CPTnet
HEBRON: Update 5 - 13 February 2005
23 February 2005
Saturday 5 February
CPT members Rich Meyer and John Lynes did school
patrol. Israeli Border Police were detaining school
children and teachers at the checkpoint outside the
Ibrahimi Mosque. Meyer called TIPH (the Temporary
International Presence in Hebron) workers who
photographed the scene. The police released the
detainees after an hour. The children were late for
school. Israeli worshippers leaving synagogue swore at Meyer.
Atta Jabar visited CPT members. With the news of U.S.
Secretary of State Condaleezza Rice's visit to Israel,
team members asked Atta what he would say to her. He
said, "When you speak about freedom, why don't you
meet the people who have had no freedom for
thirty-seven years? Come to meet us. Come to see how
we are living. Under occupation, we lost thousands of
dunums [of land]. People can't feed their children.
How can a farmer who lost his land feed his children?
Fathers can't work because the occupation has locked every door."
Sunday 6 February
Diane Roe, Barbara Martens, Meyer and Lynes attended
the service at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in
Jerusalem. After the service, Meyer, Martens and Roe
ate a pancake brunch with Mordecai Vanunu. Vanunu
translated the statement from descendents of the 1929
Hebron Jewish families which records the role of the
Shaheen family in saving their lives.
Later in the afternoon Roe and Martens attended a
"Stop the Occupation" demonstration.
Monday 7 February
In the afternoon Diana Zimmerman, Sally Hunsberger
and Kathie Uhler, with Zleekha translating, visited
Adnan Ameen Abu Turki in Abu Sneineh to find out how
his baby was doing. The baby had a medical emergency
on 3 February. The team learned he has a serious
heart condition which will require surgery.
An Israeli friend of the team phoned to say that he
went to report for his military duty, planning to
refuse and go to jail, but the officers told him that
he was not being called up at the time.
Tuesday 8 February
Meyer and Uhler visited Maher Turjman at the
Pontifical Institute. They thanked him for the
Institute's support and discussed CPT's use of the
Institute's grant. Turjman encouraged Meyer and Uhler
to meet the Papal Nuncio, Monsignor Pietro Sambi.
In the afternoon, Meyer visited the Al-Atrash
relatives in the old city of Jerusalem. Meyer asked
them a question about hope, to which Mustafa replied,
"We have all been through a thousand hopes."
Regarding Iraq and the U.S. involvement there, Mustafa
asked, "Okay, you want Saddam? You got him. Now, why
are you holding twenty-five million people?"
In the evening, Meyer went to a meeting of
Bethlehem-area non-government organizations (NGOs),
where four leaders of Palestinian NGOs spoke on the
role of internationals in Palestine and Israel. They
said Palestinians need internationals to stand with
them in their resistance against injustice rather than
just making "objective" stances for justice or peace
in the area. One leader added that Palestinians are
running not just a strategy of resistance but a
strategy of survival. Young Palestinians can join the
front lines of resistance, he said, but older
Palestinians have to focus
on survival.
Wednesday 9 February
Meyer visited several friends in Bethlehem. He had
lunch with Sami Awad and discussed steps toward a
nonviolence training in Hebron.
In the evening, Meyer and Art Gish went to visit
Khaled Amayreh in Dura. Amayreh said, "There is no
reasonable hope of peace while Sharon is in office.
The Israelis are not interested in peace, but in
winning a public relations showdown. Palestinians had
a bitterness about the failure of the world to
recognize the injustice of their plight. The
important thing is that one should be honest."
Thursday 10 February
Gish attended noon worship with Sabeel in Jerusalem.
Uhler and Meyer met the Papal Nuncio, Pietro Sambi, in
Jerusalem. He wanted news from At-Tuwani and Hebron
which Uhler and Meyer provided. He gave Uhler and
Meyer a suggestion for a press contact with Asianews.
Meyer and Roe spoke with Sani Khoury about legal
options for a member of Operation Dove who received a
death threat the previous week from Israeli settlers
in At-Tuwani .
Friday 11 February
Members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) visited CPT members.
Saturday 12 February
Zimmerman, Martens, Hunsberger and Lynes did school
patrol. They encountered no problems for Palestinians
but some passing Israeli boys spat on team members.
Sunday 13 February
Lynes went with ISM members to respond to a call about
soldiers occupying a house near Kiryat Arba
settlement. When they arrived they found no soldiers
in the houses so they returned home.
Meyer gave two Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
workers a tour of Hebron and At-Tuwani.
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