November 29, 1999
For Immediate Release
CPTers Arrested for Trying to Prevent Uprooting of Irrigation Lines
in Beqa'a Valley:

"Irrigation Pipes Shredded; Water Denied; The Earth Wept; Occupiers Laughed"

Hebron, West Bank -- Three CPTers were pulled, one in handcuffs,
from a hole dug by the Israeli water company in the vineyards of the
Beqa'a Valley today. Two other CPTers were also detained although
ready to exit the scene. All five were held for almost three hours on
suspicion of interfering with the work of the water company which
was uprooting "illegal" irrigation pipelines.

The irrigation lines tapped an Israeli waterline to the nearby Israeli
settlement of Kiryat Arba and the Palestinian city of Hebron. They
were owned by a Palestinian family matched with a North American
family in the Campaign for Secure Dwellings. The irrigation lines
were technically "illegal:" the Israeli officer in charge told CPTers
that Palestinian farmers are allotted water for their houses, but not
for their fields. He indirectly acknowledged that there was unequal
distribution of water between Israeli settlers and Palestinian farmers
and Hebronites, but said that Palestinian farmers should not "take"
water from the city-dwellers. Eighty percent of the water from the
West Bank goes to either Israel proper or Jewish settlements in the
West Bank.

CPTers first observed the back-loader, truck and jeep of the Mekorot
personnel from the roof of a demolished house in the valley. Eleven
went to investigate. They found a back-loader digging a hole to get at
the pipeline and Mekorot employees cutting up an irrigation line.
The CPTers distracted some Mekorot employees from cutting the
whole line, eventually dragged it across a rock wall to the next
vineyard. Meanwhile, Kathleen Kern climbed into the hole dug to the
water line and sat on the connection which a Mekorot employee was
about to weld shut. Ben Kenagy joined her. They began piling rocks
on the pipe connection to make access more difficult.

CPTers scratched a pen message onto a "gravestone," reading, "29
November; Irrigation Pipes Shredded; The Earth Wept; Occupiers
Laughed. Documented CPT." As they sang, "Circle 'Round for
Freedom," soldiers and police arrived. Captain "Shay" ordered
Kenagy and Kern out of the hole but they refused.

Soldiers initially intended to arrest all the onlookers but some team
members slipped away. Kenagy, Kern and Joanne Kaufman, who had
joined them in the hole, were arrested. Natasha Krahn and Reinhard
Kober, who were observing the arrest, had their passports taken.
Although they wished to leave the scene and were not in the hole,
they too were taken into custody when they asked for their passports.

Police jeeps took the five CPTers to the police station, passing
through the settlement of Kiryat Arba, whose streets are lined with
irrigated rose bushes and green grass. The five spent three hours in
custody because they refused to sign papers in Hebrew. The team was
released on the recognizance of a Palestinian friend.