TUBA RELEASE: Israeli soldiers ransack Palestinian homes and damage belongings in Tuba village

CAUSE AND......
EFFECT.




A CPT press release below, and some of my own personal notes from the incident follow the release:

On March 31, the Israeli Special Police Forces entered the Palestinian village of Tuba, immediately east of Ma'on settlement, and destroyed household belongings in two homes in the village. The police forced Tuba residents from their homes and told them that they were searching for two goats which settlers from the outpost of Havat Ma'on had reported missing.

The police also accused the villagers of possessing weapons, and while questioning nearly a dozen villagers, the police upended nearly every belonging in both homes. The police ransacked three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a storage unit. International activists and Tuba residents reported that the police left the scene without confiscating any weapons or sheep and without making any arrests. During the search police personnel refused to let international activists observe the search of the homes or the interrogations of the residents.


Additional relevant information: The village of Tuba lies near the Israeli outpost of Havat Ma'on, and shepherds from the village are frequently forced from their grazing land near the outpost. During March, shepherds, international activists, and members of the Israeli peace organization, Taayush, participated in a series of nonviolent actions in an attempt to prevent the Israeli military from forcing Tuba shepherds and sheep from their grazing land. On multiple occasions in March, Israeli soldiers declared an area of land including the village of Tuba to be a closed military zone forcing all Palestinian shepherds to leave the area. The soldiers also arrested Israeli activists who refused to leave the area.

Children from Tuba who attend school in At-Tuwani must walk with a military escort through through Havat Ma'on to reach their school. They are frequently subjected to threats and assaults from settlers.

[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 (OPT) are illegal. Most settlement outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.]

We saw the police vehicles arriving in Tuba as I was a couple of kilometers away. We immediately gave chase and arrived within 20 minutes. The police refused to allow us to come close to the houses, where the searches and interrogations were taking place, because this was an area of "police business." There were probably 15-20 Israeli police and these are the riot-type police who show up and demonstrations and other "special-forces-type operations." I called Abed*, one of the villagers to try to find out what was happening inside, he answered in a very soft voice and almost immediately said, "Kull shi kwayyes, mish mushkile" (Everything is fine, there's no problem), and hung up. I could hear a voice in the background as Abed was speaking, which I later found out, was a policeman telling him, "tell them everything is fine and then hang up...TELL THEM everythning is FINE!" Abed told me how the phone call transpired, his eyes emitting a sense of defeat, "Sam, I wanted to tell you what was going on, but they were turning over my house and asking about my sons, what was I supposed to do?"

The police asked the villagers about their income, why they have a vegetable garden, why their sons aren't home, if they have weapons in the house, and seemed to express knowledge about the living arrangements (as if they had some intelligence). They walked around to adjacent villages and passerbyers and questioned them about these two missing goats. As Abed was explaining the scene of them upending his house, he asked rhetorically, "so did they think they would find the goats between the matresses, or in the drawers, or in the kitchen? They are liars, Sam, liars. We lead an honest life, according to God's teachings, and we are treated like this all because of some lies about the settlers' goats? You see how the occupation treats the Palestinians? You see?"

Happy Easter to you Palestinian Christians

So this is how the Israel military decides to celebrate Pesach (Passover)...sick.

For the week of Passover, Israel has enforced a closure on the entire West Bank. Until next Tuesday (April 6), very few Palestinians can enter Jerusalem, including Palestinian Christians hoping to participate in Holy Week and Easter activities. We pray for freedom of movement and freedom of worship for the many people who are still denied both.

Al Jazeera reports:

Israel has curbed travel from the occupied West Bank and restricted access to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as Jews observe the week-long Passover holiday.

Also, if you are a man under 50, and Arab, you are probably a terrorist, especially if its Passover:

"In addition to the closure of the West Bank, which starts on Monday and ends on April 6, entrance to the Old City is denied to Palestinian men under the age of 50."

Police did not say when the restrictions would be lifted.

Authorities have also tightened restrictions on access to Israel from the occupied West Bank, closing checkpoints to general traffic, with exceptions for medical cases, humanitarian aid, and professionals and students with permits.

Don't Stop Obama; Get it, Get it

Gideon Levy, thank you again, friend, for being a prophetic voice:

Obama is asking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and through him every Israeli, to finally speak the truth. He's asking Netanyahu and the rest of us: What on earth do you actually want? Enough with the misleading answers; the moment of truth is here. Enough with the tricks - a neighborhood here, a settlement expansion there. Just tell us: Where are you heading? Do you want to go on receiving unprecedented aid from the United States, do you want to become part of the Middle East, do you want to achieve peace?

If you do, please start behaving accordingly, including halting all construction in all settlements, everywhere, for all time, and begin evacuating them instead. Any action by Israel would be reminiscent of the three no's of Khartoum: No to ending the occupation, no to peace, no to friendship with America.

........

After 43 years of a vicious occupation, these, too, are minimal demands. Obama didn't humiliate Israel. Israel humiliated itself for a generation, thinking it could do whatever it wanted - talk peace and build settlements, entrench an occupation and still be considered a democracy, while living on American support and rejecting its requests. Since all of Obama's demands should have come from Israel itself, Obama is merely acting the way a friend should act. And for that he deserves those three words, from the bottom of our hearts: Thank you, friend.

AT-TUWANI RELEASE: Israeli army subjects Palestinian school children to verbal abuse and fails to safely escort them to and from school

[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 (OPT) are illegal. Most settlement outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.]

27 March 2010

For three consecutive days Palestinian school children from Maghayir al Abeed and Tuba were subjected to unprofessional conduct by Israeli soldiers. Army personnel did not show up at the appropriate time, forcing children to wait in unsafe areas were they have experienced past
attacks. When the army did finally arrive they proceeded to yell at the children. On one occasion the army failed to complete the escort, resulting in harassment of the children by settlers.

On Tuesday 23 March CPTers called the army three times before the afternoon escort finally arrived. . This resulted in the children arriving home 45 minutes late.

On Wednesday 24 March, CPTers called the army three times before the afternoon escort arrived. When the army finally arrived, the soldiers began to yell at the children to hurry up the road. The children rushed to gather their belongings and one young girl left her sweater behind. When CPTer Jessica Frederick urged the soldiers to be patient, a soldier replied, “We have missions to do.” Frederick stated that escorting the children was one of their missions, but the soldier answered, “No, we have missions to do, and this is a bonus.”

On Thursday 25 March, the soldiers failed to complete the morning escort. After escorting the children partway to At-Tuwani, the soldiers drove away, leaving the children to walk alone past two Israeli settlers. The children ran down the road to At-Tuwani when they saw the settlers pick up stones because they believed the settlers would throw the stones at them based on past experiences. During afternoon school patrol internationals called the army escort three times. The children waited 35 minutes for the escort to arrive.
---------------------------
The children require a military escort to and from school because of repeated attacks by Israeli settlers from Ma’on settlement and Havat Ma’on outpost. When the Israeli military does not arrive on time to accompany the children, they must wait in an area of de facto settler control, a location where settlers have attacked the young Palestinian children on a number of occasions in the past. The most recent attack was a month ago, on 22 February 2010. (See release, *AT-TUWANI: Israeli
settlers intimidate Palestinian schoolchildren after Israeli military neglects escort.)
*_http://www.cpt.org/cptnet/2010/03/06/tuwani-israeli-settlers-intimidate-palestinian-school-children-after-israeli-milit_*

For a complete report on the school escort in 2007-2008, including maps, photographs and interviews with the children, please see “A Dangerous Journey” at _www.cpt.org/files/Dangerous-Journey-Summary-2008.pdf <http://www.cpt.org/files/Dangerous-Journey-Summary-2008.pdf>_

The Suffocation of Palestinian East Jerusalem

A great map from the NY Times showing the ongoing ethnic carving of Jerusalem (hat tip to Mondoweiss). Note the barrier of the wall, which seeks to include as many Jewish areas as possible and to exclude as many Palestinian areas as possible. Also note the Jewish perimeter of settlements which is being built in an attempt to surround Palestinian east Jerusalem. Note the extent to which Bethlehem has been separated from Jerusalem through use of settlements and the separation barrier. There have also been statements made and documents released which demonstrates the intent to connect the Jewish settlements to the east of Jerusalem (Maale Adummim and Mishor Adummim) to the settlements in Jericho (which lies due east of Jerusalem, on the border with Jordan). If this plan would ever completed, it would sever the north half of the West Bank from the south half. Bantustans people, bantustans.

So Much for the "worst-relations-between-Israel-and-the-US-in-decades" Controversy

So it's not a surprise that the United States vetoes all U.N. resolutions with target or seek to put pressure on Israel. The UN Human Rights council passed 3 resolutions involving Israel's policies and the United States voted against all of them. I will summarize the three resolutions, and I will save the best for last:

1. Addressed 'grave human rights violations' committed by the Israeli army in the Palestinian territories. It also called for the halt to the systematic destruction of Palestinian cultural heritage. It passed 31 to 9,with 7 abstentions. Both the U.S. and the European Union (who together hold 7 seats), voted no.

2. Addressed the systematic violation of human rights of those in the Golan Heights (Syrian land which was annexed by Israeli in the 1967 war). 31 to 1, with 16 abstentions. The U.S. was the only country with voted no, all of the E.U. votes were abstentions.

3. Called on Israel to stop all settlement building, and to begin withdrawing from previous settlements. It passed 46 to 1, with 0 abstentions. The U.S. was the only country to vote no. Here's an excerpt from the resolution.

   ...reaffirms the inalienable, permanent and unqualified right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including their right to live in freedom, justice and dignity and to establish their sovereign, independent, democratic and viable contiguous State; also reaffirms its support for the solution of two States, Palestine and Israel, living side by side in peace and security... (yeah this is terribly anti-Semitic excrement, isn't it!?)

I know this is standard fare for the United States which has undying support and infinity veto votes for Israel (I think they put in a cheat code for veto votes). But still, what the hell! You CANNOT be 'seeking' a 2-state solution and also tell Israeli they can keep building settlements, those two things are in fact, mutually exclusive. Building settlements = no viable Palestinian state.

A Letter from a Refusenik

Shir Regev, a 19 year old Israeli, has just been released from his 1st prison term for refusing to serve in the Israeli army. His letter to the Israeli authorities follows. Shir is now awaiting the army's decision in his case.

This is his letter to the induction bureau and to government officials:

To: Induction Bureau, Haifa
Copies : Prime Minister Netanyahu , Minister of Defense Barak


My name is Shir Regev and I have been a deserter since 1/12/09. I believe it is my personal duty to refuse and defect from an army whose main purpose is to serve as an occupation police for maintaining "Israeli order" and imposing it on defenseless Palestinians who are denied citizenship.

And what is this "Israeli order" ? It is an ongoing process, in effect over 42 years, comprising a military regime over the Palestinians, denying them access to Palestinian community resources of land, water, agricultural crops and ores. It is also entails pollution of their land and their streams, along with support for disenfranchisement by settlers who live in the same areas, under a separate system of seemingly democratic laws. And I have not even mentioned the violation of more basic Palestinian human rights, like denying their freedom of movement, and causing bodily harm, including mass killing, without due investigation of alleged criminal offenses of the gravest type. These acts may constitute war crimes under international law.

Since I have the medical profile of a "combat soldier", had I joined the army, there is no doubt I would have been sent to serve this "Mafiosi" system, which has almost nothing to do with the IDF's designated role as "Defense Forces"... This is an army that serves interests in which I do not believe.

Therefore, in the dilemma between doing such service and obeying my conscience, I have no doubt about my decision. The day will come when my decision is appreciated by people who presently deny the horrible reality which we as a society are creating for another people and the damage we are inflicting on the souls of many young Israelis who may not be aware of the moral degradation in which they take part.

Sincerely,
Shir Regev