Tawani or at-Tuwani () is a Palestinian village in the south Hebron Hills of the Hebron Governorate. Many of the village's residents formerly lived in dwelling caves. The village is located south-east of the village of Yatta. Approximately away lies Tel Tuwani, near the Israeli settlement of Ma’on. Frequent conflicts occur between at-Tawani's residents and settlers over Israeli encroachment on its land, roads and water resources.Palestinians say troops tracking missing goats searched their homes illegally Haaretz, 27 January 2010Settlers suspected of well attack, BBC News, 13 July 2004. The village had a population of 194 residents in 2017.
History The village of Tawani is built on the ruins of Khirbet at-Tuwani. In an archeological survey conducted in 1968 several edifices, fences and pottery dated to the Byzantine era and Middle Ages. Most of the archeological findings were since removed. Today the village mainly consists of ancient houses from the Ottoman time, often build over the more ancient caves.Dauphin, 1998, p.969
In 1838, Edward Robinson and noted At-Tawaneh as a ruin located southeast of el-Khulil.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 116 Tell Tuwaneh appears on Van de Velde's map of Palestine, charted in 1851-1852, and published in 1858. In the 1870s Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine, the place (named Khürbet Tûâny) was described as: Foundations and walls; a circular masonry well, and rock-cut tombs now blocked. A lintel stone long was found with a winged tablet on it. Near the ruin was a round olive-press, diameter, deep, with a rim thick. It was cut in a sort of sunken platform of the live rock, with a socket for a pole or pillar in the centre of the press.Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 410
In the 19th century, many residents of the two big villages in the area of South Mount Hebron, Yatta and Dura, started to immigrate to ruins and caves in the area and became 'satellite villages' (daughters) to the mother town. Reasons for the expansion were lack of land for agriculture and construction in the mother towns which resulted in high prices of land, rivalry between the mother towns' hamulas wishing to control more land and resources, and being a security buffer, which made it more difficult for gangs of robbers to raid the mother villages. Caves are used by locals as residences, storage spaces and sheepfolds. The affiliation between the satellite villages and the mother town remained. While some of the satellites became permanent villages with communities of hundreds, others remained temporary settlements which served the shepherds and fallāḥīn for several months every year. In 1981-2 it was estimated 100-120 families dwelt in caves permanently in the South Mount Hebron region while 750-850 families lived there temporarily.Havakook p.65
At-Tuwani had a population of 127 at the Jordanian census of 1961.
Israeli occupation After the Six-Day War in 1967, At-Tuwani has been under Israeli occupation. In a census conducted by Israel after it occupied the West Bank in the Six-Day War in 1967, the village was reported to have 175 residents in 33 households.
In 1994 a seven-member village council was established to administer the civil affairs of at-Tuwani and the nearby hamlets of Faqra and Tuba. At-Tuwani currently serves as the center of sorts for the two hamlets as well as for the 19 Bedouin localities of Masafer Yatta.At Tuwani & Mosfaret Yatta Profile. Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ). 2009.
Under the Oslo Accords, this town was assigned to Area C, with political control and security responsibilities assigned to Israel.B'Tselem Interactive Map https://www.btselem.org/map
Israeli settlement In 1982, the settlement Ma'on was built on one side of the main road, the only viable road, between At-Tuwani and Tuba. In the late 1990s, Palestinians using the main road and other land nearby increasingly came under attack from violent settlers.
In 2001, settlers built the outpost Havat Ma'on (also named Hill 833 or Tel Abu Jundiya) on the other side of the road.The dangerous road to education , pp. 28-29. Christian Peacemaker Teams, December 2010. By 2003, Palestinians stopped using the main road completely. Settlers from Ma'on fenced off private Palestinian lands by the road and now use the land for agricultural purposes.
In 2005/2006, the settlers expanded a chicken farm south of Hill 833. In 2008, the location was fenced, impeding vehicular traffic on the road. In 2009, new caravans were placed near Ma'on, on a slope north of the road and laid the foundations for 12 buildings. In March 2010, the settlers built houses in the new outpost.
Settler attacks
Since 2004, the human rights groups Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operazione Colomba (Operation Dove) monitor the settler violence in the Hebron Governorate.AtTuwani Project on YouTube Operazione Colomba is an international peace organization, which has active presence in Palestine and Israel since 2004.Operazione Colomba
Attacks on shepherds and farmers
People in At-Tuwani and in the neighboring villages are mainly shepherds and farmers. They are often attacked by extremist violent Israeli settlers belonging to the national-religious movement. Christian Peacemaker Team members and Dove members have accompanied shepherds and farmers during their work to monitor settlers violence.Kern, As Resident Aliens: Christian Peacemaker Teams in the West Bank, p. 267-269.
In 2004, it was reported that rotting chicken carcasses were found in a well at At-tuwani near Hebron in a suspected act of intentional well contamination by Israeli settlers., Maariv, 13 July 2004, retrieved from Wayback Machine on 18 August 2008.
In 2005, poison-covered barley was laid around Ma'on, where villagers usually graze their sheep and near one of At-Tuwani's water sources. Many animals – sheep, goats and wild fauna – were poisoned and died. The Israeli police refused to examine the poison. In February 2005, settlers from Havat Ma'on/Hill 833 attacked CPT and Dove members while accompanying shepherds and severely injured one of them.
In 2011, settlers from the outpost of Havat Ma'on attacked internationals and Palestinians five times within 30 days. On 13 July, three settler youth attacked Palestinian shepherds. On 18 July, 3 masked settlers armed with clubs attacked two shepherds and members of the At-Tuwani peace team.AT-TUWANI: Three settlers of Havat Ma'on attack internationals in Meshakha Valley, South Hebron Hills. CPTnet, 19 July 2011. Including photo's and video.
During Israeli military training, Palestinian owned fields and crops are repeatedly damaged and destroyed.Masafer Yatta: Israeli military training damages Palestinian harvest. Operazione Colomba, 14 May 2014
In January 2019, 15 olive trees were cut down, and "Death to Arabs" was painted on stones, in an apparent price tag attack.’Death to Arabs’ painted, Palestinian olive trees chopped down in West Bank, Jacob Magid, 8 January 2019, Times of Israel
Raiding for religious demonstrations On 7 August 2022, Israeli forces closed sections of At-Tuwani, cordoned the village and caged families to their homes while two busloads of Israeli settlers held prayers in the garden of a private Palestinian house without permission. Israeli snipers occupied rooftops, and armed personnel threatened residents who attempted to leave. A Border Police officer chased a three-year-old Palestinian child back indoors, while settler children played in the garden under military protection. B'Tselem researcher Nasser Nawaja was detained several hours beforehand and held for approximately twelve hours while handcuffed and blindfolded.
The settlers justified the prayer service by claiming that a synagogue had formerly stood on the privately owned Palestinian land. The incident formed part of a broader use of archaeological and religious claims to restrict Palestinian habitation: during 2022, the Civil Administration issued demolition orders against five houses in At-Tuwani on the grounds that they stood within archaeological sites. Ali Awad described this selective application of antiquities protection—under which Palestinian homes faced demolition while settlers entered the site under military escort—as an instrument of dispossession and forced displacement.
Attacks on schoolchildren In At-Tuwani is the only school of the area, with around 100 children. Many of them go to school walking for or more. Around 20 children from the villages of Tuba and Maghaer Al Abeed often risk to be attacked by extremist Israeli settlers from Havat Ma'on (Hill 833), an outpost of settlers located at from At-Tuwani. On 27 September 2004, a joint team of CPT members and the international organization Operazione Colomba (Operation Dove) began escorting Palestinian schoolchildren on their way on the route to school.As Resident Aliens: Christian Peacemaker Teams in the West Bank, pp 255,258-267. Kathleen Kern, Wipf & Stock Pub, 2010 Two days later, the escort was severely injured in an ambush near the outpost Ma'on Ranch.′Jewish settlers′ attack US workers. BBC, 29 September 2004
As settler attacks continued, the Knesset Committee for Children Rights declared that the children had the right to take the shortest route to school at the Ma'on settlement and issued a request to the IDF (Israeli Army) to protect the children walking to and from the school of At-Tuwani.A Dangerous Journey:Settler Violence Against Palestinian schoolchildren Under Israeli Military Escort2006-2008 . CPT/Operation Dove August 2008. On The IDF escorts, however, did not function properly. Sometimes, the soldiers came too late, sometimes, they did not come at all. Frequently, the group was even attacked in the presence of the soldiers. In 2008 settlers erected an automatic gate from the junction at the chicken farm, where the meeting point used to be. Rather than removing the gate, the IDF escorts no longer protected the children beyond the gate. The IDF contended that their jeeps could not pass the gate. However, it turned out that they could in case they wanted to act against Palestinians.The dangerous road to education , pp. 11-12.
, systematic violence against the Palestinian and human rights monitors in the area is still reported.Palestinian girl badly injured by Israeli settler attack. Operazione Colomba, 24 April 2014; International volunteer attacked and injured by Israeli army, 15 April 2014; The Israeli military escort didn’t accompany Palestinian schoolchildren, 11 April 2014; Palestinian schoolchildren attacked by Israeli settlers, in South Hebron Hills, 9 April 2014
Mosque arson
On 18 July 2026, Palestinian news outlets reported that Israeli settlers torched the village mosque, causing extensive damage to the building and its interior, and vandalized its walls with spray painted stars of David and Hebrew graffiti. Israeli police and military forces arrived at the scene and opened an investigation into the incident.
House demolitions
The school in At-Tuwani has a demolition order. The mosque and some houses got a demolition order as well. On 2 April 2014, the Israeli army together with some Border Police and District Coordination Office (DCO) officers demolished 6 concrete shelters in At-Tuwani.Six shelters demolished by the Israeli forces in the Palestinian village of At Tuwani. Operazione Colomba, 3 April 2014. Video on YouTube
On 2 March 2014, Israeli officials and army stopped the building of a new kindergarten in At-Tuwani. Building materials were confiscated.South Hebron Hills Popular Committee nonviolently prevents Israeli forces from halting construction of a kindergarten. Operazione Colomba, 6 March 2014
In 2025, the KAMAT issued demolition order targeting the Massafer Yatta guesthouse, used by international NGOs and peace activists to protect Palestinian civilians and families against Israeli settler violence and expulsions.