AT-TUWANI RELEASE: Israeli army fails to protect Palestinian school
children on way to 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.]

18 April 2010

On Thursday 15 April, 2010, an Israeli settler drove his vehicle into a
group of Palestinian schoolchildren as they walked to school in At
Tuwani. The children, aged from 6 years old to 15 years old, were able
to leap out of the way and none were hurt.

The children from the villages of Tuba and Maghayer al Abeed require a
military escort to and from school in At Tuwani because of repeated
attacks by Israeli settlers from Ma’on settlement and Havat Ma’on
outpost. However, the Israeli military do little to protect the children
when settlers approach them. Members of CPT and Operation Dove monitor
the escort and have repeatedly asked the soldiers to walk with the
children, but the soldiers rarely do so.

On Thursday there were no soldiers walking with the children. The
Israeli settler drove his vehicle out of Ma'on outpost and into the
middle of the walking children. The soldiers remained in their jeep and
drove behind the group of children, allowing the settler to drive down
the road in the midst of the children. The settlers proceeded to yell at
the children and the internationals who were videotaping the incident,
then drove out of the area. The soldiers made no effort to stop the
vehicle or speak with the driver or passengers. When the CPTers
attempted to speak with the soldiers, they refused to stop their jeep.

CPTers were able to identify one of the settlers as someone who has been
involved in other incidents of harassment against the Palestinians and
the CPTers.

For a complete report on the school escort in 2008-2009, including maps,
photographs and interviews with the children, please see “A Dangerous
Journey” at
_http://www.cpt.org/files/palestine/SHH-School_Accompaniment_Report_2008-09-Clos\
ed_Road.pdf
<http://www.cpt.org/files/Dangerous-Journey-Summary-2008.pdf>_