CPTnet
29 May 2006
HEBRON UPDATE: 20-26 May 2006
Team members during this period were Angela Davis, Cassandra Dixon,
Christina Gibb, John Lynes, Pieter Niemeyer.
Saturday 20 May
During morning school patrol Israeli children threw a few stones at
Palestinian children going to school, and at their CPT escorts. No injuries
resulted.
Christina Gibb and Angela Davis took part in an action at Bet Ummar,
organized by the Israeli peace group Ta'ayush. Between fifty and seventy
Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals split into four groups to
accompany several Palestinian farmers to their fields, adjoining the Israeli
settlement of Karme Zur. Israeli settlers and soldiers had generally
prevented Palestinians from working there. When the group arrived, soldiers
and settlers were waiting at the edge of the land. They watched throughout
the day, but did not intervene. The farmers were able to spray their
vineyards and plow between the rows of vines. One farmer had suffered so
much abuse by settlers in the past that he had given up working his land.
That farmer's neighbor plowed part of his land for him.
Monday 22 May
After morning school patrol Gibb and John Lynes visited the principal of the
Ibrahimi Boys' School. The principal said that end-of-year exams had
already started, and would continue until 29 May. The school term would end
on 31 May. He confirmed that his staff had not been paid for March, April
or May, saying "For us, today's date is 90 March!"
Tuesday 23 May
Atta Jaber, a local farmer and friend of CPT, visited the team and reported
that Israeli authorities had erected a new fence, cutting off his family
from another six acres of land, in addition to that already confiscated over
the years by the Israeli settlement of Harsina.
Wednesday 24 May
Davis, Gibb and Lynes revisited entrances to the Old City where the military
had installed metal gates had in July 2005. They were pleased to find that,
in addition to the two gates removed by the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee
offices, three other gates had also been removed. Two gates remain closed
near the Israeli settlements.
In the afternoon, Davis and Gibb went with a translator to visit two
families in Al Fawwar refugee camp. The first family had ten children, who
were very excited to receive them. The youngest boy, aged about eighteen
months, had serious health problems for which they could not get proper
treatment. In the second family, among eleven children, was a severely
handicapped girl of thirteen. A botched operation had damaged her brain.
She could hear, but not speak. Her limbs were wasted. Lesions all over her
scalp would not heal, because of her damaged immune system.
She had been lying on a mattress in the hallway, but her mother carried her
into the living room to be with the family. She had a beautiful smile for
the various family members when they sat with her on the couch. Her mother
used to take her to the UNWRA Center for the Disabled in the camp, where she
improved with massage and physiotherapy. However, now they have to pay, and
cannot afford the treatment. Her father was a teacher, so had too high an
income to be eligible for free treatment for the family. Like
fellow-teachers he had not been paid for three months.
Thursday 25 May
At 8:15 a.m., the military detained one of the senior boys from the Tariq
Ibn Said Boys Secondary School at the checkpoint by the Gutnick Center.
Gibb explained to the soldiers that he had an exam, but they professed not
to understand. He expressed gratitude for staying until the military
released him in time to take the exam.
Friday 26 May
The Israeli military operated their checkpoint by the Gutnick Center at noon
more considerately than in previous weeks. They collected ID papers before
noon prayers at the Ibrahimi Mosque, and returned most of them straight
after prayers were over. Nevertheless, a backlog of seventeen detainees had
to wait for a short time.
In the evening, Gibb and Lynes attended a party in the Tel Rumeida Community
Center, to mark the temporary departure of a veteran member of the
International Solidarity Movement in Hebron. She had clearly endeared
herself to the whole community.
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