CPTnet
7 June 2007
HEBRON UPDATE: 15-23 May 2007
During this period, the Hebron team included Jan Benvie, Joel Gulledge,
Eileen Hanson, Esther Kern, John Lynes, Ilse Muehlsteph, Carol Rose, Mary
Scott Boria, Mary Wendeln and Mary Yoder.
Tuesday 15 May 2007
Two visitors from Michigan Peace Teams (MPT) accompanied John Lynes and Mary
Yoder on School Patrol. Jan Benvie and Eileen Hanson joined a member of the
Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine Israel (EAPPI) at Qurtuba
School.
While on patrol near the Gutnick Center, Benvie and Lynes observed a young
Israeli settler man deliberately knock over a tray with dishes of
yogurt-type food located outside a Palestinian home. A young Palestinian
boy who had been standing beside the tray left and complained to the border
police officer. The police officer called the settler to the checkpoint.
The soldier spoke to the settler and made him apologize to the Palestinian
boy.
Later, Benvie observed a soldier stopping a young Palestinian boy (about
eight-years- old). As Benvie approached the soldier to inquire about the
situation, the soldier showed her a used bullet shell and explained that the
bullet should not be the boy's possession. Just then, another soldier came
and spoke to the boy in Arabic. He repeated to Benvie, "He should not be
carrying this here. I have told him it is not good and not to do it again."
The soldiers then allowed the young boy to continue on his way.
Wednesday 16 May 2007
Yoder helped EAPPI escort school children near Qurtuba School. A settler
car stopped where Yoder and an EAPPI staff member were standing. The driver
stepped out of his car, leaving a baby in the back, and yelled, "Do you
speak English?" He then screamed obscenities at the two women.
Abdelhadi Hantash from the Hebron Land Defense Committee visited and
informed the team that "Stop Building" permits, which are orders that
precede demolitions, had been issued for the villages of Fuqeiqis, and
Khirbet Salama.
Thursday 17 May
Benvie, Yoder, and Lynes along with other internationals joined Palestinians
in an action on behalf of a Palestinian family close to the Israeli
settlement Kiryat Arba. For years, settlers have tried to prevent the
family from accessing their property. On 26 April, settlers in a white jeep
shot at the father and his son as they were tilling their land. The Israeli
Army heard the shots and arrested the Palestinian father and son, rather
than the settler.
An Israeli from the group Bnei Avraham showed the family's ownership papers
to the police, and told them that he had notified the police and received
permission from them the prior day to go onto the property. After numerous
phone calls, the officers allowed the group onto the property. The family
asked the Palestinians, Israeli and internationals to pull grass for the
goats because they felt it was too dangerous to graze their goats in that
area. After collecting many bags of grass, the group returned to the house.
The Israeli police returned and after fifteen minutes, two Israeli settlers
walked onto the property and began taking photos. One of the settlers,
Itamar Ben Gvir is the spokesperson for the extreme rightwing Israeli
political party, Chayil, and has been imprisoned multiple times for acts of
violence. The settlers stayed for an hour. Benvie, Lynes, and a female
member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) stayed with family
members throughout the night because they feared reprisals from the
settlers.
Wendeln attended a weekly action at Dubboya checkpoint organized by the
Palestine Popular Committee (PPC.) A group of Palestinians who took a dove
through the checkpoint returned with a dead dove, saying that the soldiers
had killed it. Later that day one of the organizers brought a CD with
photos of the event to CPT. 'The dove is a symbol of peace and they killed
the peace," he said.
A German couple and a young Palestinian woman from the Schmidt Boarding
School in Jerusalem stopped by the apartment. As Wendeln shared information
about CPT during a roof top tour, the young Palestinian woman commented," I
feel so helpless as a Palestinian when I hear how my people are treated."
In the evening Wendeln, and Yoder saw four Israeli soldiers in the street
near the apartment. Yoder asked them what they were doing there and then
asked them to leave. The soldiers kept saying "beautiful, beautiful" and
making kissing noises. When Yoder informed the soldiers she was videotaping
them, they immediately they changed their behavior.
Friday 18 Mary 2007
Hanson and Yoder joined Dianne Janzen and Ilse Muehlsteph (from the Tuwani
team) at an action in the village of Al- Buweib to accompany shepherds and
farmers near the Israeli settlement of Pnei Hever.
On noon patrol, Benvie and Lynes noticed that the Israeli border police were
taking IDs from young Palestinian men when they entered the mosque and
returning most of them after prayers. However, the border police detained
approximately seventy Palestinians for an hour when they came out of the
mosque. Benvie and Lynes left in the early evening to again stay overnight
with the Palestinian family (see 17 May entry.) At around 8:15 they heard
shouting outside the gate. A few moments later one of the sons came to the
house. He reported that Israeli soldiers had stopped him from walking up the
path to his home and held him for about fifteen minutes. When the soldiers
released him, they followed him to the house and remained outside the gate.
The family was unhappy with the soldiers standing at their gate and asked
the CPTers to photograph them. When the soldiers saw the CPTers taking
photographs they moved away from the house. The remainder of the evening
and night was quiet, but the family remained very anxious.
Saturday 19 May 2007
Kern and Wendeln went on school patrol with EAPPI at Qurtuba School. They
noticed six Israeli soldiers standing up the hill, near the school. Two
Israeli settler boys arrived and told Wendeln to go away. One of the boys
picked up a rock and Wendeln told the boys to put down the rock and come
with her and talk to the Israeli soldier on duty nearby. The boys ran across
the street to the settlement building of Beit Hadassah and threw the rock at
Wendeln. The soldiers on the hill then went down to street, beside Beit
Hadassah.
A group of visitors from the US branch of the National Council of Churches
visited the CPT apartment with members of EAPPI. Later Benvie and Lynes met
and spoke with a group of three members of the UK Parliament who were on a
fact-finding visit to Hebron.
Tuesday 22 May 2007
Yoder led a tour of Hebron's Old City for nine people from Holy Land Trust.
While out shopping, Benvie observed a Border Policeman roughly pushing a
Palestinian against a wall and searching him at the checkpoint near the
Gutnick Center. As Benvie approached with her camera, the policeman let go
of the Palestinian man and moved away before Benvie could take a photograph.
Wednesday 23 May 2007
At 11.30am Muehlsteph and Wendeln went on school patrol at Qurtuba School
with two members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM.) The
commander of the Israeli police approached Wendeln and Muehlsteph and asked
them to move away from the area, saying that they were disturbing his work
by standing there. Wendeln explained that CPT was there in the place of
EAPPI. The commander said that he did not know CPT or EAPPI and that it was
the duty of the police and the soldiers to protect the Palestinian school
children. When Wendeln remarked that at times the blue police were absent
from the area, another member of the force called CPTers liars and a
confrontation arose between the commander and the other police officer. The
commander continued to ask CPTers to move. Wendeln asked for his name and
badge number and Muehlsteph called the police station and reported the
incidents in Arabic. The commander then said something to the soldier and
police officer, returned to his car and drove away.
After afternoon patrol, when Benvie and Muehlsteph were passing through the
gates and into the souq at the Ibrahimi Mosque, a group of Israeli border
policemen came rushing and shouting after them. Two of the border police
knelt down and aimed their guns at the CPTers. The commander ordered the
CPTers to move, but they told him they were looking at things for sale in a
nearby shop. After a few moments, the border police returned through the
gates and out of the souq to their checkpoint.
CPT Joel Gulledge, visiting from the team in At Tuwani, noticed soldiers in
the chicken market outside of the team's apartment as he returned from a
walk in the Old City. Wendeln joined him and they watched as the soldiers
directed a young Palestinian to climb over the fence to fetch some turkeys
that had wandered inside the fenced off area that leads to Shuhada Street.
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