Friday, March 12
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and the Palestinian
Land Defense Committee (PLDC) organized a mass action against the Occupation
that took place in four locations simultaneously.

Demolished houses were rebuilt in Anata (Jerusalem
area), Yatta (Hebron area), and Kifl Haris, and trees were planted in Beit
Dajan to replace trees uprooted by settlers and soldiers. More than 500
volunteers participated in the action. Mark Frey, Michael Goode, JoAnne
Lingle, Anne Montgomery, and Jamey Bouwmeester helped rebuild the house of
Salim Shawmreh in Anata. Atta Jabber, Yussef Al Atrash, and Fayez Jabber --
whose homes have all been demolished in the Hebron area -- also made the trip
from Hebron to Anata to help.

The Shawmreh's house was first demolished in July 1998. It was immediately
rebuilt by ICAHD, but was demolished for a second time in August 1998.

In the afternoon, Montgomery, Lingle, and Bouwmeester left Anata and traveled
to the Yatta area where they met Hassan Daoud, who was also rebuilding his
house with the help of ICAHD. Daoud's house was demolished in June 1998 while
23 people were living in it. In addition to rebuilding the simple house of
cinder blocks, he has also started working on a more "traditional" home
constructed from the raw stones he digs by hand from his own land and built
without mortar or cement.

Saturday, March 13
Dianne Roe, Montgomery, Bouwmeester, and a busload of ICAHD volunteers
returned to the Daoud home in Yatta to continue rebuilding. The small cluster
of 15-20 houses in which the home is located has not been given recognition as
a village. The village has also been denied permits for electricity and a
road, even though international funds were available for the projects. The
building was watched all day by several Israeli army and police vehicles,
though they did not interfere with the action. (See release "Building a Home -
Land") Goode returned to Anata to help with the rebuilding that continued
there.

Sunday, March 14
Bouwmeester, Goode, and Lingle went to Halhul (north of Hebron) in the morning
in anticipation of a planned demonstration. Settlers from the nearby
settlement of Karmei Tzur had put truckloads of rubble and boulders on the
access road to Palestinian farmland and the farmers wanted to remove the rock.
As the CPTers walked down the road to get
a closer look at the rubble piles, they were stopped by several
Israeli soldiers who told them that it was a "Closed Military Area" and that
they would have to leave.

Bouwmeester asked, "Why is this area closed, it just looks like farmland?"
"We don't want any trouble between the Palestinians and Israelis," one soldier
answered. Bouwmeester: "But we're neither Palestinians nor Israelis."
Soldier: "Yes, but you guys are the most trouble of all."

Later that morning several Palestinian protesters came to the site and
negotiated with the military. In the end they were given permission to remove
the rubble from their own land.

Monday, March 15
Roe gave a tour to a group from the United Methodist Church and visited the Al
Atrash family who are living in a tent after their house was demolished over a
year ago. During the visit she gave a birthday card to Manal Al Atrash on
behalf of the team.

In the evening, Roe and Montgomery went to a book signing party in honor of
the release of _Holy Land, Hollow Jubilee_, edited by Naim Ateek and Michael
Prior, comprised of essays and presentations from the international Sabeel
(Palestinian Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem) Conference that took
place February 1998 in Bethlehem.

Tuesday, March 16
Roe gave a tour to a British group that included folk singer, Garth Hewitt.
Goode and Sara Reschly attended a meeting of a coalition against demolitions.
The coalition is composed of CPT, the Palestinian Land Defense Committee,
ICAHD, and LAW.

In the afternoon, Frey and Goode walked by a soldier patrol and then a settler
boy who bent down to the ground to pick something up as they passed. The two
CPTers turned around when they heard the soldiers yell angrily at the boy who
was preparing to throw a small stone at the CPTers. One soldier chased off
the boy who tauntingly laughed at the angry soldier. The CPTers thanked the
soldiers.

Wednesday, March 17
Bouwmeester and Frey led a tour for 10 members of the Delegation of the
European Commission to the State of Israel.

Thursday, March 18
In the morning, Goode and Bouwmeester went to Tel Rumeida settlement to
investigate five new caravans (mobile homes) that were placed there Tuesday
night. They found that the new units have been placed on top of steel frames
that had previously been built around the existing caravans. Settlers at Tel
Rumeida are hoping to be allowed to build permanent houses on the site in the
future.

Frey gave a tour to a group of Mennonite pastors from around the world. After
the tour of the city, the group went out to the site of Atta and Rodeina
Jabber's former houses. Rodeina told the story of how their house was
demolished, rebuilt, and demolished again. Many in the group were visibly
moved. Pastor Jim Brenneman of Pasadena Mennonite Church was part of this
tour. His congregation is part of CPT's Campaign for Secure Dwellings and he
was able to visit the Marwan and Ghaleb Abu Rajab families with whom his
congregation is
matched.

Friday, March 19
Montgomery returned to Anata to continue the rebuilding of the
Shawmreh home. While not as many volunteers were present as had been the
previous weekend, they managed to move all the remaining cinder blocks and to
clear the remaining rubble from the floor of the new house.

Saturday, March 20
Abdel Hadi Hantash escorted Goode, Lingle and Bouwmeester on a tour of the
southern part of the Hebron district. Hantash showed the group how more than
a dozen settlements and military camps are expanding in an attempt to create a
de-facto change in the southern border between Israel and the West Bank.