13 April 2009

Israeli Solders Arrest Italian & German

Israeli forces arrest a German and an Italian, who were accompanying Palestinian farmers at the al-Tuwani village in the West Bank.

The German national, Christian Beck, and the Italian national, Sara Pagani, were detained for no given reason.

Many Palestinian farmers rely on the presence of international human rights workers to protect them from Israeli settlers. Since Israeli soldiers in the area frequently ignore settler violence and rarely interfere to protect the Palestinian farmers, international volunteers provide support for the Palestinians.

Al-Tuwani is a village of 300 Palestinians located in South al-Khalil (Hebron). Residents make their living through farming, primarily wheat, barley, olives and grazing sheep.

Al-Tuwani is also one of several villages under daily threat from extremist Israeli settlers living in the area.source