The Lord is My Shepherd

On Thursday we traveled to the village of A'Tuwani, a small village of approx. 200 Palestinians in a rural area south of Hebron and in the northern part of the Desert of Negev. A'Tuwani has been the scene of many settler attacks over the past several years and there is a CPT unit assigned there on a full-time basis. For the first time in my life I saw real shepherds at their jobs as they guided their sheep to and from the villages to graze a couple times a day, very early in the morning and again in the late afternoon. A'Tuwani is a very agricultural community which makes its living on the land - the crops that they plant and their flocks.


A' Tuwani is now bordered by an Jewish Israeli settlement and the shepherds are often attacked as they enter their fields (more like mountains and rock). Often the CPT unit is asked to escort the shepherds to help lessen the chance of attack. Their other major assignment is to escort the children to and from school so they don't get attacked by the settler youth and adults. It was evident by the interaction of the CPT workers and the village people that there is great appreciation for one another.


Once again, as with all the other Palestinians we have met with, certain things stood out: great hospitality, their courage, their determination to stay the course, and their hope.

The men in the delegation stayed overnight at the home of Jumah, one of the leaders of the village. His home is at the outer edge of the village, and the closest to the Jewish settlement. Jumah's family have come under attack many times in the past. His, then five-year-old, son was injured a couple sometime back when a bullet grazed the front of his forehead. Within the past month a group of settlers forced their way into their home , broke some windows, and verbally & physically harassed the women and children. Jumah and his brothers now take turns sleeping on the roof of the house as a lookout for any future attacks. We slept Thursday night on the roof - beautiful skies, cool breeze, and fortunately no incidents. We also slept on the roof because there was no room in the house which is the home of 35 family members.

We also had the opportunity to meet with a couple of young women from "Operation Dove," a Christian organization from Italy, which focuses on peace and reconciliation, somewhat similar to CPT, perhaps with a more intentional effort to bring the two sides in the conflict together. But even they reported their frustration in that the Palestinians seem much more willing, at least at the grass roots level, to engage in dialogue. Other than a relatively small number of Israeli human rights activists, very few of the Israeli Jews want to even dialogue. Why the need to dialogue when you have the Israeli army to protect you?

Throughout that day and evening I couldn't help but think of Psalm 23, "The Lord is my Shepherd . . . You prepare a table in the presence of my enemies." A'Tuwani and the surrounding countryside, such a beautiful area which seems like it should be so peaceful, then you realize how tenious that peace really is. I left the village with great admiration for the people that live there and the CPT workers who serve there on a full-time basis.