CPTnet
1 September 2005
HEBRON: Series of suspicious fires afflict Palestinians living near Tel
Rumeida settlement
by Jerry Levin
Palestinians living near the Israeli settlement of Tel Rumeida have claimed
that settler arson is responsible for the three fires that have broken out
during the past ten days in terraced Palestinian fields above the
settlement.
A young Palestinian boy reported that he had seen a settler youngster in the
spot where the third fire began. The boy, Ashraf Abu Aisha, identified the
suspect as the son of a Tel Rumeidan settler named Yitzhak. While the third
fire was still burning, Samir Abu Aisha--whose family compound sits on land
just below the field--reported this information to Israeli soldiers, several
international monitors, and Palestinians living in the area.
CPTers John Lynes, Dianne Roe and Jerry Levin saw the fire as they were
ending a visit to one of the Abu Haikel families whose house overlooks the
field. The field, approximately one dunam (1/4 acre) of once carefully
tended fertile soil has long been ruled off limits to Palestinians by the
Israeli army, even though the Abu Haikels own the orchard and grape arbors
there. Defying the prohibition, Abu Haikel men snaked a water hose down
from their property about ten feet above the terraced field and began
fighting the fire with it. They put it out in approximately 1/2 hour.
CPTers John Lynes, Dianne Roe and Jerry Levin helped the Abu Haikels fight
the fire. Appearing several minutes after the they had been fighting the
blaze, five Israeli soldiers attacked it with shovels and buckets of water.
Meanwhile Roe called TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron) as
well local Israeli police. TIPH alerted the Hebron Fire Brigade, but the
Israeli police never answered Roe's cell phone.
Vehicular access to Palestinian Tel Rumeida has been blocked since shortly
after the latest uprising began in 2000, so fire trucks could not get
through. Once the fire was extinguished, an Israeli soldier--after taking
names and numbers of witnesses-- ordered the internationals and the
Palestinians to leave the field, "because," a patrol leader said, "it is
forbidden to be here."
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