CPTNET
December 29, 1999
House Under Siege in the Beqa'a Valley: A Question of Hospitality?
by Joanne "Jake" Kaufman

Beqa'a Valley, Hebron, West Bank -- "These are our guests -- our
culture does not allow us to ask guests to leave," said Fahed
Sultan, when Israeli soldiers ordered him to tell the Israeli peace
activists who were visiting in solidarity to leave on Tuesday,
December 28.

The Sultan family home has been under siege by Israeli settlers,
who have held demonstrations calling for the demolition of the
Sultan home, tried to enter their home, and harassed the family for
the last month. Israeli settlers threatened to demolish the house on
Tuesday, December 28, if the Civil Administration, or Israeli military
government of the West Bank, had not already done so. The Civil
Administration promised Monday that it would not demolish the
house because the demolition order was "too old."

On the evening of Monday, December 27, several Israeli peace
activists joined Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) members to
stay overnight with the family in case someone did try to demolish
the house. Israeli soldiers regularly patrolled and spot-lighted the
area to make sure settlers were not present.

Around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Israeli soldiers ordered the Israelis
and CPTers to leave the Sultan home, declaring the area a closed
military zone. They threatened to arrest them if they remained.
When Israeli police arrived, the captain cornered the oldest son of
the family in their front room, and told him that if Israeli and
international peace activists were in the "closed military zone," the
settlers would insist on the right to be on the property, too. At that
point, Fahed Sultan told the captain that the family couldn't ask
invited guests to leave.

Two Israeli peace activists and an American Jewish man stayed
on the porch, while a group of Israelis from Tel Aviv held banners
and signs along the bypass road in front of the Sultan's home.
Police, loathe to make arrests with a large number of press and the
addition of a bus-load of Israeli peace activists, did not arrest
anyone. Settlers arrived late in the afternoon. They exchanged
words with a few Israelis, including a rabbi from Rabbis for Human
Rights, but all the Israelis left shortly thereafter.

All was quiet during the night, but around 10:30 a.m. on
Wednesday, Dec 29, soldiers again came to the Sultan house,
where Gary Brooks, Natasha Krahn, Joanne Kaufman and another
international friend were visiting with the family. They ordered the
CPTers to leave the "closed military zone."

CPTer Art Gish has stayed with the family for the past week. He
said, "Am I forbidden to be a guest here?" The soldier said, "Yes."
Gish replied, "But I'm a guest here. I don't know of any other
country where you are forbidden to have guests." The soldier
said, "But here in Israel you are."

Three CPTers left around 12:30 p.m. Shortly thereafter, settlers
set up two Israeli flags across the bypass road. Soldiers and
police asked Gish to leave for a while, and Omar Sultan suggested
that he relieve their concerns by visiting a neighbor.

However, the international friend was able to stay and watch
what was happening. She reported that a bus-load of settlers set
up banners at an old Palestinian house near the Sultan home. At
the end of their demonstration, the settlers rushed the Sultan
house as far as a stone wall. Soldiers stopped them just on the
family's side of the wall. By 3:45 p.m., only a few settler young
men were watching with flags from the other side of the bypass
road, with soldiers keeping watch. CPTers remain alert to respond
to their Palestinian hosts when the family feels concerned about
settlers' unwelcome presence at their home.