CPTnet
11 August 2006
HEBRON UPDATE: 25 July-7 August 2006
Team members present during this period were Rich Meyer, Lorin Peters, Mike
Brown, Dianne Roe, Christina Gibb, John Lynes and Tracy Hughes. CPT
delegation members present were Jamey Bouwmeester, Kelly Evans and Michael
Del Ponte.
Tuesday 25 July
Rich Meyer, Jamie Bouwmeester, Kelly Evans and Michael Del Ponte went to
At-Tuwani village for a pre-delegation visit.
A CPT visitor and CPTer Hughes completed a checkpoint patrol in the
afternoon that included the Old City streets, Shuhada Street and the area
near Yatta Road checkpoint. Settler youth attacked Hughes and the visitor
with large stones near Beit Hadassah settlement. CPT and other international
groups have noted an increase in settler violence toward Palestinians and
internationals in Hebron. (See 26 July CPTnet release, "Settler youth attack
Christian Peacemaker Team member and visitor in Hebron.")
Wednesday 26 July
After joining a "Breaking the Silence" tour led by Israeli soldiers who had
previously served in Hebron, Christina Gibb reported to the team that
Israeli settlers are building new structures inside Palestinian-owned stores
in the wholesale vegetable market.
Dianne Roe and Hughes went to Beit Ummar and met the mayor. Roe led a
conversation with the mayor about Beit Ummar's history that includes the
community offering hospitality to Israeli settlers during times of conflict
as well as the settlers confiscating much land in Beit Ummar for settlement
building and expansion. Hughes, Roe and the mayor planned for an upcoming
CPT delegation visit.
A local journalist interviewed Roe and Rich Meyer about the work and roots
of CPT. The interview will be published in Arabic on www.palestine-net.com
Thursday 27 July
Hughes, Gibb, Roe and Peters hosted a Fellowship of Reconciliation
delegation at the CPT office. Roe invited the delegation members and its
leaders to consider sending interfaith peace groups to work in Hebron.
Friday 28 July
Peters and Lynes patrolled the Ibrahimi Mosque area during noon prayers.
They reported that the mosque was so crowded that about fifty men had to
pray outside along the street. They also reported a remarkably high number
of men in the streets after noon prayers. The team suspected this large
turnout for Friday prayers was a reflection of the stress and hardships the
Palestinians are facing during the wars on Gaza and Lebanon.
Saturday 29 July
Hughes, Roe, Lynes, Gibb and Peters hosted Sabeel's first International
Young Adult Conference during their Hebron visit. CPT members gave tours of
Hebron and the apartment roof to about thirty young adults from all over the
world. Hughes and Roe invited about eight young Palestinians from Hebron to
join the international group for lunch and a discussion about the situation
in Hebron and about the lives of young adults under Israeli occupation.
After the day's events ended, some Palestinians from Hebron visited the CPT
house, and told Roe that they had a powerful experience sharing their
stories with international peers.
During the group's presentation and lunch, Gibb, Peters and Hughes monitored
Israeli soldiers conducting a patrol in the residential streets of the Old
City of Hebron. They made all the Palestinian men stand spread eagle with
their hands placed high on the walls of the tunnels. Women and children
were not allowed to pass through the area and soldiers were ordering
Palestinian families to shut the doors to their homes or kicking the doors
shut themselves. The soldiers were also taking positions in doorways, at
street corners and along the tunnels that looked as though they were
practicing urban war tactics.
Monday 31 July
Lynes, Gibb, and Peters hosted a visitor from Switzerland who is interested
in being an intern with CPT Hebron. During the visit, a local Palestinian
young man stole the visitor's motorcycle. Hughes assisted the guest with the
help of neighbors to locate it and the motorcycle was returned to the guest.
Tuesday 1 August
CPT reservist Mike Brown hosted an Italian artist interested in telling
stories of Palestinian lives in Hebron. Brown introduced the guest to a
Palestinian family that works closely with CPT.
Four CPT delegation members arrived in Hebron while the others stayed in
At-Tuwani village for the night.
Wednesday 2 August
CPT reservist Lorin Peters gave a tour to a group of twenty-two Basilians (a
Catholic teaching order) from Canada.
Dianne Roe and CPT reservist Christina Gibb attended a children's art
program at the Women's Center in the Old City. Roe videotaped the program
for the director of the center.
The final eight members of the CPT delegation arrived in Hebron. A CPT
friend and neighbor cooked dinner for the members of the delegation and the
Hebron team.
Thursday 3 August
Hebron team members, CPT delegates and visitors from Sabeel met with the
Hamas mayor of Beit Ummar. In the afternoon, one farmer showed the group his
land where Israeli settlers had uprooted 100 fruit trees and allowed their
sheep and goats to graze, destroying the fruit vines and other crops.
Palestinians in Hebron demonstrated against the presence of Israeli settlers
on the roof of Palestinian buildings; they were observing the Jewish holiday
of Tisha B'Av. John Lynes and Peters stood between Palestinian youth who
were throwing stones and Israeli military jeeps. No one was injured during
the demonstration.
Tracy Hughes and Rich Meyer hosted a delegation from Sabeel. The group
included national officers of the United Church of Christ and the Christian
Church (DOC), interns from Notre Dame University and people from the Midwest
United States who were part of the Congressional Program. Hughes and Meyer
took the group on a rooftop tour, toured the Old City of Hebron, Shuhada
Street and accompanied them to At-Tuwani village.
A neighbor close to CPT reported to Meyer that Israeli soldiers entered her
family's home early in the morning. The soldiers took all the men outside
and stayed in the home until morning. They questioned the family regarding
the location of a young man belonging to the family. The Israeli soldiers
then went to the house where the young Palestinian man was staying and
surrounded the house at 4:00 a.m. The Israeli soldiers blindfolded,
handcuffed and arrested the young man and his cousin. The Israeli soldiers
released the cousin, who cut his chin and broke a tooth after the soldiers
pushed him out of the military jeep. The soldiers took the other young man
away in a military jeep. Meyer assisted the young man's family by calling
local and international NGOs to help locate him. They learned that the
Shabak (Israeli secret police) were interrogating the young man and then
transferring him to Ashkelon prison.
Friday 4 August
CPT delegation members and Hebron team members led a demonstration at the
gate of the Israeli military checkpoint of Beit Romano. CPT delegates hung a
banner on the gate that read, "Open the Gates, O Lord." (See 9 August CPTnet
release," CPT delegation holds public witness demanding freedom for
political prisoners and freedom of movement for all Palestinians.")
Lynes led a group of CPT delegates along Haret Jaber (Worshipper' Way), down
Shuhada Street and up to Tel Rumeida. Israeli settler youth attacked the
group with stones.
Gibb hosted two women from Switzerland and gave them a tour of the Old City
of Hebron.
Four members of Operation Dove, the Italian peace group that shares the work
of CPT in At-Tuwani village, came for the night.
At dusk, Israeli soldiers entered the home of a neighbor close to the CPT
apartment. Meyers, Lynes, Gibb, Roe and two members of Operation Dove
immediately went to the home. The Israeli soldiers entered one room and
ransacked the belongings and furniture; they then prepared to spend the
night in another room. The Israeli soldiers asked CPT to leave but CPT and
Operation Dove members refused to leave the family. After one and a half
hours the Israeli soldiers left and the CPT and International Dove members
returned to the CPT apartment.
At 10:30 p.m. another CPT neighbor reported that Israeli settlers broke the
water main to her apartment. The neighbor reported the crime to the Kiryat
Arba police. The police arrived and temporarily fixed the water main.
Israeli settlers have targeted this apartment and family for harassment in
recent months.
Saturday 5 August
CPT delegates and one Hebron team member took a tour of Bedouin villages in
the area of Beersheva.
Gibb accompanied the CPT neighbor who had the water main broken by Israeli
settlers, to report the incident and find how to get the water main
permanently fixed.
Lynes led the Operation Dove members on a tour of the Old City of Hebron.
Israeli settler youth attacked the group with stones. Gibbs and Lynes
completed Shabbat patrol and followed an Israeli settler tour of the Old
City of Hebron.
Monday 7 August
Two volunteers from an Italian media NGO visited the CPT apartment.
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