CPTnet
September 21, 2004
HEBRON UPDATE: August 30-September 5, 2004
Monday August 30
No curfew
CPTer Char Smith noticed two Israeli military jeeps detaining several
Palestinian men near the Beit Romano checkpoint. A jeep left with one of
the young men inside it. Smith took down the number of the jeep and called
TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron--another international
monitoring force.) She returned to the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT)
apartment and then went out again to meet TIPH at the Beit Romano
checkpoint. Smith took the TIPHers to the place of the incident and
explained what had happened. They were able to find out that the man taken
was a 17-year-old who had not had his ID with him.
CPTers Cal Carpenter, Maia Williams, Christina Gibb, and Kim Lamberty
attended a rally at the Prisoners Solidarity Tent. A number of important
local politicians spoke as well as an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset,
Azmi Bashara, and family members. Organizers announced the beginning of an
open- ended hunger strike in solidarity with the striking prisoners.
Tuesday August 31
No curfew
In the morning Chris Brown gave a tour of the school patrol route to newer
CPTers so that they would be familiar with it when school began on September
1, 2004.
In the afternoon, Brown and Gibb entertained visitors to the apartment. Two
young men, one from the United Kingdom and one from Bethlehem, who had met
Smith, Bachman, and Gibb in the market earlier came to the apartment for
information about Hebron and CPT. Smith accompanied them out through the
Beit Romano checkpoint because the visitor from Bethlehem had forgotten his
ID.
Around 4:00 p.m. the team received news of suicide bombings in Beersheba
about an hour before. In order to assess the Israeli military response,
Smith, Bachman, and Lamberty went out on a patrol towards the Ibrahimi
Mosque and Carpenter, Williams and Gibb Went out towards Bab iZaweyya. Both
groups found the streets quiet.
On returning, Gibb, Carpenter, and Williams stopped for coffee near the Beit
Romano checkpoint. After sitting briefly they could hear moans coming from
the concrete "pillbox" at the checkpoint and realized that someone was being
detained in it. Young men who were having coffee with the CPTers got up to
confront the soldiers at the checkpoint and the CPTers followed to support
them. Approaching, they noticed that TIPH personnel were also present and
monitoring the situation from the Yeshiva side of the checkpoint where they
had a view of the opening to the pillbox. After a brief confrontation, the
young men and CPTers returned to the coffee shop to monitor the situation
from there. Not long after, the scene was repeated when the CPTers heard
cries of pain again. Eventually soldiers released the detained man and
CPTers learned from him and his sister that the soldiers had held him for
five hours. They had broken into his house to arrest him and beaten
him in front of his children. The man showed his wrists, which were raw and
swollen from the soldiers keeping him bound.
Wednesday September 1
No curfew
CPTers Brown, Carpenter, Gibbs, Williams and Smith visited the Prisoners
Hunger Strike Solidarity tent. CPT women Gibbs, Williams and Smith spoke
with a woman who is a relative of one of the men who carried out the suicide
attacks in Beersheba. She said that her family has between 150 and 170
members in prison. The team members went with her to visit the bombed-out
house of the suicide bomber and the family. The home had been bombed on the
lower level where the man had lived, but the upper levels where still in
place propped up on support beams. CPTers visited the grandmother and mother
as well as spending some time in the women's mourning gathering that was
taking place in the second story of the home. They also had the chance to
visit the home of one of the brothers-- three of whom Israeli soldiers had
arrested in the morning.
Thursday September 2
No curfew
Brown observed soldiers detaining men and women at the Beit Romano
checkpoint. Female Israeli soldiers were working at the checkpoint and they
were taking women into the pillbox to search them.
Smith and Gibb reported that the Halhoul bridge was closed when they passed
on their way to Jerusalem and that soldiers were not allowing
people--including teachers and school children--to pass.
Friday September 3
No curfew
Roads in and out of the city were still closed. CPTers monitored the mosque
area during Friday prayers.
Saturday September 4
No curfew
Bachman, Williams, and Carpenter visited Taleb Al Harithi of the Palestinian
Authority Environmental Quality Authority. On the way Anna tried to
intervene on behalf of several men detained by the Israeli army at Beit
Romano Checkpoint. The soldiers were hostile and the group decided to call
TIPH and continue on their way. The meeting with Taleb was focused on water
issues in the Hebron area. Past problems have only grown more acute.
Eighty percent of needed water for agriculture is
not available. In an area largely dependant on agriculture this shortfall is
a significant problem.
Team members had visited Taleb in the spring because of a demolition order
on his home. At this point his home is still standing, but he has had to pay
large legal fees to obtain a delay.
Brown and Lamberty hosted a group of German Mennonites who were interested
in CPT and the situation in Hebron.
Sunday September 5 No curfew To stop receiving messages from CPTNET on
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Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative of the historic peace churches
(Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers) with support and
membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations.
Supporting violence-reduction efforts around the world is its mandate.
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