For all my Nerds out there: "When Settlers Attack" Israeli Authorities do Nothing

This is an amazing statistical analysis of the patterns of settler attacks. If you ever wanted to understand when and where these attacks are taking place, this is the article to read. Those of my readers who aren't statistically minded may find this boring as all get out, but I was fascinated. But if you can't get through the article, here's what I think you should take away from it: "Fifty percent of these attacks are perpetuated by settlers in only seven settlements. So again, we know where a majority of this is coming from and if you could crack down on those seven areas then you’d immediate illuminated 50 percent of these attacks or at least a significant portion. So despite the fact that it’s a simple fix, it is nonetheless not happening."

Yousef Munayyer of the Palestine Center explains more:

What this means is that it is really a failure of Israeli policing and Israeli security that these settler attacks are taking place. We can’t do much about the ideology of these settlers, in fact they shouldn’t be in the West Bank to begin with and if we had a way to change that we probably would do that but that doesn’t seem to be changing right away. The reality is that it is the Israelis, both police and IDF [Israel Defense Force], that have a responsibility for policing these territories and that is clearly not happening. And you would think that with a majority of these cases really being in only seven places, from a policing point of view, this is not a difficult thing to crack down on. You know where it is located, you know where it is concentrated, and you know the vulnerable areas there is no shortage of information about this why aren’t more security resources being dedicated to protecting Palestinians in this area? If you not allowing the Palestinians security forces to do it, as they are not in areas B and C, then you can’t simply leave them vulnerable to Israeli settler violence. And often what we are seeing is as – and this has been caught on video and in pictures in the past – as settlers are attacking Palestinians there is a visible IDF presence not doing anything and in a number of these cases where we see injuries inflicted are injuries inflicted by IDF personnel who arrive on the scene to break up clashes between settlers and Palestinians that have been initiated by settlers on Palestinian territory. So not only is the IDF and Israeli police playing a role to protect settlers which are attacking Palestinians, they are, in a way, actively encouraging it by providing a security for these settlers as they continue to perpetuate attacks against Palestinian civilians.

Member of Jewish Terrorist Organization KACH Threaten to Attack At-Tuwani

I keep planning a big "I'm home" blog post. Apparently, this is it.

I've been home for nearly two weeks now and for the first time in three years, I'm not sure when I'm returning. (More on that and the future of this blog later). Since I left, the situation in Tuwani has terrible. Last Friday I called one of my best friends in the village. "I heard what happened," I said, refering to this incident. "How are you?"

"Oh, more or less," he answered. With this guy, that's code for "not good." My friend then went on to explain how settlers kept coming to their house every night and how they hadn't gotten much sleep for a week. "But how are you?" my friend asked.

I didn't know what to say. I spent my first week home sick in bed feeling very sorry for myself. An especially boring week in a life that's nothing like the one I lead in Tuwani. I told my friend I'd been sick and he was sympathetic. Then he said, "We think they'll come back."

Well, they did. Here's the latest from Tuwani:

Ten days after the attack by masked settlers of the illegal oupost of Havat Ma'on to the village of At-Tuwani, settlers from Havat Ma'on still threaten At-Tuwani. Since last attack (link to the press release snipurl.com/xluyo) every night a group of settlers have carried out "patrols" outside the outpost. Israeli police and soldiers also patrolled the area.

Last night settlers approached the house located closest to the outpost screaming and carrying a message from the ideological leader of the outpost, Josaphat Thor, a member of the hard-line Israeli militant terrorist group KACH. They warned the village that they would soon return to attack At-Tuwani.

It was not possible to recognize the settlers because they pointed flashlights in the faces of Palestinians, blinding them.

This story wont be ending soon.

A few more thoughts about the flotilla:

First, The MV Rachel Corrie is still on its way to Gaza. Please contact your government and the Israeli embassy in your country and demand that it be allowed to deliver the supplies its carrying.

Second, actions are still going on all over the world to call attention to Israel's attack on the ships. I am so very proud to say that there were over 2,000 people in Chicago, where I live, marching for freedom, peace, and an end to the Israeli military occupation of Palestine. Here's how you can get involved in your area.

Third, we need to call for an independent invesitgation of what happened. You disagree with the claims of the activists? You disagree with my analysis? Great. Than you also want an independent investigation. Let's all get behind it.

(3.5 Can I just say that this attack took place in international waters? I mean, goodness gracious. That's just crazy. Okay, I'll now return to my normal analysis.)

Fourth, remember why the flotilla was delivering supplies in the first place. Israel's siege on Gaza is simply immoral and must be lifted. If you think that civilians shouldn't have been trying to deliver that aid themselves, then you please pressure your government to pressure Israel to lift the siege on Gaza.

Finally, let's take a moment to remember the people who died, the people who were terrified, the people who were arrested, imprisoned, and deported, and the people of Gaza who are still suffering. And let's remember that it's all to common for the Israeli army to respond to demonstrations with force. Let's remember the more than 60 years of attacks on Palestinians.

Now - here are a few links:

"We were aware of the possible danger [in joining the trip] but there are thousands of babies in Gaza. If we had reached Gaza we would have played with them and taken them food." Eyewitness Accounts from the Flotilla (BBC)

Gaza Flotila raid: 'We heard gunfire - then our ship turned into a lake of blood' (Guardian)

Will this change anything? Here's David Hosey from the US Campaign to End the Occupation answering that question:

Um...here's that video without typos!



Yeah, thought it would be best just to be direct about that. Cheers!

Video of the Attack on the Raba'i family



By this point, I feel like I've said everything that I can say about this attack. I edited this video as well and it was one of the more difficult things I've done here. So I'm going to stop writing. Just watch the video. :-)

Settlers invade Tuwani and Soldier break the Nose of a Palestinian Farmer (video).

I just finished 13 days in Tuwani as half of a two-person CPT team. In case you were wondering what that's like, I can tell you it's fairly exhausting. But I have a day off now and am catching up on the blog...and my laundry.

Here's a video of the most significant thing to happen in Tuwani over the last two weeks: 15-20 settlers came into At-Tuwani, accompanied by soldiers. The settlers threw stones at Palestinians while a soldier punch a Palestinian farmer in the face. His nose is now broken and he needs an operation - the sort of expense that no one in this area can afford. But at least for once the news media has picked up the story. Take a look:

Opps...finally posting details on Musab's arrest and torture

I could have sworn that I had posted details about Musab's arrest, but I guess I didn't. Here it is:

On 7 January 2010, soldiers detained Musab Musa Raba’i after attacking him and members of his family as they were complying with the soldiers' order to move their flocks off their family-owned land.(See 8 January 2010 release, AT-TUWANI: Israeli soldiers attack and injure Palestinian shepherds and CPTers; arrest Musa Raba’i)

The same eight soldiers who arrested Raba’i and attacked his family took him to a military base at the nearby Suseya settlement. For four hours, soldiers struck him in the back, in the face, and slammed him into walls. The soldiers questioned him about his brothers. Raba’i refused to give any information and refused to speak Hebrew with the soldiers, which infuriated them. The soldiers told him that they would come to his house in the following days and beat or kill him and his brothers. They tried to force him to say that they were the best soldiers in the IDF and beat him when he would not. Raba’i told CPTers the soldiers tied his hands and feet, blindfolded him, and sat him on a chair. Raba’i put his head in his lap, in an attempt to protect his head and his genitals, and refused to lift it. He said that at one point, a soldier cocked his rifle and told him to lift his head or he would shoot him. Raba’i refused. When another soldier tried to bring him food and water, as the military is legally obligated to do in such situations, the soldiers who were torturing him swore at the soldier and told him to leave. The soldiers also refused to allow Raba’i to pray.

After four hours of this interrogation and torture, they took Raba’i to Israeli police station in Kiryat Arba settlement. The Israeli police told him that they usually offer detainees food and water, but were giving him nothing because they wanted to punish him. They said that if they ever saw his face again, they would kill him. After thirty minutes, the police tied his hands and feet, blindfolded him, drove him to a location unknown to him and threw him out of the jeep. Fearing that soldiers, police or settlers might see him, he hid in a bush until he saw his family's car.

Raba'i was able to call his family, who, accompanied by CPTers, found him and brought him home.

For photos of Raba'i’s injuries click here.

250,000 Palestinians are vulnerable to Israeli settler violence. Meet two of them.

The United Nations has warned if Israeli authorities dismantle settlement outposts, 250,000 Palestinians are vulnerable to settler violence, including Palestinians living in the South Hebron Hills. "The concern about the possible outbreak of waves of settler violence and their impact on the Palestinian population stems ... from the inadequate level of law enforcement by the Israeli authorities," says a recent UN OCHA report. "[T]he main concern is the frequent failure of the Israeli security forces to intervene and stop settler attacks in real time, including the failure to arrest suspected settlers on the spot."

Tarek and Miriam are two of these vulnerable people. They already face settler violence daily as they travel to and from school. Here is their description of what happened when settlers attacked them recently:



Tarek and Miriam can't go to school safely because the Israeli government premits Israeli settlers to continue living illegally in the West Bank even after there is overwheleming evidence of their criminal activity. According to the UN's recent report, "Among the main reasons behind this failure is the ambiguous message delivered by the Government of Israel and the IDF top officials to the security forces in the field regarding their authority and responsibility to enforce the law on Israeli settlers." But for Tarek and Miriam one thing is clear: they wont be able to go to school safely as long as Israeli settlers continue to live illegally in Havot Ma'on and Ma'on.

Details of Israelis soldiers attack on the Raba'i family and arrest of Musab Raba'i:

This morning, Thursday 7 January, 2010, Israeli soldiers attacked and injured Palestinian shepherds from the Musa Raba’i family, as they grazed their sheep in Humra valley, near the village of At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. The soldiers also attacked the two CPTers accompanying the shepherds and broke a video camera. Before leaving the area the soldiers arrested one of the shepherds, Musab Musa Raba’i.

At around 10:30am Palestinian shepherds were grazing their sheep on privately owned Palestinian land when they saw Israeli settlers observing them from the outpost of Havat Ma’on. A short time later an Israeli army jeep came to the area. After stopping to speak with one of the settlers, three Israeli soldiers approached the shepherds and ordered them to leave the area. The shepherds explained that it was their land, but agreed to move further down into the valley. The soldiers followed them and grabbed at one of the shepherds, so they all tried to quickly leave the area with their sheep. A second army jeep came to the area and a further three soldiers joined in the attack escalating the violence. Soldiers hit the shepherds with their rifle butts, pushed them and while some soldiers forcibly held them to the ground others kicked them.

Other members of the family came to the area, and the women tried to intervene, hoping to deescalate the situation. However, the women were also forcefully pushed to the ground. CPTers trying to video tape the violent attack were roughly pushed and a soldier grabbed at and broke one of the video cameras.

Other villagers came to the area and tried to calm the situation by talking with the soldiers, but the soldiers ignored all pleas for calm and instead fired percussion grenades and tear gas into the small group of women and children gathered nearby on the hillside.

Israeli police reported to the scene after receiving numerous calls from internationals, but arrived as the soldiers were leaving the area. The police told CPTers that there would be a military investigation into the actions of the soldiers.

During the incident a spokeperson from an Israeli Human Right Organization called the local Israeli Army Brigade Operations Room and the Israeli Army Coordination Office to find out what was happening. She told CPT “I called several time and they had no information and no idea that something was going on in At Tuwani.”

Additional information: At the time of writing Moussab Mussa Raba’i is still detained at Kiryat Arba police station. One elderly woman, Umm Juma’ Raba’i, and a young woman, Umm Ribhi Raba’i, who is 2 months pregnant, had to be taken to hospital, suffering from the effects of tear gas inhalation. Three of the shepherds, Kamaal Raba’i, Majde Raba’i and Juma’ Raba’i were hospitalized for their injuries, and a young boy, Ramze Jamaal Raba’i, had his tooth broken.

A Little Rude: Settlers Stab a Palestinian Working with B'TSelem.

Every well-mannered activist knows that ethnic cleaning doesn't make for pleasant dinner conversation. There's something about military occupation that turns the stomach and if you want to keep your guests happy, best to keep the conversation light. Olives, tea, cute children - those are the polite things about which to speak.

It's rude, after all, to point the finger of blame. So, talk about the children of Tuba and Mayger Al Abeed, but don't mention who it is who beats them up on their way to school. If you talk about the Israeli army arresting Palestinians as they graze their sheep, or build houses, or go to the doctor, be sure to mention who scared Israelis are - that they have a right to defend themselves from Palestinians going about their everyday lives. Be sure not to biased when you describe how it feels to see the Israeli army abduct three children and hand them over to settler to beat. After all, you'll only make everyone feel uncomfortable. The truth isn't polite.

You know what? I'm not afraid to be a little rude. A while ago - and I'm sorry it's taken me so long report on it - a friend of mine was stabbed by an Israeli settler. Would you like to know how I feel? I'm angry. Even more than that, I am bone-tired from having my heart broken over and over again by the same petty, greedy evil acts. And I think it's time for a few more people to be rude enough to speak the truth.

Masked Settlers Attack three Palestinian Women
13 April 2009

Note: According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.

(Umm-Zeitouna Valley, South Hebron Hills, West Bank) On Apri l 10 at about 10 a.m., five Israeli settlers attacked three Palestinian women from the Bedouin village of Umm Al Kher, south of Yatta, while the women were grazing their sheep and gathering herbs in the nearby Umm Zeituna valley.

The women reported that the men were masked and armed with wooden sticks They beat one of the women, aged 21, injuring her arm, and chased the women and flocks off the land while throwing rocks. The injured woman needed to be hospitalized.

Later that morning in the same area, four settlers harassed shepherds from Tuba and Umm Al Kher, chasing them and their flocks off their land. The four settlers also harassed two members of Christian Peacemaker Teams, who were passing in Umm Zeituna on their way to Tuba. One of the settlers tried to seize a mobile phone from the CPTers while another stole a video camera. The CPTers reported that the four men then ran toward Ma'on settlement.

Palestinians and At-Tuwani team members made complaints to the Israeli police, providing video and photographic evidence. The police said they would start investigating on Sunday.

Settlers from nearby settlements regularly harass and attack Palestinians in the area of Umm Zeituna while the Palestinians are grazing their flocks, farming their land, or walking to the city of Yatta.

Right Wing Settler Rampage Through Hebron, Other West Bank Cities

Do What You Will

Yesterday in Susiya, a village near at-Tuwani and one which has been razed by the Israeli army three times, Israeli settlers burned a Palestinian home to the ground. This incident was one of a long series of attacks Israeli settlers are calling a "price tag" campaign. According to the International Herald Tribune, settlers "say they're creating havoc to try to deter the Israeli security forces from future attempts to remove any of the dozens of squatter camps, or outposts, dotting West Bank hills." It seems as though the Israeli army is unwilling to take decisive action against the lawless elements of it's own society. Perhaps this "price tag" campaign has being proved successful.

According the International Solidarity Movement, during the last week alone, "settlers are attacking Palestinian residents and property around the West Bank in a coordinated outbreak of aggression following the eviction of settlers from the occupied Rajabi house in Hebron. Attacks against Palestinians have been reported from Turmas’ayya, Burin, Huwarra, Beit Iba, Azzoun, al-Funduq, Assira-al-Qabliya and Susiya, as well as the mass settler riots in Hebron."

In At-Tuwani, the same pattern has unfolded. Since the beginning of 2008, it's seemed as though the settlers of Ma'on and Havot Ma'on have been "on the move." By the middle of the year, settlers were attacking Palestinians with greater frequecy, even inside the boundaries of Palestinian villages. During almost every incident, the Israeli army stood by and watched while settlers did what they please. During one attack, an Israeli solider told a Palestinian resident of At-Tuwani that they would not step in to restrain settlers until settlers entered Palestinian homes. Now, as 2008 has drawn to a close, Palestinians, and to a much lesser extent international human rights workers like myself, undertake all of their daily activities under ever increasing threat.

According to a report prepared by an IDF consultant, much of the recent settler violence was fostered when extermist members of the settler movement saw an "opportunity" and were not met by an determined response by the Israeli army. In the South Hebron Hills, settler violence is generally met with no army response whatsoever. Even after settlers have repeted attacked Palestinian schoolchildren, ages 6 to 12, no settlers have been arrested. Perhaps even worse, the Israeli army refuses to insure the safety of these children, despite it's orders from the Israeli Knesset to do so. The message from the army to the settlers is clear - do whatever you will; no one will stop you.

This morning while I sipped my tea, I thought to myself, “It happens every day.”

Yesterday afternoon, October 14th, a group of six to twelve year old Palestinian children returning home from school were forced to run for their lives. Every morning and afternoon, these children must walk to past an Israeli settlement on their way to and from school in the village of at-Tuwani. Yesterday, two adult Israeli settlers waited for them near the end of the settlement, threw stones at the children and chased them towards their homes in the village of Tuba. Because these children have been attacked frequently, lately in this very location, the Israeli army is charged with escorting them each day. But yesterday, as usual, the Israeli soldiers drove away, abandoning the children while they were still in danger. “The children were very afraid when they arrived home,” said one father.

It happens every day. Serving with Christian Peacemaker Teams in At-Tuwani, I’ve born witness to more attacks on these children than I’ve been able to keep track of. The children are not attacked every day, but every day they face more danger on their walk to school than I have faced my entire life. We’ve sat together, the children, my fellow CPTers and I, and waited for the Israeli army to come for more hours that I care to recall. Sometimes we play together and manage to have a genuinely good time. One afternoon we played with my camera, the kids posing for me as they climbed trees, climbed on top of each other, giggled and danced. The next day, one of the older girls pulled on my hand and said to me, “I was so happy yesterday! Last night I woke up in the middle of the night because I had a bad dream about the settlers. But then I thought about all the fun we had and I fell back asleep.” Those words broke my heart and I can’t put it back together.

It happens every day. We all know the many ways, tiny and humongous , that our world is falling apart around us: polar bears who are losing their habitat, millions of parents who can’t feed their children, wars with no end in sight, petty meanness, decreased community, and children who are attacked on their way to school. It’s so much to bear. Too much.

It happens every day, but that’s not the end of the story. Lately my mantra has been, “It is as bad as you think it is, but that’s not all.” To paraphrase an old slogan, if your heart isn’t broken, you aren’t paying attention. But if you aren’t also filled with hope, you’re missing half of the story. In at-Tuwani, every day Palestinians are resisting a military occupation that is trying to crush them and their culture. They are grazing their sheep, building new houses, organizing nonviolent demonstrations, and sending their children to school. Now it’s time for the olive harvest and throughout Palestine, farmers will step out on to their land, sometimes risking arrest and attacks, to harvest a bounty of thousands of green, blue, and even purple hued olives. Here in my own pacific northwest, I’ve been thinking about the salmon who every year come down the river, offer themselves up to the people, and then swim back to their headwaters to spawn and die. For thousand of years, despite ever increasing odds against them, they’ve survived through this cycle. I can’t help but think there is something they are trying to tell us.

It happens every day. Horror and hope. They stand together, side by side, on the knife’s edge. And they offer us a choice, every day.

An Open Letter to A Palestinian Child

Dear Sahmeha,

I’m writing you because your 12-year-old big brown eyes and serious mouth have made me feel as though there is something I need to explain. That questioning look of yours has made me wonder if I am not living up to the bargain I struck when I came to live in At-Tuwani.

When I arrived back in At-Tuwani after two months in the United States it wasn’t just my limited Arabic that prevented me from expressing how happy I was to see you. It was the beginning of June, just starting to become unbearably hot and dry, and you and your younger sisters came to visit with us on our patio. You sat down on the chair next to me, offered me your hand to shake and made me promise to come to your house for tea the next day. I know adults aren’t supposed to say things like this, but your parents would have been so proud to see you! My heart swelled and all of the reasons that I love my work and I love living in your village rushed in and filled me up. I know I smiled like a fool because you made me so happy. And then, Sahmeha, you said the words that have slain me.

“While you were in America, there were many, big problems in Tuwani.”

You told me the story of one of Tuwani’s worst days in recent memory. It was May 2nd, my birthday, and settlers came into at-Tuwani and attacked several of your neighbors. You and I both know what happened, so I wont write of it here. But Sahmeha, I pray that you forget the fear you described to me. Though I’ve heard many different tellings of the events of that day, your account was by far the most haunting. I want for you to forget everything that you told me - how you and your cousins ran back home, how you hid in your house, how you watched as Israelis settlers and soldiers hit people you love. I’d erase all of it, but I know neither one us can forget.

It’s September now and I’m once again far away from you for a spell. I keep thinking about how your father tells us that he is working hard to tell the stories of At-Tuwani under Israeli occupation. I know how right he is. The stories of what happens in your home every day are important and precious. Still, I can’t figure how to describe what the situation. Sometimes I’m feel as though I’m in a glass telephone booth, surrounded by raging violence. I’m trapped inside and I can’t do anything to help my friends outside. All I can do is yell down the line and hope someone is listening.

I know how my feelings pale to nothing in comparison for what you hold for each other, in the face this injustice and violence that sickens me, it’s only my affection for you and your family feels solid and describable. When am I away from Palestine, daily life in at-Tuwani seems so far away. My memories of the terrible things experienced by you and your parents - the stones thrown and the bullets shot by Israeli settlers, the closures, arrests, and harassment at the hands of Israeli army, the uncertainty that constantly lurks- start to blurr.. They linger like a half remembered nightmare that is scarier in waking than sleeping. This letter to you is the only thing that I can put on the page.

I want to tell you that I love you and that I’m trying. You, your family, and the rest of At-Tuwani have given me a gift - the privilege of living in your community. You’ve extended so much kindness and hospitality to me. I will do my best to tell to tell your stories while I’m away. In the meantime, Sahmeha, I know that while I am away many bad things will happen in Tuwani. There will still be big problems. And you are in good hands. Your mother, your father, your grandmother, and your aunts and uncles are taking good care of you. Take care of them too.

I can’t wait until I see you again.

With love and gratitude,
Joy

Part Wild West, Part Jim Crow

On July 27, the children and I were walking home when a group of Israeli settlers assaulted us from a hilltop with fist-sized stones. Some narrowly missed my head. Focusing my video camera, I recorded an Israeli settler flinging stones at the children from his long-range slingshot. When he saw that I was filming him, he struck me in the leg with a rock. He chased me, kicked me and screamed that he was going to kill me. Wrestling the video camera from my hand, he then repeatedly struck me in the face and upper body with a stone...The occupied West Bank today is like walking through a page from a different era - part Wild West, part Jim Crow - with one set of laws for Palestinians and another set for Israeli settlers.

Joel Gulledge reflects on being assaulted by Israeli settlers. Background on the attack here.

Excerpts from the excellent article: "Pictures from Summer Camp"

At 6:45 a.m. this morning, our friend, Joel Gulledge, called from At-Tuwani, a village in the West Bank where he and another Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) member were escorting Palestinian children to a local summer daycamp, protecting them from hostile Israeli settlers. A masked settler, carrying a slingshot, was threatening the children. While Jan Benvie, the other CPT team member, raced the children to safety, Joel paused to film what was happening. The masked settler caught up with Joel and attacked him. "He smashed my head again and again," said Joel, "with my video camera, and punched me in the face, repeatedly, with his other hand." Joel managed to remain standing. He didn't fight back, but he screamed for help. The attacker broke Joel's glasses, and Joel was bleeding from a gash over his eyes. When he called, he was waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

Earlier this week, CPT's website, reported that on Wednesday 23 July, "three Israeli settlers, one masked and wielding a stick, pursued fourteen Palestinian children who were on their way to a summer camp in At-Tuwani. The children from the villages of Tuba and Maghaer Al-Abeed waited thirty minutes for the Israeli military escort that should have accompanied them on the most direct road between the villages of Tuba and At-Tuwani. When the military failed to arrive, the children began walking along a long path through the hills to At-Tuwani. When the children neared the Israeli settlement outpost of Havat Ma'on, three settlers with two dogs came out from the outpost and began walking in the direction of the children."

More of this excellent article, by the always amazing Kathy Kelly, here.

RELEASE: Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinian Children, Internationals on
Journey Home from Summer Camp


AT-TUWANI – At 1:50 pm, on Sunday, 27 July at least three Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian children and two internationals as they walked to their village of Tuba. The children had been attending summer camp in the village of At-Tuwani. As the fourteen children and two internationals, from Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), were walking in a valley south of the illegal settlement outpost of Havot Ma'on, one masked settler came down the hill, throwing stones with a slingshot. The children and CPTer Jan Benvie ran ahead, but other settlers were approaching them from the opposite side of the valley. None of the stones thrown by the settlers struck the children, aged between 6 and 15 years old, and they were able to run to safety.

CPTer Joel Gulledge was filming the attack. When the masked settler saw Gulledge with the video camera, he began directing his stones at Gulledge. The settler hit Gulledge in the leg with a rock and he was unable to run. The settler then ran to him, wrested the camera from him, and began beating him with a rock and the camera. After that, the settler ran off with the camera.

On 22 July, the military did not escort the children. Only sev en children were willing to risk walking alone to At-Tuwani. The children informed CPT that at least eight other children did not attend the summer camp because they were too afraid to walk without a military escort. On the morning of 23 July, the army again refused to escort the children. The children were chased by three settlers, one of whom was masked and carrying a stick, while they walked unescorted to the summer camp. On 26 July, a military personnel informed internationals that the army would no longer provide an escort for the children, who were waiting for the army to arrive while four settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement outpost of Havot Ma'on shouted at the children. The personnel would not give the name and brigade of the commander refusing to provide the escort. When the international explained the dangerous situation for the children, the military personnel said, "I don't think the settlers will attack the children."

In October 2004, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian schoolchildren and internationals in the same area as the attack on the 27th. Two internationals were hospitalized and, after international media coverage of the attack, the Israeli Knesset recommended that the Israeli military provide a daily escort for the children to go to and from school.

Settlers attacked the school children on their way home from summer camp today. The kids were able to escape, but a teammate of mine was beaten. He's all right - check the CPT website for details as they are released.

Over the next week, this blog will continue to be automatically updated with entries that I wrote yesterday. Those entries will still be interesting but they wont be a relevant as they were yesterday.

Release: Armed Settlers Enter the Village of At-Tuwani, Threaten and Insult Palestinians and Internationals: Israeli Police Refuse to Come to the Assistance of Palestinians
At-Tuwani, South Hebron Hills: On Friday 25 July at 10:30 am, three Israeli settlers, one masked and accompanied by a dog, left the Havot Ma'on settlement outpost and followed a Palestinian shepherd and his young son into the village of At-Tuwani. Over to the next hour, the settlers remained in the village shouting insults at the residents of the village and threatened to shoot them.

One settler took photographs and video of Palestinians and members of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) and Operation Dove (OD). He shouted racist insults comparing Palestinians to donkeys and made sexist comments to a female member of CPT. He also announced that he was carrying a gun and would shoot Palestinians if his fellow settlers requested it.

A volunteer with Christian Peacemaker Team called the Israeli police to ask them to come to village. The police refused to speak to her in English. An Israeli lawyer with Yesh Din then called the police, but the officers never arrived in the village.

Both Palestinian residents of At-Tuwani and members of CPT and OD reported that these three settlers had repeatedly threatened and harassed Palestinians on previous occasions. Notably, two of the three were photographed inside the village on At-Tuwani on 29 April 2008. (See Release: Israeli settlers attack and intimidate Palestinians: Israeli authorities allow twenty Israeli settlers to remain on At-Tuwani land)