The children from Khirbet a-Tuba go to school in a-Tuwani. The path to school passes by the outpost Havat Ma’on. Because the settlers of Ma’on objected, the children walk to school on the edges of a wooded area where the outpost is. Occasionally, the children are attacked by the settlers. The army escorts the children to school and back every day. Even while the army escorts the children, the settlers from Havat Ma’on continue.
On Sunday, May 21, 2006 I walked from Khirbet a-Tuba to Yatta and passed through a-Tuwani. I met people there who told me that my daughter MA was beaten. I went directly to the school and saw my daughter. She stayed at school. Two days later, I took her to the infirmary because her eye swelled. She was given pills and drops. I filed a complaint with the Kiryat Arba Police with my daughter, but I didn’t receive the number. The policemen at the Kiryat Arba Police photographed the children’s wounds.
SJ (a minor), 8, Khirbet a-Tuba At 7 am we were on the way from our house in Khirbet a-Tuba to school in a-Tuwani, escorted by a jeep that drove in front of us with four soldiers. We were 19 children, like every morning. A settler woman I had seen before and a settler man came, no weapons. They stood on either side of the path and wanted to hit us. I could identify them. The soldiers didn’t do anything. The woman grabbed my hand and pulled me. I fell to the ground and hurt my hand. The older children tried to help me. It wasn’t a very bad wound.
The soldiers got out of the jeep because I shouted, and the settler woman got out of there and attacked another girl – MA. The settler man didn’t do anything. The woman hit MA in the eye, and she fell. The soldiers called on the radio and then the settlers left. Another jeep arrived and we continued walking to school.
MA (a minor), 10, Khirbet a-Tuba On Sunday we walked to school from home, with the army, 19 kids like we do every morning. We got as far as the woman settler’s house that is just by the path. The woman left her house, came up to us and started yelling: “go home”. We held on to the soldiers’ shirts when they got out of the jeep because we were afraid. After she hit SJ, she came up to me, grabbed me and hit me in the eye. The kids grabbed me from the back to get me away from the settler. We shouted to the soldiers, but they didn’t do anything. We freed ourselves from the settler. She went back home and we continued. My eye hurt and I cried. I kept on walking to school. Two days later, after my eye swelled up, my father took me to the infirmary.
Law Enforcement Authorities’ decision upon conclusion of investigation
On February 20, 2012, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court convicted TT and sentenced her to three months of community service, probation and compensation of ILS 500 for each one of the children.