Israeli police arrest 3 palestinian teenagers

Israeli police arrested three Palestinian minors, ages 16, 15 and 14, in the village of At-Tuwani, southeast of Hebron, said a press release by Operation Dove Sunday. It said the officers acted after two Ma'on settlers accused the boys of damaging a fence of a cherry tree field. The Palestinian boys were grazing their flocks on Khelly hill, near a cherry tree field of the nearby Ma'on settlement when two settlers in a car approached the boys, videotaped them and drove off, it added. Later on a police car arrived and an officer told the boys they were accused by the settlers of damaging the cherry tree field fence. The teenagers were taken to the Kiryat Arba police station. An international, who was accompanying the Palestinian boys during the incident, testified that they did not damage the fence. The teenagers are still detained at Kiryat Arba police station and also their parents have been called in for questioning. The police officers asked a bail of $135 for each teenager which the parents refused to pay because there was no valid reason for their detention and arrest. The young Palestinians arrested often participate in the initiatives of the South Hebron Hills Popular Committee, active in nonviolent resistance to Israeli occupation policy. Since the beginning of 2013 Ma'on settlers, often in coordination with the Israeli army, chased Palestinian shepherds away from Khelly hill and Khelly valley seventeen times. This land is Palestinian privately-owned land and the Israeli army's Civil Administration District Coordination Office gave Palestinians permission to work it. Moreover, the land on which the fence is built is also Palestinian-owned private land. Ma'on settlers took possession of the land, preventing Palestinians from working it. Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.