CPTnet
6 September 2006
HEBRON UPDATE: 17 August-1 September 2006
During this period the Hebron Team included Michael del Ponte, Christina
Gibb, Tracy Hughes, John Lynes and Dianne Roe.
Thursday 17 August
Christina Gibb went to the opening of a new kindergarten in the Haret Jaberi
area, above the Hebron Rehabilitation Center. An earlier kindergarten,
closer to the large Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, had to close because
settler harassment had made it unsafe for the children. The new kindergarten
was brightly painted with colourful murals, and had a shady play area with
small swings and slides and other equipment outside. It opened with ten
children, but will soon expand to sixteen or twenty.
A Palestinian now living in Minnesota visited the CPT apartment with his
father; they had come to revisit the home where they were born across the
street from CPT's building. He was devastated to see the deterioration of
the neighborhood, especially that which had occurred in the last three years
after the Israeli army declared the area a closed military zone, welded the
doors to the buildings closed, and evicted the residents. His father told
of the time that his father, uncles and grandmother rescued their Jewish
neighbors, the Mizrahi family, during the riots of 1929. The visitor said
he wished his wife, an American citizen, could have been with him, but
Israeli authorities did not allow her across the Jordanian border.
Saturday 19 August
Gibb, Tracy Hughes, Dianne Roe and Sarah Scruggs, along with seven other
internationals traveled to the Negev inside Israel where they met Israeli
peace activist Amos Gvirtz, who took them to meet Bedouins near Beer Sheva.
Gvirtz is a champion of the Bedouin people, who are denied basic human
rights although they hold Israeli citizenship. The group visited Nuri
Elokbi who has camped on his land since 14 May to protest the threatened
land confiscation by the Israeli government. The internationals then
visited an "unrecognized" village where they met other Bedouin.
John Lynes led a tour group along Haret Jaber ("Worshippers' Way") and up to
Tel Rumeida. When they returned via the Duboyya Street checkpoint they
stopped to watch the detention of a Palestinian, to the annoyance of an
Israeli civilian policeman who demanded their passports. Eventually the
Palestinian was released and the passports restored.
In the souq (market) Lynes encountered an Israeli soldier patrol. The
officer, who had met him before, told Lynes that the patrol was about to
enter an empty building, and warned him he would be arrested if he followed
the patrol into the building. Lynes indicated his willingness to be
arrested. The officer led his patrol swiftly through the covered alleys and
corridors of the Old City. Lynes, whose arthritic knee prevented him from
running, pursued them as fast as his stick would propel him. When Lynes
caught up with the patrol, the officer led the soldiers, back through the
passages, eventually leaving Lynes out of sight. However nobody
subsequently observed them entering any empty buildings.
Sunday 20 August
Hughes and Michael del Ponte went to the glass factory north of Hebron and
upon return found eight Israeli soldiers and two jeeps on Old Shalala
Street. The soldiers were welding shut a door that led to a staircase.
Hughes and del Ponte approached the soldiers. The soldiers, in response to
their questions, said only, "We are closing the door," and "You have to
leave." One soldier threatened arrest and put his hands on Del Ponte to push
him away. Finally, the two soldiers walked Hughes and del Ponte back to the
checkpoint where they stayed and watched.
At 6:40 p.m. del Ponte came upon six soldiers on patrol. Three were inside
the tea shop close to the CPT apartment, and three were standing outside.
When del Ponte asked them what they were doing they replied, "I cannot talk
to you. None of the soldiers here can talk to you. This order is from the
officers." After ten minutes the soldiers returned two IDs to Palestinian
men and continued their patrol southwards.
Monday 21 August
At 10:15 a.m., the team noticed Israeli soldiers entering a neighboring
Palestinian house. Gibb and Lynes went round and stayed at the open doorway,
where two soldiers stopped them from entering. The family could see them
through a window. Roe videoed the scene from the CPT balcony. The soldiers
asked her to stop, but did not pursue the matter when Gibb said that it was
legal for CPT to photograph them. She talked to them in the doorway for as
long as they were there. They stayed in the house for about forty five
minutes, and then all six left.
During most of the day, bulldozers and other machinery and soldiers were
working at the barrier at the end of Souq Shaheen, round the corner, which
used to be the way through to the vegetable market. They appear to be
building a stronger barrier.
Wednesday 23 August
Roe and Lynes visited families in Haret Jaber whose homes the Israeli
military had recently occupied.
Because of a Jewish holiday, the gate from the Old City to the Ibrahimi
Mosque was closed, Haret Jaber ("Worshippers' Way") was closed and soldiers
prevented pedestrians who wanted to cross from H1 to H2 through the Duboyya
Street checkpoint from doing so. Lynes, prevented by closures from making
the usual tour of Hebron, led a tour group from World Vision up to Tel
Rumeida (which had been declared a Closed Military Zone), by the "scramble"
route, and back to H1 through the Duboyya Street checkpoint which soldiers
had earlier prevented them from entering. Palestinians waiting at the
checkpoint apparently appreciated their accomplishment.
During the afternoon, the team held a birthday party in the courtyard of the
CPT apartment, to celebrate the first birthday of a Palestinian friend's
son. The children splashed about in an inflatable paddling pool, and extra
boys from the street joined in.
A Palestinian neighbor visited the CPT apartment to ask for help because an
Israeli patrol was occupying an apartment close by. Lynes, along with a
Norwegian Ecumenical Accompanier, entered the room where the soldiers were
seated. They engaged the Israeli officer, who spoke good English, in a
friendly conversation for about forty-five minutes on the role, limitations
and consequences of using violence in the present situation. The patrol
left without doing any damage.
Thursday 24 August
Mayor Alqam, the Mayor of Beit Ummar, was arrested at about 2:00 a.m. (See
27 August 2006 release, "BEIT UMMAR: Israeli military abducts Palestinian
mayor; CPT Hebron visits family.")
Friday 25 August
Dianne Roe and Christine Gibb visited families in the Jaber neighborhood
whose homes the Israeli military had occupied during the week.
In the evening the team joined Ecumenical Accompaniers in a Palestinian home
for a farewell celebration in honor of Dianne Roe and an American
documentary film maker, both of whom were to leave Hebron soon.
Saturday 26 August
Christina Gibb and John Lynes sat close to the entrance of the Israeli
settlement of Kiryat Arba, along Haret Jaber ("Worshippers' Way") to engage
passing settlers in conversation. One settler --an old acquaintance
--asked,
"Why didn't you go to Haifa when it was being bombed?"
While they were sitting there, they saw a small group of Jewish worshippers
inside an abandoned Palestinian shoe factory. They also saw a group of
Israeli settlers force an elderly Palestinian couple, attempting to walk
along Haret Jaber towards the Old City, to leave the roadway. The couple
climbed onto the parapet, and an Israeli soldier escorted them on their way.
Gibb, Lynes and Roe visited the family of the imprisoned Mayor of Beit
Ummar.
During the afternoon, a neighbour reported that Israeli troops had occupied
a Palestinian home nearby. Lynes entered the house and found that the
soldiers, having climbed onto the roof, were already a number of rooftops
away. He returned to ground level and intercepted the troops as they
descended. Recognising him, they ran away along the main road of the souq,
straight into a party of Israeli visitors heavily guarded by another group
of soldiers. The visitors were clearly bored with their guided tour, but
woke up at the sudden intrusion.
Tuesday 29 August
Israeli troops arrived outside the CPT apartment, supervising preparations
for a new structure that, the team surmised, would take the form of a new
checkpoint leading from the souq into Shuhada Street.
Wednesday 30 August
A Palestinian university lecturer in socio linguistics, who hoped to take up
an appointment at Hebron Polytechnic University, visited the team. He
believed that internationals of goodwill could mediate between Palestinians
and Israelis, and was encouraging the Palestinian Authority to investigate
this possibility.
Thursday 31 August
During the afternoon, a visiting Japanese photographer reported that
Israeli military had entered a Palestinian home nearby. Lynes and a visitor
hurried to the house, by which time the soldiers had left. Subsequently,
with the help of an interpreter, the mother of the family was able to tell
her story. At 12:30 p.m. the military had entered their home, seeking the
father, a street cleaner for Hebron Municipality. The father was still at
work. Two soldiers searched the bedroom, turning its contents upside down.
They claimed to have discovered a live round of ammunition. The mother was
adamant this had been planted.
The father's young brother arrived on the scene and protested. The soldiers
attacked him. The mother tried to intervene. The soldiers forced the
brother into the bathroom and beat him up. The father arrived home to find
his children in tears at the sight of a gun held at their mother's head.
The soldiers arrested both the brothers. Subsequently Musa Abu Hash Hash of
B'tselem saw the brothers blindfolded and roughly treated at Beit Romano.
Lynes photographed the upturned bedroom. TIPH staff also visited and
documented the raid. The Israeli police told the mother that the two
detainees would be released within a few hours, and that she would be free
to file a complaint the next day.
Friday 1 September
All the team except Lynes were unwell. Lynes patrolled in the neighborhood
of the Ibrahimi Mosque before and after noon Prayers.
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