CPTnet
February 11, 2000
HEBRON: Buckets Of Soil Campaign Against Land Confiscation Begins
By Jamey Bouwmeester

"If someone sues you for your coat, give up your
shirt as well. If a soldier orders you to carry
his pack one mile, carry it two. When someone
slaps your right cheek, turn and let that person
slap your left." If Jesus were alive and living
in Palestine today, he might well say, "When
Occupation forces take your land to expand and
build new settlements, bring them a few buckets
more."

 On February 11th, that's exactly what
Israelis, Palestinian farmers, CPTers, and
Rebuilders Against Bulldozers delegates did.

At 11:00am, approximately 70 people gathered
near the home of Abdel Jawad Jaber in the Beqa'a
valley east of Hebron. Above them rose a 30
foot retaining wall, that stands on what used to
be the Jaber's orchard and dwarfs their small
home. Behind the wall, a new subdivision for
the nearby settlement of Givat Ha Harsina is
being built.

Abdel Jawad spoke of the generations of Jabers
that have lived in the Beqa'a valley sowing and
reaping each year. He asked how the Israeli
government could bulldoze and uproot his olive
trees that took 20 years to grow. Abdel Hadi
Hantash of the Palestinian Land Defense
Committee reminded the assembled demonstrators
that the land confiscation in Palestine is
illegal under international law.

The group carried buckets of soil from their
homes across the bulldozer scarred hillside
towards the gates of the settlement. As they
walked they unfurled a banner that read, "Land
Confiscation Is Not Peace," in English and
Arabic.

After only a few meters they were stopped by
Israeli police and military personnel who
informed them that they would not be allowed to
proceed as the entire area had been declared a
"closed military zone."

 Unperturbed, the
demonstrators proceeded, one at a time, to dump
their buckets out onto the confiscated ground.
CPT RAB delegate Harold Matthiessen was the
first to dump his bucket, raising it into the
air, slowly and silently letting the soil fall
to the earth. Words of peace and justice were
spoken in Hebrew, English, and Arabic.

When all of the buckets had been emptied, Abdel
Jawad planted the remains of one of his olive
trees into the pile of soil at the feet of the
soldiers. Harriet Lewis, an Israeli peace
activist then spoke of her love of and
admiration for her Palestinian friends. "No
matter how many times the bulldozers come," she
said, "each time they wonder again how it could
happen. They can't believe that something that
evil could happen. They never lose hope." As
the final speaker of the morning, CPT RAB
delegate Rusty Dinkins-Curling remembered that
the land was given as a gift to provide fruit,
and not intended as a tool of domination.

The action completed, Abdel Jawad invited all
present to drink tea at his home. The group
moved back down the hill where the Jaber family
set out chairs under a tree and served
refreshments. His son, Atta brought several
glasses to the police and soldiers that remained
and asked them to join us, but they declined.

The demonstrators left, hoping that this action
would be the beginning of a world-wide campaign
against past and continuing land confiscation in
Palestine.