Image Credit: 2005/12/2 CPTNet.
AT-TUWANI: Access from At-Tuwani to Yatta blocked
CPT via BBSNews 2006-07-17 -- On the morning of 13 July, the Israeli military closed the At-Tuwani opening in the low "security" wall that runs along Israeli bypass road 317. This closure cuts off At-Tuwani and the surrounding villages' access to Yatta and the vast majority of the West Bank.
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Last December, women from At-Tuwani hold banners in support of CPT hostages held in Iraq.
Image Credit: 2005/12/2 CPTNet. |
In June 2006, the Israeli military built an eighty cm high "security" wall along the north side of bypass road 317. This construction took place despite the fact that a legal case appealing the military's decision to build the wall is still in court. At that time, the construction crew left an approximately five-meter gap in the wall where the road from Yatta crosses into At-Tuwani.
At 10:00 a.m. on Thursday 13 July 2006, as she was returning from Yatta, CPTer Angela Davis observed a flatbed truck accompanied by an Israeli army jeep. The truck deposited four concrete blocks approximately a meter square into the gap in the low wall. This action completely blocks vehicle access to Yatta from the bypass road, and hence from the village of At-Tuwani and neighboring communities. Davis asked a soldier why they were blocking the route. "Because there are bad people come through here," he replied. He also told her that the blocks were permanent. Davis pointed out that it was possible to walk between the blocks, but he failed to respond.
At 1:00 p.m. a villager informed Davis, Maureen Jack, and Diana Zimmerman that the Israeli military was present along the bypass road at the obstructed Palestinian road crossing. The CPTers responded and found two military vehicles and eight soldiers at the scene. A group of local villagers, several tractors and a car had gathered behind the road block; all had arrived from Yatta and could not cross to At-Tuwani. The soldiers told the villagers that they would have to take a detour of about fifteen kilometers to Zif where a gate was open and then drive along the Israeli bypass road to get to At-Tuwani. None of the gathered Palestinians was willing to use this option because of the risk to their safety. This option required that they drive past two settlements whose residents frequently harass Palestinians.
By 4:00 p.m., five army vehicles, two police jeeps, two border police jeeps and settler security from Ma'on had gathered. Two UN representatives arrived to monitor the situation. The police demanded the CPTers' passports and the IDs of some Palestinians. The soldiers declared the area a closed military zone and said that the relevant documentation would soon be available.
After a discussion, the villagers decided not to risk arrest. They parked their vehicles in a field on the north side of the bypass road and transferred their goods onto donkeys for transportation into At-Tuwani and surrounding villages.
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