COLOMBIA
One of the most urgent task for Manuel Santos government is to face the problem of Colombian rural areas, 75% of Colombian land. One third of the population live in such areas which are hit by the war between the State and the Guerilla, the presence of illegal groups, coca fields and the growing mining exploitation by means of multinational companies.
As 77% of the land belongs to 13% of land owners it is simple to understand the extreme poorness of most of “campesinos”. The actual president is trying to implement a land reform.

Operation Dove volunteers have been busy with an accompaniment in the area of Cordoba. Veredas of Las Claras, Alto Joaquin and Puerto Nuevo were visited and families warmly welcomed volunteers as they always do.
Daily accompaniments into the city were carried on.
March 23rd was the 15th anniversary of the Community: many visitors came from Colombia and abroad. Father Javier directed a moment of considerations and commemoration of those who made it possible. The history of the community was accounted and a video from 1998 (1st anniversary) showed.
It is important to keep memory alive as it helps to live the present with awareness and to feed the hope for the future.

PALESTINE/ISRAEL
As in the previous months, March was a very active month for settlers and the Army.
On March 8th, Israeli Army broke into Yatta to find and arrest  Khaled Shawamra, one of the more than a thousand prisoner who had been released to freed the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. This happened despite Yatta belong to A area, which means it is  under Palestinian military and administrative control.
During the following days volunteers reported various check-points at the entrance of At-Tuwani village. On March 9th, 125 Palestinians entering the village were stopped and searched. And even more attention was paid by the Army and the settlers towards Palestinian shepherds grazing their flocks on the surrounding hills. New outpost houses are rapidly growing on Khelly hill, together with a new road around them. And enlargements are taking place in all settlements and outposts of the area: Suseiya, Carmel, Beit Yatir, Avigayil. Building activities in the latest outpost take place at night, since it is considered illegal by the Israeli government itself. OD volunteers was there on the night of March 29th together with some Israeli activists. Israeli police was called and came, stopping the activities and confiscating a bulldozer. Despite this seems a good sign from Israeli authorities, local inhabitants are particularly worried by settlers attempt to enlarge the outpost.
As in the previous month Ma’on chief security officer and the Army cooperated to harass shepherds. Two young shepherds were arrested and then released thank to pressure from Israeli lawyers but in both cases no criminal charge was communicated.
On March 25th, during school patrol, a settler from Havat Ma’on drove his car at high speed towards kids, who were forced to throw themselves off the road.
Good news is that water supply works have begun in the village, a huge step for the village after a decade of fight for this right.

ALBANIA
A blood feud homicide took place on March 4th in the northern area of the country. The fact is worth of attention because it could have been prevented: the murderer had denounced to the police he had been beaten and threatened by the victim, but since the police did not make any move he decided to act first as he was scared to become the victim.
During the month many families were visited in order to strengthen and increase a trustful relationship, to propose support to reconciliation, to support existing reconciliation paths, to meet more families involved, to monitor families involved for years and see if there has been any variation.
On the base of Sapa bishop action (he had proclaimed 2012 as a jubilee year, with the aim of promoting a  general reconciliation in his dioceses) volunteers have caught up with the families they know in Scutari, but who are originally from Tropoja, to announce such action and give them a first impulse.
For each family there will be a report about the history of why the revenge took place, intervention already made by Operation Dove and other associations, information about the opposing family, attempt made to reconcile, any idea for future solutions. Those reports will be send to the bishop in order to think jointly a common strategy case by case.
The silent demonstration against blood feud took place on the 12th as planned. It is important to carry on regularly such awareness campaign.
Once every three months there is a coordination meeting involving all associations which operate on the issue. There is the idea to find a logo to be used for activities, demonstrations, press releases in order to be more effective on public opinion.
The weekly activity with women living under blood feud is having good results. They truly wish to built something together.
The opening show of the drama activity involving youths under blood feud took place on March 17th.
Together with the association “peace ambassadors” volunteers are “rehearsing” for a flash mob which will take place in various cities between April and May with aim of  increase awareness on the issue.
The idea behind all the activities carried on by volunteers is to offer youths the possibility to break their social segregation while showing them that there is an alternative to violence, even if it requires commitment and sacrifice.
A new activity which is carried on together with “Caschi Bianchi” (…) is to help men living under blood feud to improve their agricultural ability, since most of the families has a kitchen garden. It will be done with the help of an agronomist. It will become a new opportunity to meet men, which are particularly entrapped into a mentality where  there is no chance for a change, leading them to erase any hope for them or their families.

At-Tuwani – In the early morning of may 13th Palestinians discovered that an olive grove situated in Humra valley had been recently destroyed. Nineteen mature olive trees were broken at their trunks.
The olive grove belongs to a palestinian family that lives in Yatta.

At about 8:30 am one car of the police, two army jeep and a car of the DCO (District Coordination Office) reached the zone and documented the crime.

The area in which the olives trees were cutted is located in front of Havat Ma’on entrance. Havat Ma’on is an israeli illegal outpost according to the israeli law.

The amount of Palestinian trees tore down and damaged since November 2011 rises to 58; from the same period only in Humra valley 38 olive trees were destroyed nearby the outpost.

The olive grove’s destruction represents several years worth of lost income to the Palestinian family.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures of the incident: http://goo.gl/5dOR4

For further information:
Operation Dove, 054 99 25 773

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma'on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

At-Tuwani – On April 21st five Palestinian shepherds were arrested by the Israeli army and police in Meshaha Hill during a demonstration attended by Palestinians, Israeli activists and international volunteers.

At 8:45 am, about 80 people between Palestinians, Israelis and international volunteers gathered in Kharrouba Valley and Meshaha Hill, nearby At-Tuwani village, for a pacific demonstration, in occasion of the harvest. About 20 Palestinians were harvesting barley and 7 shepherds were grazing their flocks. The gathering attracted several settlers from the illegal outpost, which provokingly came near the presents, and a large number of Israeli soldiers, in particular police, army, DCO (District Coordination Office) and Border Police.

The demonstration was organized by Palestinians in order to claim their right to graze and cultivate on their lands. It took place in the valleys nearby the Havat Ma’on illegal outpost, where there have been several attacks by the settlers in the latest period against the Palestinian crops and olive trees as well as against the shepherds.

At 10:00 am five Palestinian shepherds, four of them coming from the village of Umm Fagarah and one from the village of At-Tuwani, were arrested by the police and the soldiers and transferred to Kiryat Arba police station. When arrested, the five shepherds were grazing in Meshaha Valley, of Palestinian property. The Palestinians were arrested for grazing on Israeli state land, but at the moment of their release in the late evening the same day, no official paper was shown to the lawyers committed to the case in support of this charge.

Nevertheless, the Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills are strongly involved in affirming their rights and resist to the Israeli occupation choosing the nonviolent way.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures of the incident: http://goo.gl/Dld6b

For further information:
Operation Dove, 054 99 25 773

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma'on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

April 14th, 2012

At-Tuwani – In the early morning of April 13th two israeli settlers of the Havat Ma’on outpost attacked and chased three international volunteers in Shaab Seedi Valley, throwing stones against them. At around 11 am six young settlers drove away three Palestinians and one international from Meshaha Hill, property of an inhabitant of the nearby At-Tuwani village. One of the young men, once down in Kharrouba Valley, damaged six olive trees.

The first attack occurred at 8:05 am, when two settlers from Havat Ma’on threw stones and chased away three international volunteers in Shaab Seedi Valley. The two men came out of a recently built house situated over 50 meters away from the outpost. After covering their faces, they started to violently throw stones against the three internationals, one of them using a slingshot. When the volunteers started to escape, the settlers ran after them for a long stretch of path, until the three runaways put themselves in a safe place. None of them got injured.

The second episode took place at 11:24 am when six young men from the Havat Ma’on outpost went on Meshaha Hill where a Palestinian woman and two minors were collecting herbs, accompanied by an international volunteer. The six teenagers, one of them whirling a slingshot, headed threateningly towards them, which escaped in the valley below. The group of settlers chased the Palestinians until the bottom of the hill, where one of the young men damaged six olive trees property of an At-Tuwani inhabitant. The olive trees represent a fundamental mean of support for the village.

After the incident some soldiers, both from the regular army and the DCO (District Coordination Office), and two police officers intervened, called by some Israeli activists which came by.

The soldiers briefly talked to the settlers and then left quickly, instead the DCO officer showed an arrogant behaviour towards two Palestinians which joined the area to verify the damages. The police gathered evidences of the event.

The settlers of the Havat Ma’on illegal outpost have been protagonists of several episodes of violence against both the internationals and the Palestinians. Since the beginning of the year the Operation Dove volunteers registered 24 settlers’ attacks, mostly aimed at pushing away the shepherds and the internationals from the hills surrounding the outpost. The attack occurred on April 13th is the fourth episode of overt violence since the beginning of the year carried out against the sole internationals, while the amount of Palestinian trees tore down and damaged since December 2011 rises to 39.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Video of the incident: http://goo.gl/0oe6l

Pictures of the incident: http://goo.gl/QhRHE

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma'on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

COLOMBIA
The capture of Héctor German Buitrago alias “Martin Llanos”, chief of Autodefensas Campesinas del Casanare (ACC), on February 6th, has been enthusiastically described by government medias has the end of the bloody history of paramilitary age in Colombia with the aim of quieten world public opinion on the Colombian issue. But the sad reality is that those groups have an incredible ability to reorganize themselves.
On the following link you can find the account of a young man who enlisted in the ACC (published by the Colombian weekly magazine “La Semana”). http://www.operazionecolomba.it/colombia/
1246-lagghiacciante-testimonianza-di-un-ragazzo-arruolato-nelle-acc.html
His story shows with a tragic clearness how, the absence of the State and the biased relationship between Police and criminal groups have been favoring children and teenagers enlistment into paramilitary groups. Uneducated youths are the most exposed to be drawn into drug dealers and paramilitary networks. It is a severe social problem, to which the Government does not pay attention, actually ignoring it. It is only able to massively militarize areas and to answer with violence. It is necessary to gain awareness that the paramilitary world is first a social problem; with no serious investments into education and health system, without a prevention campaign, with no attention to rural areas, Colombia is doomed to implosion.
Following the continuous presence of paramilitary groups in the veredas of Porvenir and La Esperanza, the Community counsel has been organizing turns so that all available International groups could assure the most constant presence in the area.
OD volunteers were there on the first and last week of February. Despite the difficult situation, people were quite calm. Volunteers tried to understand people feelings about such situation. And the answer underlines how complex the reality is. Some are really worried that the two groups will fight occupying their land. Some others, whose maybe one family member is part of one or the other group are confident that they will be some how protected, and they live in the illusion that things will be on their side, passively accepting orders either from paramilitary or guerrilla groups.
Peace Community families, together with those families who have lost some relatives or were subjected to economical loss because of paramilitary or guerrilla groups, are now living fearing for their lives. They have a more realistic view and more awareness of what is about to happen.
Since the massacre of 7 Community members happened in 2005, February is the month of commemoration. On the 21st many members, international volunteers, journalists and common people gathered in the vereda Mulatos in memory of what happened.

PALESTINE/ISRAEL
Generous raining during the month saw South Hebron Hills populating of shepherds with their flocks. The need to feed their animals and to occupy their land brought shepherds daily close to Havat Ma’on outpost and Ma’on settlement, accompanied by Operation Dove volunteers. Almost daily, Israeli army or Ma’on chief security officer tried to impede their activity. During a month shepherds were pushed away 15 times: on 7 occasions settlers made them ran using verbal violence and threatens, on 5 occasions the army cooperated with settlers and on 3 occasions the soldiers alone forced the shepherds away. Two 15yrs old boys from Tuba were arrested on th 25th as they grazed their sheep on a piece of land that Ma’on chief security officer had ordered to not use.
On th 26th a young shepherd from Jawwaya was temporary detained, on command of  Ma’on chief security officer. Thanks to pressure from Operation Dove and Israeli volunteers he was released, but the fact that soldiers take orders from a private security guard is particularly serious.
On the 27th an army jeep chased some shepherds from Maghayir Al Abeed in Meshaha valley. A volunteer who tried to talk to them was threatened to be arrested and temporary detained on their vehicle, violating Israeli law, since Internationals are not  subjected to Israeli military jurisdiction.  Volunteers have been noting more and more a worrying cooperation between soldiers and settlers.
On February 3rd, soldiers escorted a group of 100 Israelis who were visiting some archaeological ruins found in At-Tuwani village. Some settlers from Ma’on took advantage of it entering the village as well. Despite such provocation none of the villagers answered with violence. Villagers are really worried about it, because archaeological findings are often an excuse to dispossesses land.
Soldiers presence was intense during the month, villagers were often submitted to controls. Military drills were held twice close to the village, one of which at night.
Demolitions have been going on in the area involving houses, water thanks, animal shelters and olive trees. Some were denounced as illegal by Israeli association Rabbis for Human Rights.
Since the beginning of the year many trees in At-Tuwani area have been uprooted by unknown persons. At the same time settlers have been planting trees in areas used by Palestinian shepherds to graze their sheep or grazed their own herds on Palestinian crops.
Some settlers engaged a dialogue with Operation Dove volunteers, teaching them  that West Bank belongs to Hebrews, as it is the promised land and that Havat Ma’on residents have the power to send away Palestinians or Internationals whenever they wish to. They state that outpost residents are peaceful persons living on farming and if they harass Palestinians it is only to achieve those little piece of land they need to survive.
As the second school semester began School patrol did not show up on the first day: after one hour waiting in the rain, kids from Tuba decided to go back home. Some Israeli associations are showing growing interests on the issue.
In the last months more attention has been growing on the area thanks to the various actions organized by the South Hebron Hills Nonviolent Resistance Committee. On February 4th the “Run Across Palestine” track event started from At-Tuwani: more than 200 Km across West Bank, ending February 8th in Jenin. Many runners were from Europe and USA.
Generally speaking things are going worse in South Hebron Hills: Army pressure, settlements constant enlargement, cooperation between soldiers and settlers, demolitions make people life hard, but despite it inhabitants looks more and more determined to assert their rights and to demand for a normal life.

ALBANIA
An Albanian man was arrested in Prato (Italy): it looks like he traveled to Italy in order  to take revenge of his nephew death, happened last July in Valona (Albania). If confirmed it would support the palpable reality of blood feud, a phenomenon which crosses Albania borders.
On Wednesday the 29th, together with the local responsible of Pope John XXIII Community, Operation Dove volunteers met Sapa bishop, Lucjan Augustini. As he had proclaimed 2012 as a jubilee year, with the aim of promoting a  general reconciliation, he asked all the priests in his dioceses to gather information about blood feuds in their area. It will be fundamental to share one’s knowing and to share a common strategy to establish a path towards reconciliation. With the same aim Operation Dove volunteers keep meeting anybody who could cooperate in the process.
Operation Dove activities with “locked” families were temporary stopped due to the heavy snow which hit the area. Accompaniments kept going on, but the opening show of the drama activity had to be postponed waiting for better weather.
The silent demonstration against blood feud took place on the 12th as planned, despite the weather in the city center.
The new activity with women living under blood feud has been going on and already got some positive feedbacks. Two groups are meeting, each of 4-5 women. Using the tool of sharing their own experiences, the aim is to facilitate a positive processing of their feelings and of their personal possibilities of a change, which is the base to start real reconciliation actions.

March 21st , 2012

At-Tuwani –  On March 19th and 20th two Palestinian boys were arrested by the police and the Army respectively while grazing on the hills surrounding the village of At Tuwani.

On March 19th at around 5:00 pm a twentythree year old Palestinian shepherd was temporarily detained by the Army accompanied by the chief security of Ma’on settlement and by a settler coming from the illegal outpost of Havat Ma’on. The young man was pasturing in Shabel Shamsti Valley, not far from the Palestinian village of Tuba. Then the police arrived and arrested the shepherd at 6:30 pm after holding him in the cold for over one hour.
He was released at around midnight the same day after the payment of a bail of 500 shekel.

On March 20th at 11:15 am a twenty year old Palestinian shepherd was dismissed from the site where he was grazing at first, and later arrested by the Israeli Army, again in presence of Ma’on’ security chief. Attending to Palestinian testimonies, the soldiers threatened him of physical violence before taking him on the armoured vehicle.
At around 4:00 pm the Palestinian was released after having been transferred to Kyriat Arba police station.
The Palestinian was grazing on a hill on top of which the Ma’on settlement is bringing on its expansion since 2009. Furthermore, since September 2011 five new buildings are under construction on top of the hill, limiting further on the access to the Palestinians of the area.

Any charge was declared in any of the episodes, neither to the International observers present during the incidents, nor to the lawyers following the cases.
The fact that the Army operates in collaboration with the Israeli settlers is a custom in the South Hebron Hills. In ten cases since the beginning of the year the International volunteers have registered the coordination between the soldiers and the Ma’on’ security Safety Officer, a private Israeli security guard, in military operations aimed to send away or arrest the Palestinian shepherds.
The number of Palestinian shepherds arrested in the last month has now risen to seven.

Nevertheless, the Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills are strongly involved in affirming their rights and resist to the Israeli occupation choosing the nonviolent way.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.
Pictures of the incident: http://goo.gl/ldRvC

For further information:
Operation Dove, 054 99 25 773

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma'on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

COLOMBIA
During the past weeks volunteers participated into various accompaniments to and from the vereda La Esperanza, where last November paramilitary groups and Farcs fought, following which a paramilitary base were established. The illegal paramilitary group has been controlling the area since then, forcing people to some foolish rules. Trading of goods is forbidden, people are allowed to buy what they strictly need in the city, but only in small amount otherwise they could be charged of trading with the Farc. During December and January they entered frequently the vereda land and houses, frightening and threatening residents.
Even worst news is coming. Groups of hundreds of paramilitary soldiers would be occupying large areas between “La Esperanza” and “Porvenir”. Farmers spot them daily. Since guerrilla soldiers are in the area as well, the risk of fire crashes is growing and resident are scared.
And it’s really distressing what the regular army is doing: nothing. No troops around, even though hundreds of armed people are wandering around not far from the Army basis. The only possible explanation is what Colombians have been denouncing for years: a total connivance with the paramilitary groups.

PALESTINE/ISRAEL
As previously reported demolitions are carried out with growing intensity all over West Bank. According to Ocha OPT (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Occupied Palestinian Territory) in 2011 more than 1100 residents were displaced following demolitions, more than a half were kids. Buildings demolished were 622 houses (42% more than 2010), 170 animal shelters, 2 mosques, one of which in Umm Fagarah, close to At-Tuwani, 46 water thanks. 90% of demolitions and 92% of displacements happened in C areas, 60% were very close to Israeli settlements. Thousands of buildings are interested by demolition orders.
Demolitions are a precise tool to carry on occupation, people houses are taken and  means of support destroyed (pastures, fields, water sources), worsening life quality. In South Hebron Hills areas water and electric facilities are the most hit. In  Um Al Kheer villages 8 demolition orders were issued in January 2012, with 12 already issued. In nearby villages,  Wadi Jehesh, Qawawis and Sh’ib al Butum demolition orders were issued upon micro wind turbines that provide energy for the houses.
At the same time as demolitions are carried over, outposts and settlements in the area are growing: many bulldozers were working in Karmel settlement and 6 new houses have been built in Ma’on, on Khelly hill, a piece of Palestinian land were Tuwani and Jawayya shepherds are used to graze their sheep. New buildings are growing in  Avigayil outpost and Suseya settlement as well. In Havat Ma’on outpost settlers and workers are at work. Some greenhouses have been built beside the path used by kids from Tuba to reach at-Tuwani school. A new house has been built in Meshaha valley, were a tools shelter is already present. It isn’t occupied yet, but it’s already forcing shepherds and farmers to take a longer walk to reach Tuba village. Some NGO’s dealing with illegal expansion have been contacted on the issue.
Volunteers observed that a lot of meetings have been taking place between soldiers and the chief security officer of Ma’on settlement, showing a strict cooperation between them. It happened that soldiers asked for documents to shepherds and then handed them over to the settlement security officer. Israeli Army mandate in C area is to assure everybody’s rights, including the occupied population, while it often happens that they violate these rights and what worse, they do it in collusion with extremist settlers.
During the month shepherds were often disturbed by settlers and soldiers while they were grazing their sheep.
School patrol has been alternating good and bad signs: soldiers walked often with the child, as they should, but it happened too often that they were late, leaving kids exposed to settlers harassment.
Cooperation between Operation Dove volunteers, Palestinians and Israeli activists is growing, during the month there were many occasions to discuss various issues.

ALBANIA
Bishop of Sapa area, Luciani, proclaimed 2012 as a jubilee year and he intends to proclaim a general reconciliation for families involved in blood feud. We really hope it will have effective consequences.
New year’s eve was celebrated together with some youths living under blood feud.
On January 8th we joined a peace march organized by Sant’Egidio community in Scutari, which saw an unexpected high participation.
On January 12th we repeated again the silent demonstration against blood feud. There were very few people, but enough to arise passer-by attention. Other associations we cooperate with do not believe in these forms of demonstration, but we decided to carry it on anyway, it’s still better than doing nothing.
On January 21st another Round Table about blood feud took place and a new association operating in Tirana joined the group.
A new monitoring activity is going on in Scutari in order to catch up with known families, meeting new families and getting a deeper understanding of their stories. Some families in Scutari have been asking volunteers to meet the opposing families to begin a dialogue.
Volunteers visited Tropoja twice in January, meeting the families of the area they already know. They are especially focusing on one family under blood feud. They are trying to find those members of the opposing families who could decide to re-conciliate, but it isn’t easy at all.
A youth we knew got killed because of a land dispute. We’ve been summoned by the  priest who is worried that the “elderly counsel” of the family (male grown-ups) could emit a revenge. We gave our condolences to the family, but at the same time we gave them same words about the importance of not answering the evil with evil. The family listened silently but did not say anything.
The drama activity involving kids under blood feud is approaching the opening show.
A new activity with women leaving under blood feud has just started: once a week, some women gather in one house and volunteers help them talking about thorny issues such as conflicts, violences and blood feud. Although the Kanun consider them as “goatskins to be filled” women are the foundations of families, and they become essential when men are absent or forced to stay home because of blood feud. This meeting was thought because women need some space on their own where they can feel free to think, talk and get things off their chest and feel other women support, especially if they share similar experiences. With time, the hope is to talk broadly about the blood feud in order to create reconciliation opportunities.
Taking as an example the Study groups formed by Operation Dove in Kosovo, volunteers are trying to form a group of youths too. A first meeting was to watch a movie, but the aim is to make them share their experience about being “locked”.

Press Release

For the third time in a week Palestinian Meshaha Hill scenario of settler’s attacks

March 18^h, 2012

At-Tuwani –On Saturday 17^th at 12:15 pm five settlers coming from the illegal outpost of Havat Ma’on attack a Palestinian shepherd while grazing on Meshaha Hill. During the incident the settlers also chase and threaten an International volunteer.It was 11:30 when a Palestinian shepherd was pasturing on Meshaha Hill, in front of the illegal outpost of Havat Ma’on. Then a group of five settlers, one of them wearing a mask, reached the shepherd and moved his flock away. They warned him not to come back there anymore as all that land is “their property and of the whole Jewish people for thousands of years”. The settlers, shouting and imposing themselves phisically, pushed the shepherd away until the bottom of the hill, where one of them chased and threatened an International volunteer who was accompanying the shepherd. While escaping the volunteer dropped two mobile phones, which were immediately picked and smashed with a rock by the settler. At 12:30 two Army jeeps, a DCO (District Coordination Office) car and a police car reached the place to hear the volunteer’s and the settlers’ testimonies. Both the hill and the valley of Meshaha are Palestinian private property. The last December the inhabitants of At-Tuwani village cultivated these lands in presence of the Israeli Army who was there to garrison the area.

This is the third attack perpetuated by the settlers in the last week in Meshaha, as on March 12^th and 14^th they attacked and pushed away respectively two and seven Palestinian shepherds in a similar way. From the beginning of 2012 the Operation Dove volunteers have registered twentyfive acts of intimidation carried out by the settlers living in the illegal outpost of Havat Ma’on in the are around At-Tuwani. These acts of violence are part of an ongoing strategy aimed to obtain exclusive access to the land and the resources in the South Hebron Hills.

Nevertheless, the Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills are strongly involved in affirming their rights and resist to the Israeli occupation choosing the nonviolent way.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures of the incident: http://goo.gl/vfA9R

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma'on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

At-Tuwani – On February 28th five settlers coming from the illegal outpost of Havat Ma’on push away and chase two Palestinian shepherds coming from the village of At-Tuwani. The Palestinians were grazing their flocks on Meshaha Hill, closeby the village. The Army arrives and detains four Palestinians; three of them will be transferred in Kiryat Arba police station.

It was 9.00 am when three Palestinian shepherds with flocks reached Meshaha Hill, situated in front of Havat Ma’on outpost. At 11.40 am five settlers, three of them wearing a mask, came out from the outpost going towards the shepherds. When the settlers reached the Palestinians kept going on threateningly, making them draw back on the near Kharrouba Hill, trying also to scatter their flocks. In the meanwhile more shepherds coming from the village of Maghayir Al Abeed, who were grazing nearby, joined them on the hill. During the row an IDF (Israeli Defense Force) jeep came to calm down the quarrel.

The internationals witnesses have found in the soldier’s behaviour an ineffectiveness of their contenitive action and in addition an inclination in the use of weapons as an instrument of menace against the only Palestinians.

In the course of the events a Palestinian shepherd fell on the ground after a fainting fit and he was carried to the hospital by an ambulance.

In the meanwhile more Israeli military forces reached the area as three IDF jeeps, one armoured vehicle, two police cars and one DCO (Disctirct Coordination Office) car.

At 12:15 am four Palestinians were stopped, three of them arrested and conducted to Kiryat Arba police station, where they were detained. One of them was released after a few hours, the other two at 10:30 pm after a tight interrogation and on payment of bails for a total amount of 2000 NIS. The charges were aggression against a settler, which it has not been noticed at all by the internationals, and theft of a bycicle which was disputed between one of the detained and a settler. At the moment of the arrest some settler were still present as well as the security chief of Ma’on settlement. Not even one settler had any legal consequence.

The village of At-Tuwani, situated in area C in the South Hebron Hills, suffers since the 80s intimidations and violences from the settlers as well as the misuse of power and the threatenings carried out by the Israeli Army. As a result of this, the Palestinians living in this territory encounter great difficulties to access to their own lands and in their everyday grazing and farming activities.

During the last week the international observers have registered several attempts of arrest, temporary detentions and arrests against the shepherds carried out by the IDF.

In this situation of human rights violations the inhabitants of At-Tuwani and of the nearby villages choose the nonviolence in their everyday resistance.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures of the incident: Available soon

For further information:
Operation Dove, 054 99 25 773
[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma'on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

At-Tuwani – On February 25th Palestinian men and women, elders and children, together with Israeli and international activists gathered for two demonstrations organized by the South Hebron Hills Popular Committee.

The first demonstration, attended by approximately ninety people, was planned in response to twenty-nine trees being cut down during the last four months on private Palestinian property near the illegal outpost of Havat Ma’on. During the action the participants planted about thirty small olive trees on a hill near the village of At-Tuwani. The demonstration was guarded by the Army, the border police, the police and the DCO (District Coordination Office), nearly forty officers overall.

Later the demonstrators headed towards Saadet Tha’lah, where on the 15th of February 2012 the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) bulldozers demolished five structures (http://www.operationdove.org/?p=698), to express their solidarity and closeness to the inhabitants.

At the meantime, two fifteen year old boys from the village of Tuba were grazing their flocks in the Palestinian Um Zeitouna valley near the Ma’on settlement despite the several prohibitions imposed by the Army and the settlement security chief. As reported by two internationals witnesses of the event, the latter was present during the incident. The two teenagers were arrested and detained in Kiryat Arba police station and released in the evening with a denial of access for the following two weeks to the area where they were taken by the soldiers.

The policy of restrictions, closures and demolitions carried out by the Israeli army, combined with the continuous harassment made by the settlers of the area, denies Palestinians’ human rights, hindering them to live in their villages, to cultivate their lands and to graze their flocks and preventing the development of local communities.

Nevertheless, the Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills are strongly involved in affirming their rights and resist to the Israeli occupation choosing the nonviolent way.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.
Pictures of the incident: http://goo.gl/e9QUi

For further information:
Operation Dove, 054 99 25 773

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma'on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]