presence of overseas volunteers.

Near at-Tuwani there are several families who have returned to the caves due to the incessant demolitions of the civil administration info-icon (as there is a total construction ban in all of area C). Destroyed are not only residential and agricultural buildings, but also water pipes, machinery. Even water cisterns are clogged up. at-Tuwani residents have created an association for non-violent demolition protests, but in the past year the army’s harsh harassment and settler violence have intensified and escalated. The incident of the small generator confiscation, which left a young man paralyzed, is one of many examples - any legitimate protection of property rights leads to violence and even shootings by the army and the civil administration.

Updated April 2022

Apr-25-2024

Michal Tsadik

Rahwa - the building they have a demolition order on

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