On July 17, during a visit with Hani Abu Haikel -- a longtime friend of CPT
-- team members learned that there have been almost daily problems with
Israeli settlers at the Tel Rumeida settlement located on a hill
overlooking the old city since the beginning of the summer.

According to Hani and other members of the Abu Haikel family
living on Tel Rumeida, one of the more serious conflicts revolves around
two olive groves that have been rented from their original Jewish owners for
at least the last fifty years. As is the case with most formerly Jewish
properties in Hebron, the settler community is attempting to forcefully
take this land for settlement expansion -- even though they rarely, if
ever, have a direct relationship to the original owners or a legal right to
represent them.

According to residents of the neighborhood, around seven years ago the
settlers placed three caravans [mobile homes] in the groves, which were
forcefully removed by the IDF. Most of the recent incidents involve
provocation and harassment by the settlers who come to the olive groves
almost daily.

On July 24, CPTers Jim Satterwhite, Joshua Yoder and Shady Hakim visited
Abdel Aziz Abu Haikel's family, one of the families that lives directly next
to the olive groves. On July 22, they had a serious clash with the
settlers. Team members were able to watch the family's video footage and
hear their account of the incident. On this occasion, approximately ten
settlers, mostly women and children -- as is usually the case -- came to the
grove accompanied by soldiers. When the family asked the settlers what they
wanted, names and curses were exchanged and, during a tense face-off, some
of the settlers physically assaulted and threw rocks at the daughter (Arwa,
22).

At one point, one of the settler women said to the mother of the family,
"Arabs leave! Leave here, go to Mecca. Go, go to Mecca," to which the
mother replied, "Then, you go to America." The number of settlers grew to
around sixty; the soldiers stood rather unsuccessfully between the two
parties and fired in the air as the fighting and exchanges continued.

When the police arrived, they arrested three members of
the Abu Haikel family: father Abdel Aziz, daughter Arwa, and a son. The
three filed complaints against the settlers and were released on 500 NIS
bail each. CPT is unsure whether any of the settlers were arrested. Two
days later, on the Sabbath, over 100 settlers came to the grove but did not
provoke any incidents.

Earlier that evening (July 22), five settler children assaulted and beat a
Palestinian boy, Muhammad Al-Ajluni (14 years old). On July 28, CPT visited
with Muhammad's father Fahmi at his home on Tel Rumeida -- right next to
the caravan of Kach activist Baruch Marzel and a soldier checkpoint [Kach
is a Jewish terrorist organization]. Fahmi had sent his son out to get
something at a nearby store. He became concerned after it took Muhammad too
long to return. Soon after, neighbors came and told him that his son had
been attacked by settlers and was lying just outside the house in his own
yard, where press and soldiers had gathered.

The settlers had beaten the boy with rocks and other objects, causing him
several minor injuries on his arms and a three cm. wound on his head
requiring five stitches. Witnesses reported that soldiers observed the
whole incident without intervening, and later detained the boy and prevented
onlookers from helping him. He spent one night in the hospital for
observation and was released the following morning.

The family filed a complaint against the settlers, but the father was told
by the police that the settler boys could not be punished under Israeli law
because they were under 14 years old (in fact, Article 134 of the 1999
Israeli Criminal Code stipulates that anyone over 12 years of age can be
held criminally accountable). Fahmi remarked that if a young 8-year-old
Palestinian had been the perpetrator, the boy's father would have been
arrested and prosecuted for the crime.

After this last incident, Fahmi's wife and children left to stay with
family in Nablus. Fahmi told team members of continuing harassment by the
settlers during the four years the Ajlunis have rented the home. Settler
children often send a barrage of stones at the home, sometimes into the
late hours of the night; on several occasions they have broken the solar
panel on the roof used to heat water. Fahmi says that the family is
constantly cleaning up trash that the settlers throw onto their property.
Occasionally, Marzel's wife would loudly curse Arabs, Arafat and the Prophet
Muhammad when she was sure that the neighbors are listening.

After Thursday's incident, the Ajlunis decided they could no longer take the
harassment; they will move out within the month.

Nearby, the family of Yassan Al Sahib has been living with a military [IDF]
watch post on its roof for several years. They have endured ongoing
harassment by soldiers; some soldiers would even bring girlfriends on the
roof where they would engage in blatant displays of affection -- behavior
that, by Arab standards, is scandalous and shameful in public. Recently the
family was given a requisition demanding their home be turned over to the
military for three months. They were forced to move out on Saturday. (Hani
Abu Haikel, his neighbor, had a parcel of land requisitioned for a nine-
month period; this requisition has been extended continuously now for
fourteen years.)

All of this comes only weeks after the IDF informed CPTers that they are no
longer allowed past the checkpoint by Tel Rumeida settlement ( see
forthcoming CPTnet release, "The Settlers Won This Round.") Since July 25,
CPTers have kept a daily vigil on Tel Rumeida. Twice during CPT's vigil,
settlers have visited the olive grove. The first time, two settlers simply
drove up, looked around and left (Sunday, July 25). The second time
(Tuesday, July 27), a group of about 10 women and children were sitting in
the grove. Both police and soldiers were present when we arrived. One
settler vehicle was partially blocking the driveway to Abdel Aziz Abu
Haikel's home. The settlers and police were indifferent when one of the Abu
Haikel family tried to drive his truck in; the settlers would not move
their
vehicle until police forced them to leave the area. Settlers returned on
two subsequent occasions and walked around the groves when CPTers
were not present; on the most recent occasion they physically
harassed one of the residents of the neighborhood.