On Wednesday, 26 January, three CPTers joined five independent journalists in a two-hour trip to Halabja. At 10:00 a.m., a young journalist, Nasir, would stand trial. He had been charged with libeling the Peshmerga (Kurdish military) when he wrote that all Peshmerga were corrupt. After the charges were filed, men dressed in Asaish security uniforms abducted him, beat him and ordered him to never write about the Peshmerga again. CPT attended the trial to show that an international public was concerned about this issue.

How many checkpoints do you have to pass through to go to your place of worship? How many would you be happy/willing to go through? Or, would you give up going to that particular place of worship and go somewhere else?

Here in Hebron, Muslim worshippers going to the Ibrahimi Mosque have to pass through at least two, often three or more, Israeli military checkpoints. Palestinians coming from the south or southwest areas of Hebron must first pass through a checkpoint that includes a metal detector. Then, 250 yards further along the road, they must pass through another checkpoint, where soldiers may stop them and ask for their ID. Sometimes the Israeli military will allow them to pass, sometimes not, and sometimes they will have to undergo a body search. Then, 100 yards further along, at the entrance to the mosque, they will have to pass through another checkpoint and metal detector, again staffed by Israeli military. At this checkpoint, worshippers may again face demands for their ID and have to wait for a time.

Members of CPT's Borderlands delegation will monitor human rights, meet with representatives of human rights groups and government officials, and carry out a nonviolent public witness confronting unjust immigration policies.

 

Friday, 11 January 2008, soldiers from the Israeli Army displayed their buttocks in a gesture known colloquially as “mooning” to a Palestinian shepherd and two international volunteers from Christian Peacemaker Teams…

For video of the incident see http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=6505926642890909661&hl=en-GB

Late Saturday morning, 12 January 2008, settlers from the Hill 833 outpost (called Havat Ma'on by Israeli settlers) fired six shots at shepherds grazing their sheep in a nearby valley. Shepherds and international volunteers with them quickly moved to lower ground and sustained no injuries…

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=5369538579313697940&hl=en-GB

The Hebron team responded in many directions as events unfolded in Gaza, Beit Ummar, and Hebron this past weekend.

Friday morning, 25 January, the team received news that two Palestinians were killed attempting an attack in the settlement of Gush Etzion. CPT later learned that the two dead were from Beit Ummar and closely related to friends of the team. The Israeli army entered Beit Ummar during Friday prayers, surrounding the mosque.

As the team determined a response for Beit Ummar, four team members on a tour of Shuhada Street with the Israeli group Breaking the Silence witnessed Israeli settler harassment against the Israeli tour leaders.

Meanwhile CPT Hebron was preparing to send two team members to participate in an Israeli-organized relief convoy to Gaza. Jessica Frederick and Paulette Schroeder left to join the Gaza convoy. Dianne Roe and Eileen Hanson traveled to Beit Ummar.

Sunday, 23 December 2007

CPTers heard sobering reports in Halabja from two families who experienced the 1988 chemical attack there by Iraqi forces during the Iran/Iraq War. The bulk of the 5000 casualties were civilians, part of a population swelled by displacement from surrounding villages. The mother of one family and father of another shared the stories. The combination of napalm and gas was brutal. Those who survived, fled to Iran. The father said, "I cried for a year." He was angry about the U.S. support of the Turkish bombing of the KRG because he sees Kurdistan is again being abandoned by the world.

Christian Peacemaker Teams in Colombia has released its compilation of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights witnessed by or reported to team members in the calendar year of 2007. The report documents violations of civilian spaces, threats, arbitrary detention and extrajudicial killings committed by state and illegal armed actors in regions of Colombia where CPT has worked.

Pray for the Palestinian residents of the hills south of Hebron. Christian Peacemaker Teams reports that in recent weeks they have been repeatedly harassed by Israeli settlers and soldiers as they plough their fields or travel local roads.

On Tuesday, 15 January 2008, members and supporters of CPT marked Martin Luther King’s birthday by holding a vigil at the Chicago office of Democratic Congressman Rahm Emanuel calling for an end to the Iraq war.

…Under the banner, "War is Terrorism with a Bigger Budget," participants distributed leaflets documenting the costs of the war to Chicago taxpayers – $48.8 billion in 2007 alone-- and showing how the money could have been spent on medical care, education, housing, and infrastructure in the Chicago area.