Artists urge PM to curb settler attacks on Palestinian children

More than 30 Israeli artists and intellectuals signed a letter sent Tuesday to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, urging him to order Israel Defense Forces soldiers to defend Palestinian children in the southern Hebron Hills from residents of the Maon settlement.

The children of the Palestinian village of Umm-Tuba walk daily to and from school in the neighboring village of Hirbat al-Tawani, along the border of Maon and the illegal outpost of Havat Maon. They have long been subject to harassment by the settlers, which has resulted in an IDF and police decision to provide them security on their walk.

However, following a lull, settlers have recently resumed attacks against these children and their armed protectors. The severity of the assaults peaked last Saturday, when the settlers threw stones at the convoy, injuring four children and two soldiers. One of the settlers set a dog on the children, and soldiers were forced to shoot in the air in order to disperse the rioters.

Despite the violence and the resulting injuries, not one settler has been arrested in the attacks on Umm-Tuba's children. Neither the army nor the Israeli activists who also accompany the children to school have succeeded in thwarting the attacks.
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