CPTnet
September 10, 2002
HEBRON UPDATE: August 18 - 21, 2002
Sunday, August 18, 2002
No curfew
CPTer Greg Rollins talked to a Palestinian Reuters journalist at Beit
Romano. The journalist said that three soldiers confiscated his film,
camera battery, ID, and held him at the checkpoint for the previous half
hour. The soldiers had just returned the items and released him after
Rollins arrived.
Rollins, Le Anne Clausen and Janet Shoemaker went to the village of Al
Fawar, which sits on a hillside, to visit a friend. On the facing hillside
is the crowded Al Fawar refugee camp. The CPTers' host told them that a
week earlier, Israelis soldiers had walked in the valley between the camp
and the town, shooting randomly into the camp.
Monday, August 19, 2002
No curfew
In the morning, the CPTers learned that the family with whom they had
stayed witnessed soldiers shooting into the refugee camp from the roadblock
next to the camp at 1:00 that morning.
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
No curfew
On his way past the Ibrahimi Mosque, Rollins witnessed a Border Police
officer make a Palestinian teenager put his head against a wall and hit the
boy on the back of the neck. When he saw Rollins, the officer let the
teenager go and began walking away. Rollins approached the policeman and
asked why he hit the boy. "I don't want to talk to you," the soldier said.
"Don't you think that just makes the Palestinian mad at you?" Rollins
asked. "No," the officer stated, and refusing to answer any more questions,
walked away and got on a bus.
As Clausen and Shoemaker approached Bab iZaweyya in the evening,
Palestinians pointed towards the Tel Rumeida checkpoint. They saw crowds of
boys and men standing near the checkpoint and television crews getting into
their cars and leaving. When the CPTers inquired as to what was happening,
they learned that the army was once again rounding up large numbers of men
at a time and hauling them to the checkpoint. When Clausen and Shoemaker
got to the top of the hill, they saw about twenty-five men sitting on the
sidewalk, waiting for their IDs.
The CPTers waited for about a half hour until the soldiers released all but
one man. They approached the one man left there, and asked if he was all
right. He said he was, but explained that soldiers had brought him to this
checkpoint three times that day to have his ID checked. When Clausen asked
a Spanish-speaking soldier how long they would have to hold him, the
soldier replied, "Two hours." Clausen pointed out that once his ID was
cleared, they would have to release him, a process that should normally
take about twenty minutes. During further conversation the soldier told her
that he used to work with Colombian intelligence until moving to Israel.
Now, he said, he must fight for his country. "We are everywhere," he
stated. "We are all over the world." As they talked, the other soldiers
released the Palestinian.
When Clausen and Shoemaker passed through Beit Romano on their way home,
they saw a settler trying to pry open the lock on a Palestinian shop with
the handlebars of a scooter. Soldiers standing nearby called the settler
away from the door when the CPTers walked by.
Wednesday, August 21, 2002
No curfew
While passing through Beit Romano, the team saw soldiers detaining
seventeen men, including a small boy. Clausen and Shoemaker stayed to
observe. A soldier approached them, asking if there was a problem. "We had
a good day yesterday," he said. "We caught two terrorists." He turned and
walked away, but returned a few minutes later. "Where else do you observe?"
he asked. "Colombia," replied Shoemaker. "What about Afghanistan? Your
government dropped many bombs there." They said that CPT was working on
putting a team there and that they did criticize their own government's
policies. When TIPH observers arrived, the CPTers left.
A half hour later, when Rollins passed through Beit Romano a half hour, the
soldiers were just releasing the men.
Jerry Levin gave a tour to a Danish delegation from the World Council of
Churches. As they walked down from Tel Rumeida, a settler woman began
verbally harassing the group. They continued to Beit Hadassah where a
soldier stopped them after he discovered a Palestinian worker from the
human rights group B'Tselem with them. The soldier insisted that the
Palestinian must take the detour through the market and around Beit
Hadassah. Just
then, an irate settler who had been following the group ran up to the
soldier, demanding that the soldier check the Palestinian's ID. The soldier
acquiesced, expressing annoyance that the internationals would not leave
the Palestinian and go on their way. While they were waiting, another
Palestinian passed by and the settler demanded that the soldier check his
ID, too. When the soldier did, one member of the delegation asked, "Do you
always take orders from settlers?" The soldier, irritated by the question,
then demanded to see everyone's passports. After waiting forty-five
minutes, both Palestinians received their IDs and the group continued its
tour without further incident.
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