Monday, March 1
Palestinians from Halhul gathered to protest the expansion of Karme Tzur
settlement (north of Hebron). Without government permission, settlers had
placed tall poles along a perimeter road that encircles about 50 dunams (12
acres) of Palestinian land adjacent to the settlement, as if for a perimeter
lighting system. The Palestinians had appealed to the Israeli authorities who
said the poles should be removed by Thursday.

The Israeli military placed a heightened closure on Palestinians entering
Jerusalem during the four-day-long Jewish holiday of Purim. Purim
commemorates deliverance from the danger of persecution and remembers
specifically Esther's thwarting of persecution from the villain Haman, who
today has become a symbol of those who hate the Jews. Purim is celebrated
here with carnival-like exuberance.

Hebron teenage settler girls began to string a big banner across Shuhada
street near the CPT apartment, attaching it to a Palestinian building on one
side of the street. Initially, Israeli soldiers tried to stop the girls.
The girls began to argue with the soldiers and a settler man stopped to join
the argument. The soldiers left the girls alone. The settlers held a large
party there in the evening.

Six members of the Israeli group Bat Shalom (Daughters of Peace) went with
CPTer Dianne Roe on a solidarity visit to see Nazeeha Daoud at her home in
Hebron's Old City. Nazeeha lives next to Avraham Avinu settlement and a
soldier checkpoint has been placed on her roof. She reported that there had
been a resumption of harassment by the soldiers. Members of Bat Shalom
questioned the soldiers and then went to the military commander to address the
complaints.

Tuesday, March 2
Settlers held a parade for Purim. CPTers watched the three hour celebration
as about 150 people dressed in many different costumes followed a tractor
pulling a trailer with a live singer and band. The group started at Tel
Rumedia settlement, passed down Shuhada street and ended at the Gutnik Center
in front of the Cave of the Patriarchs. Israeli soldiers blocked
Palestinians from the parade path.

People dressed up as many different characters: as Arab men and women; some
wore long beards, one teenager even dressed as a CPTer, dancing around wearing
a red keffiyeh and CPT hat. (CPTers had no idea where he got the hat.)
.
One settler called to Art Gish to come over, and as Gish approached, slid his
hand across his throat and verbally threatened to kill him. No major
incidents happened.

Gish later confronted a soldier who had rudely stopped two Palestinians for an
ID check. He asked him to be more courteous with people. The soldier
responded, "You need to understand, these Arabs are bad people."

Wednesday, March 3
Soldiers unloaded two tank-like armored personnel carriers just outside the
CPT apartment and drove them into the neighboring soldier camp while CPTers
and Palestinians gathered to watch.

Art Gish spoke in the street with a settler spokesperson about
CPT-settler relations. The spokesperson admonished Art, saying CPT misses the
point about much of what happens in Hebron: "Why don't you say anything about
Arabs killing Jews? Why don't you approach the Arab leaders and get them to
condemn the violence?"

Thursday, March 4
CPTers Art Gish, Pierre Shantz, Michael Goode and Mark Frey joined
Palestinains west of Karme Tzur settlement to
call on the military to remove the poles placed along a settler road
encircling Palestinian land.

While military officers argued with Palestinian leadership "explaining" why
the poles were still up, a smaller group of farmers were digging up and
cutting down poles some distance away. CPTers Pierre Shantz and Michael Goode
joined Palestinians in the removal. (See March 17 release "TENT FOR
LENT--Protesting Land Confiscation.")

Friday, March 5
The team spent the afternoon with the al-Atrash family and other Palestinian
and international friends marking the
March 3 birthday of Yussef al-Atrash and the demolition of their house which
coincided with Yussef's birthday last year. The family has been living in a
tent since then. It was a mixture of joy and sadness, a celebration of the
birthday and commemoration of the demolition. The family sang songs of
resistance in the tent for the visitors. The two oldest girls wept as they
explained that because of the demolition, it will be very hard to get married;
no one would want to marry someone that is coming from a family that has no
house.

Saturday, March 6 -- Abdel Hadi Hantash of the Hebron Land Defense Committee
reported that during the night people had cut down all the poles encircling
the Palestinian land west of Karme Tzur settlement.

Art Gish showed four members of the North American Bruderhof community around
Hebron and talked about CPT's work.

Tuesday, March 9
Dianne Roe and Anne Montgomery led a bus tour for Seattle Presbyterian Church
explaining the house demolition and land
confiscation situation in the Baaqa valley east of Hebron city.

Wednesday, March 10
Roe and Montgomery led another tour of the Middle East Network of United
Methodists and traveled to the Baaqa
valley where they met with Rodeina Jabber who recounted the day her house was
demolished.

Later that afternoon, Jamey Bouwmeester and Michael Goode led a tour of
students from Bluffton (Ohio) College and
also took them to the Baaqa where they talked with Atta Jaber who told his
story of demolition and subsequent arrest. Attracted by the tour bus in the
rural area, Israeli soldiers and police arrived at the site and demanded to
know what they group was doing there. The professor leading the group
responded, "We've come to see these houses your
military has demolished." The police and soldiers waited for the group to
leave before leaving themselves. An hour later, two soldier jeeps returned
and searched several cars on the road leading to the demolished Jaber house.

Thursday, March 11
The team traveled to a hilltop north of Harsina settlement east of Hebron
where Israeli settlers, accompanied by
soldiers, were making a road around the hill-top, most likely in preparation
for land expropriation. Settlers, soldiers and
Palestinians argued in what became a very tense situation. (See March release,
"TENT FOR LENT: What Can I To Do?")