HEBRON, April 20, 2011 (WAFA) – An Israeli settler from the illegal Israeli outpost of Havat Ma'on, south of Hebron, watched as his children hurled stones with slings at Palestinian children walking from the village of Tuba to school in the village of At-Tuwani Tuesday morning, according to statement by international rights group.
“Their father was in his house, watching to make sure that we wouldn't cause problems with his sons,” said Ali, one of the schoolchildren who walks the path by the outpost every day to get to school. “They wanted to make problems with us,” he said, “but we didn't make problems, we kept walking to school.”
According to the schoolchildren, the Israeli children were very young.
“They were only as big as Hamze,” the Palestinians said, pointing at one of their seven-year-old schoolmates.
Israeli soldiers who were escorting the Palestinian children confirmed the presence of the settler children but denied that there was any problem. When internationals asked the soldiers if they had seen the settlers, one soldier replied, “Yes, but they ran away,” said the statement by Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove.
A Palestinian neighbor, however, learning of the incident, insisted that it was a problem for settler children to hurl stones with slingshots at passing schoolchildren.
“They're young now” he said. “But their aim will get more accurate as they get older.”
On the afternoon of the same day, seven Israeli teenage boys walked out of Havat Ma'on and approached the Palestinian schoolchildren, who were waiting for the Israeli military to escort them past the outpost.
While the Palestinian schoolchildren retreated, the teenagers stopped and talked with Israeli soldiers before returning to the outpost, chanting “Nazi! Nazi!”
Due to past violence by Israeli settlers against the Palestinian schoolchildren, the Israeli military daily escorts the children past the illegal outpost on their way to and from school. Despite the escort, which began in 2004, the schoolchildren have experienced over 100 incidents of settlers' threats and aggressions during the past seven years.
M.A.
