July 1, 1999

The team worshipped in the park across from the Ibrahimi Mosque. During the
worship time three Koreans from a church in Toronto, Ontario heard the team
singing and joined them in worship. The team talked briefly of its work in
Hebron.

The team visited with Yusef Al-Atrash and his family. The Al- Atrashes spoke
of how there have been a lot of people visiting them and much attention
from the press, but no visible results; this family of twelve is still
living in a tent after the third demolition of their house.

On a night patrol of Hebron, team members noticed a Palestinian youth being
detained by Israeli soldiers. When questioned, the soldiers refused to
speak to them. The team discovered that the youth did not have his ID with
him, and his friends had gone to get it. When his friends returned without
the ID, the team discovered that the youth had lost it, so his friends
returned to get his passport. TIPH (Temporary International Presence in
Hebron) arrived and took over monitoring the situation so the team moved
on.

July 2, 1999

The team learned from reliable sources that twice as many incidents of
violence in Hebron are caused by the settlers and the Israeli Defense Force
then by Palestinians. They also learned that, on average, the Israeli
troops beat one Palestinian a day. Approximately four hundred Israeli
settlers are guarded by 1,200 Israeli soldiers. About 130,000 Palestinians
live in Hebron.

July 3, 1999

Jim Satterwhite, Joshua Yoder, and Shady Hakim attended a demonstration
organized by Yesh Ge'vul -- "There is a limit." The group is made up of
Israeli military personnel who refuse to support the occupation by serving
in the Occupied Territories. The protests were held at Megiddo, an Israeli
prison north of Tel Aviv, where many Palestinian political prisoners --
"administrative detainees" -- are held without due process for an
indefinite period. The demonstration moved to Tzrifin, where a soldier is
being held for refusing to guard administrative detainees at Megiddo
prison.

July 4, 1999

Natasha Krahn and Shady Hakim were walking on the ramparts of Jerusalem's
Old City when a soldier leaned his gun against the wall as he boosted
himself up on the wall. The gun fell over and, although it did not go off,
a bullet fell out of the chamber. The soldier laughed and said, "Not a
problem, not a problem."

The team attended the Fourth of July party at the US Consulate in West
Jerusalem. They met the consulate's new political officers.

July 5, 1999

Satterwhite and Yoder went to see the archeological dig at Tel Rumeida
settlement in Hebron with a retired Palestinian archeologist the team
knows. In the evening the team attempted to visit a friend of the team,
Hani Abu Haikel, who lives just past Tel Rumeida. There were two settler
women there who yelled at the team, "You're a bunch of anti-semites -- you
should go home. This is our land; no one is going to take it away from us."
The soldiers then prevented the team from walking past the settlement,
explaining that they had orders that no visitors could walk there.

After an hour of discussion a sergeant who spoke English explained the
orders and said the team should talk to someone at the DCO (District
Coordinating Office) station down the hill. The DCO is the joint security
control between the Palestinians and Israelis. When the team spoke with the
person in charge he explained that the team should not have problems
walking past Tel Rumeida.

July 6, 1999

The team visited with Abu Haikel at his tea shop to explain why we had not
come to visit the night before. He explained that the soldiers at that
checkpoint have been stopping people for about two weeks now. He mentioned
that cars generally need special permission to pass, but not people.

July 7, 1999

Some of the team attempted to visit Abu Haikel at his house again. They
spoke with the person at the DCO office who had told the team that there
should be no problem. However, this time he said that he had called and was
told explicitly that CPT was not allowed to walk by Tel Rumeida. The team
walked up to the checkpoint anyway, and the soldiers looked at their
armbands and said, "CPT - not allowed." When asked why, they answered that
their captain had ordered it.