A visit to At Tuani

by Michele and Terry Finseth, JH Companionship Facilitators

The Joining Hands for Justice Network in Palestine recently welcomed visitors from our sister network of the Greater Atlanta Presbytery. In an environment where Palestinians often feel isolated and alone in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, visitors provide a special boost of encouragement to the network.

Among our many meetings and visits, one particular experience that stands out, was our journey to the tiny village of At Tuani, just south of Hebron. Constricted between two illegal West Bank Israeli settlements (Maon and Maon Farm) that were built to confine it, the village has no running water. Residents have access to a well where they must draw the water and haul it back home, but when the water table is low there is great concern about getting sufficient water.

Even though the village is in the West Bank it is completely controlled by the Israeli government. Road access is often blocked to trucks trying to haul water into the village. In fact, access to nearby villages has also been cut off, isolating them from one another.

At Tuani is a very old village, with homes that were built when the ancestors first moved out of their cave homes. Yet today, the village is under demolition orders, meaning that at any time government officials could arrive with soldiers and bulldozers to demolish any building in the village. Israeli law prohibits building activities of any kind, which keeps a number of families still living in caves.

The only path to a nearby school forces children to pass near one of the settlements. Because settlers routinely have attacked the children on their way to school, the village sought the accompaniment of Christian Peacemaker Teams to live in the village and help them. When team members walked the children to school in the first week, they were attacked so brutally that both were taken to the hospital with injuries that included broken bones and a punctured lung. After the incident was reported to the media, the Israeli government assigned soldiers to guard the children going to school and forbade the CPT members from accompanying the children.

Despite the oppression, humiliation and human rights abuses affecting every aspect of villagers’ lives, they remain resolute to address their grievances with non-violence. “Survival demands creativity” one of the team members explained.

And who will be the prophetic voices for this village and countless others afflicted by the cycle of poverty and hunger? We are gratified that our Atlanta sister network will take the message home, and not only advocate for change in our own country, but encourage others to make the journey to Israel and Palestine to see the realities for themselves.