Al Tuwani:
Primative village, under seige by settlers

©David B. Fankhauser, Ph.D.,
Professor of Biology and Chemistry
University of Cincinnati Clermont College,
Batavia OH 45103
A woman weaves on a hand
made loom
This page has been accessed  Counter times since 14 July 2006. 
14 July 2006
A young Palestinian girl

Al Tuwani a primative village of about 250 inhabitants, located to the south of Hebron.  Israel has refused to run water or electricity to the village, so they catch what rainwater they can in a cistern, and have a generator which provides electricity 4 hours a day.  Nearby, an Israeli settlement has tried to run them off:  they have beaten the children on their way to school, they have attacked peace keepers who accompanied the children, cracking skulls, breaking arms kneecaps, ribs (resulting in a punctured lung) etc. ( Here is an article detailing the violence inflicted on the children and the Christian Peacemakers Team escorting them. They poisoned their cistern by dropping dead chickens into the water, and poisoned their flocks of sheep with rat poison pellets, killing many sheep, and forcing them to throw away the season's milk for fear of contamination.


We approach the village, some homes are built up caves.  Olive trees and sheep sustain them for the most part:

One of our tour members takes a spill on the steep terrain, requiring stiches. A woman feeds her donkeys n a half cave shelter, a truck of sheep passes through.

Two women spin and weave colorful cloth on a home made loom:

This woman opened up a little shop where they sold items they have made.  Three Peace Keepers joined us:

Children of the village were thrilled to get small boxes of crayons:
   

Just over the hill is the Israeli settlement.  Masked attackers hide in the woods until the children come by on the way to school...

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