– by Laura Saunders – 25/6/2023 

This reflection highlights the nonviolent resistance of the village of Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills and discusses the importance of the Tuwani Dairy Factory. It was first published in Laura’s blog “Thyme For Peace” and sheds light on her experiences in the South Hebron Hills with the Center For Jewish Nonviolence.

I still recall the first time I saw the stark contrast between the Palestinian village of Um Al Kheir and the neighboring illegal Jewish settlement of Carmel, built on land stolen from Um Al Kheir, in 2016 during my first delegation with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence (CJNV).

So I can I envision the adjustment Kifah went through when, at age 16, she got married and moved from the city of Yatta to the village of Tuwani. Her husband Nasser was born in a cave in Tuwani, and they now live in a house that belonged to his relatives. It was a big adjustment coming from a Palestinian city with services including water, electricity, paved streets, houses and schools to live in an agricultural village with only small structures and caves. She loved the people and beautiful setting and could make do without electricity, running water, and a better home. But not the suffering children had to go through to get an education.

Kifah organized the community and the village council agreed a school was needed. They arranged a meeting with Yasser Arafat in 1987 and secured funding, but the legal support to get building permits still had to be obtained, and the community didn’t want to wait for this lengthy process and uncertain outcome. So the women and children worked during the days, and the men and engineers worked under the cover of night, with the women serving as lookouts from the surrounding hilltops, and over 3 weeks the community built a 3 room school house. When the school was completed the village celebrated as if it was a holiday. Although a week later a demolition order was issued, some Israeli activists and legal organizations helped, and eventually a final ruling allowed the school to remain but with the condition that no additional rooms were built for 10 years.

This initial success to have a primary school for children inspired more nonviolent resistance. Additional legal support and funding helped Tuwani get a master plan submitted, that could legalize building. While waiting for its approval, the village kept adding on a school room each year, and soon 10 years had passed and the school became legal as the master plan got approved. Mosques, roads, water and electricity soon followed. Their lived resistance with building a school and getting an approved village master plan embodies the nonviolent education the kids in the village are raised on.

As a woman married at age 16 and also living under the oppression of the Israeli occupation, Kifah is motivated to change the future so her children and her village do not have to endure these oppressions. Her six children were educated at the school she helped build, and the 23 rooms and sports fields currently serve 180 students from Tuwani and nearby villages (like Tuba and Sfai). Kifah has inspired and organized others to bring about the changes they want in their lives. The Rural Women Association is a collective of over 36 women in the South Hebron Hills working to educate, empower and improve the lives of women through small scale projects. One of the projects the women supported created the Tuwani Dairy Factory.

In an agricultural society with herds of goats and sheep, the women spend a lot of time turning milk into cheese and yogurt for their family. The power of a collective brings women together to process the milk, not only getting them out of their homes but providing employment. And collectively the cheese and yogurt produced not only feeds the families of the shepherds but also the extra can be sold in nearby towns to generate additional income.

In May I visited the Tuwani Dairy Factory and met Fatma who runs it. Earlier that morning, 3 employees had made cheese and the smell inside was amazing. Fatma explained that when the initial funding was secured for the dairy factory, they were trained on how to work the industrial equipment to produce various forms of cheese. They start by testing the quality of the milk coming from local shepherds, and they produce both fresh cheese and a dried form with a shelf life of 1-2 years. Learn more about how this dairy factory enables Palestinians to resist occupation through the continued existence on the their land, see photos of the cheese, and join Fatma on a virtual tour of the dairy factory.

The costs of water, electricity including air conditioning, and needed repairs and upgrades to the original equipment, led Fatma to seek donations in order to get the dairy factory back to full capacity. With half the requested funds delivered to Fatma a few weeks before my visit, she was excited that new equipment was ordered and a repair service for other equipment was scheduled for the next week. Thanks to everyone who has donated, we should be able to deliver the full funds needed by September.

The presence of Israeli and international solidarity activists on the ground in Tuwani is critical. As Kifah explained, a camera is the most effective weapon against settler violence, although it rarely if ever results in the arrest of violent settlers. The protective presence provided by Israeli and international activists has created a hub of solidarity activism in Tuwani, and throughout Masafer Yatta. For the past 3 years, the CJNV Hieinu program has brought Diaspora Jews for 3 months of solidarity in Masafer Yatta during spring shepherding season. This joint resistance models a future shared society I hope flourishes in the region.