CPTnet
15 May 2006
HEBRON UPDATE: 6-12 May 2006
Team members during this period were Dave Corcoran, Cassandra Dixon,
Christine Gibb, John Lynes, and Anne Montgomery.
Saturday 6 May
Dave Corcoran, Cassandra Dixon and John Lynes went with an interpreter to
visit the home of a three year old Palestinian boy. He had been hit by an
Israeli settler car on 3 May, while playing with his brother close to the
front of their home. He received treatment at the hospital and stayed
overnight for observation, but sustained no permanent injuries. The police
officer who took the report has his headquarters in Jerusalem. The father
has to get a permit to travel to Jerusalem to file a complaint against the
driver and to get reimbursement for the hospital expenses. Ten children
have sustained injuries in the past year from settler cars speeding by on
that road. The residents have unsuccessfully tried to get speed-bumps
installed.
Sunday 7 May
At 2:00 a.m. CPTers were awakened by people running toward the Al-Nazar
house which Israeli settlers had occupied in April 2006. (See 12 April
CPTnet release "Israeli settlers seize another Palestinian building.")
>From the rooftop of the CPT apartment they observed Israelis burning
materials and trying to get past police lines. The eviction of the illegal
occupants of the Al-Nazar house had begun. By noon the eviction appeared to
be complete. (See 8 May CPTnet release "Hebron settlers removed from
occupied building.")
Corcoran, Lynes and Anne Montgomery went on school patrol only to find that
the Israeli military had closed several schools in H2 (the
Israeli-controlled area of Hebron) for the day and declared the area a
"closed military zone" because of the military's effort to evict the
settlers from the Al Nazar house. All gates from H1
(Palestinian-controlled) to H2 were closed. However CPTers found a
roundabout way to get close to the house and observe the eviction.
Later the team attended a party in Hebron to say farewell to the outgoing
Hebron EAPPI (Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel--a
program of the World Council of Churches) contingent, and welcome the
incoming workers.
Monday 8 May
Dixon and Lynes led a tour group of Presbyterians from San Francisco to the
roof of the CPT apartment and along Haret Jaber ("Worshippers' Way.")
Tuesday 9 May
Dixon, Lynes and an intern attended a meeting of the International Peace
Teams Forum in Jerusalem. Also present at the meeting were representatives
from EAPPI, the International Women's Peace Team, and the American Friends
Service Committee. The group discussed working together on recruitment.
EAPPI will prepare a booklet of legal information for internationals based
on the recent legal training.
Wednesday 10 May
Corcoran, Dixon, Gibb and Lynes, accompanied by a translator, visited
several homes in the olive tree area on Tel Rumeida. Each family living
there had had trouble from both Israeli soldiers and Israeli settlers.
Incursions by the military had increased since the election of Hamas in
January 2006.
In the first home, a ten-year old son had suffered an eye injury from stones
thrown by Israeli children in February. In trying to evade them he fell and
broke an arm. He is now receiving psychiatric treatment.
In the second house they met members of two families. Since moving into the
building two years ago the families had experienced three phases of
harassment from the military. At first soldiers forced their way in,
especially at night. Later they used to occupy the roof, confining the
families to a few rooms. Nowadays they usually entered when no adults were
at home.
The family said Israeli settlers struck mainly on Fridays, Saturdays and
Jewish Holy Days. For example on the previous Saturday settlers had
attacked a 10-year-old boy, injuring his arm. On the return from the
hospital his father learned that in his absence settlers had set fire to his
car. He expressed his determination to stay in his home: "We stay here even
if it means we die here." He also said he felt anxiety for the effect
staying there would have on his children. "When our kids watch the army
and the settlers they learn violence," he said.
The third home they visited was particularly vulnerable to attack by
settlers. They approached along a narrow track and down a ladder to the back
yard, hidden by grape vines. The wide steps of the proper entrance were just
below the Tel Rumeida settler cabins, and have been completely blocked with
rubbish. Settlers spotted the CPTers as they left the building and showered
them with small stones.
Thursday 11 May
On school patrol, Lynes and Corcoran watched children going through the
Mosque checkpoints in the normal amount of time. Around the corner at the
Yatta Road checkpoint, however, Dixon and Gibb saw soldiers search the bags
of each child, putting them through the metal detector cabin one by one.
Numbers quickly built up, and at peak there seventy people were waiting
there, mostly schoolboys. Some were fifty minutes late for school.
In the afternoon, Gibb and Lynes, accompanied by a translator, visited the
house near Haret Jaber where they had slept on the previous Friday night.
The owner had started building the house, with factory space beneath, about
fifteen years ago, but ran out of money, so that it had been an empty shell
for a long time. She said settlers targeted it because it was unoccupied.
Once a kitchen and bathroom were complete beside the factory space, they
would move in. The owner would let the team know if another "sleep-over" was
needed.
The family told them of a boy living close by whom Israeli settlers had
beaten during the week. They accused him of stealing a bicycle pump.
Subsequently the pump turned up elsewhere. Gibb and Lynes visited the boy
and his parents, who welcomed them to their home.
Friday 12 May
After the full-team meeting in At-Tuwani, Dixon and Lynes did a patrol at
the end of noon prayers. Border police were detaining about fifty
Palestinian men at the Gutnick Center checkpoint, but released them quickly.
The Border Police denied that these detentions were unusual.
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