South Hebron Hills activists defy army, rebuild tent

South Hebron Hills activists rebuilt a tent near the village of At-Tuwani that provides shelter for schoolchildren after it was torn down twice by Israeli soldiers, a press statement by the international peace group Operation Dove said Monday. The first attempt was on Saturday when Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists began building a tent near At-Tuwani to provide shelter for 20 children who commute back and forth between their village and schools escorted by the Israeli military. The Israeli army, border police and police officers arrived quickly and attempted to push the activists away. The army declared the area as a closed military zone for 24 hours and ordered everyone to evacuate it. One international activist was arrested. About one hour later the tent was torn down by the Israeli army and police, said the press statement. On Sunday morning, the children of At-Tuwani school, coming from seven villages of the South Hebron Hills, marched to the area in order to rebuild the tent. The children entered the closed military zone and stood between the soldiers and the people who were working on the tent. The Israeli forces pushed everyone away and again dismantled the tent, this time confiscating the construction materials. The schoolchildren use the tent as shelter as they wait outdoors for an Israeli military escort to protect them from settler violence on the way to and from school. The children from the South Hebron Hills villages of Tuba and Maghayir Al Abeed, aged 6 to 16 years, must wait for this escort in all kinds of weather and the escort is sometimes late. The statement said that during last week settlers in the South Hebron Hills area outpost of Havat Ma'on began a new illegal building. The Israeli authorities did nothing to stop the construction. Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.