CPTnet
16 June 2006
HEBRON UPDATE: 3-9 June 2006
Team members for this period included Angela Davis, Christina Gibb, Tracy
Hughes, John Lynes, Dianne Roe, and Kathie Uhler.
Saturday 3 June
The thirteen Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) delegation members returned to
the village of At Tuwani, where CPT has a team. They went on to the tiny
village of Susiya where villagers had requested an international presence
while they refilled the village cistern, using a tractor-drawn tanker, from
their well about a kilometer away. The villagers were concerned about
Israeli settler interference from a nearby settlement. The villagers were
able to refill the cistern without problems.
John Lynes and Christina Gibb went out twice on Shabbat patrol to Haret
Jaber, (Worshipper's Way.) They went up Patriarch's Hill road and had tea at
a house near where they had spent the night on 5 May. The mother of the
family said they had not had trouble from settlers, but Israeli soldiers
come in at night sometimes.
Sunday 4 June
Six of the delegation fell ill with dehydration and, possibly, food
poisoning. So the team decided that Angela Davis should stay in Jerusalem
with them until they were all recovered and safely on flights home. (All
recovered and caught flights home.)
Monday 5 June
At the invitation of the principal, Lynes and Gibb went with a Palestinian
friend to the end-of-year celebrations at Al Fayha'a Girls School. Al
Fayha'a is the school closest to the Ibrahimi Mosque and the checkpoints.
Gibb and a member of TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron)
helped present awards. The assembly sang some songs and some girls wore the
"toob"-traditional Palestinian embroidered dresses.
Tuesday 6 June
A Palestinian friend who had just returned from a speaking tour in Canada
and USA, organized by CPT, visited the CPT apartment. He told the team the
tour had been very worthwhile and he is already planning his next tour.
Wednesday 7 June
This was the first day of the "Tawjihi" examinations: the final
all-important, college and professional placement exams students take before
leaving high school.
In the morning, Gibb and Lynes patrolled local checkpoints to ensure that
students taking the exam reached school safely. An Israeli army officer
assured Lynes that the military were aware of the importance of these
examinations for the students concerned.
Later, CPTers visited the Tariq ibn Zaid Boys Secondary School to tell the
principal that CPT would patrol the checkpoints at the time the boys were
going to school for their exams. They asked the principal for a list of
names of those taking the exams who must come out of the Old City. The
CPTers found out that the principal and staff were from another school.
They swapped schools with the regular staff for the duration of the exams.
Because the U.S. and European countries are withholding financial aid to the
newly elected Hamas government, none of the teachers has been paid for four
months. Their hosts could thus not offer them sugar for the tea.
Thursday, 8 June
Upon returning from school patrol, Lynes and Hughes encountered four armed
male settlers in the "souq" (market) outside CPT's door. The shopkeepers
expressed concern regarding the settlers' presence there. Two settlers went
onto the CPT apartment roof with Lynes while Hughes waited outside with the
other two settlers and the settlers' weapons. One of the settlers had been
evacuated from Gaza. A Palestinian neighbor, who lives next door to CPT,
engaged the settlers in conversation on the CPT porch, telling them that she
is tired of having stones thrown through her window by settler children.
A Palestinian shopkeeper and Hughes secured the hole in the gate through
which the settlers entered.
Roe and Hughes explored the empty house opposite the CPT apartment where the
street boys store quantities of old TV sets. They had lately spent much
time smashing to bits in front of the CPT apartment to recover strands of
salvageable copper.
In the afternoon, Lynes and Davis showed several small groups of visitors
around, including one who brought supplies for a clinic.
Gibb revisited the boys' school to pick up the list of names. The principal
gave her a list of seven boys who were sitting the Tawjihi exams. CPTers saw
only three boys going through the checkpoints to school that week. The other
students may have stayed with friends or relatives who live on the other
side of the checkpoints to ensure they could take the exams.
Roe and Hughes went to Abu Dis, a town near Bethlehem, to take part in the
showing of a film on the Palestinian soccer team, which was projected onto
the nine-meter high Separation Wall in the open air.
Friday, 9 June
All CPT team members went to At-Tuwani to participate in the community
demonstration (public action) against the low (80cm) security wall, or
"small wall" that is being built along Highway 317. The demonstration was
nonviolent. (See 13 June 2006 release, "AT-TUWANI: Villagers demonstrate
against low "security" wall.")
Roe and Gibb attended a meeting called by ISM (International Solidarity
Movement) for all international groups working in the Tel Rumeida area of
Hebron. The meeting took place in the new Community Center in Tel Rumeida,
an ancient and very troubled neighborhood of the Old City.
_______________
To stop receiving messages from CPTNET on MennoLink, do NOT hit reply. Send
a message with only the word, "suspend," in the body to
server@MennoLink.org.
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) seeks to enlist the whole church in
organized, nonviolent alternatives to war and places teams of trained
peacemakers in regions of lethal conflict. Originally a violence-reduction
initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonite, Church of the Brethren
and Quaker), CPT now enjoys support and membership from a wide range of
Christian denominations.
To express concerns, criticisms or affirmations to CPT's Chicago office
send messages to peacemakers@cpt.org. To express concerns, criticisms or
affirmations to CPT's Canadian office, send messages to
guest.996427@MennoLink.org.
To receive news or discussion of CPT issues by e-mail, fill out the form
found on our WEB page at http://www.cpt.org/subscribe.php
Donate to CPT on-line with your credit card! Go to
http://cpt.org/donate.php and click the DONATE button to make a
contribution through Network for Good, a secure way to help support CPT.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jun 29 2006 - 16:15:18 EDT