CPTnet
August 12, 2000
HEBRON:Fruit confiscated, fruit stands destroyed in Beit Ummar
By Jeremy Bergen

 Israeli authorities confiscated plums, nectarines
and grapes and then destroyed road-side fruit
stands near Beit Ummar (north of Hebron) on August 8, 2000.
 Israel Defense Force soldiers and police stood guard while
African migrant workers smashed the metal and wooden stands with
sledgehammers. An official from the Department of Planning and
Construction of the nearby Israeli settlement Kfar Etzion was also
present. The stands were located on Highway 60, an Israeli by-
pass road just north of Hebron.

CPTers Jim Satterwhite and Jeremy Bergen arrived as the last
stands were being destroyed. Palestinian journalists were
already there. The CPTers took pictures and asked the Israeli
authorities why this action was being taken. A soldier told
Bergen that the fruit stands close to the highway were a safety
concern and that a person had been hit by a car earlier that day.
Local Palestinians said it was because of the prohibition on new
structures within 120 metres of the by-pass road.

One Palestinian vendor said that at 10 a.m., soldiers arrived on
his porch and took him to a military vehicle where he was
handcuffed behind his back, hit and detained for one hour. He
estimated that the retail value of his confiscated fruit was 2500
shekels ($625 US). He said that one month ago, he received a
written order to stop selling by the side of the road but refused to
accept the piece of paper. By 4 p.m., he had placed cases of
fruit for sale by the side of the road. Other vendors had either
received oral orders to stop selling or no warnings at all. At one
fruit stand, vendors distracted soldiers by arguing with them
while children carried several cases of fruit to safety.

The prohibition on roadside fruit sales adds to existing economic
pressure on the Palestinians. One Beit Ummar resident said,
"We cannot get permission to sell fruit in Jerusalem or Israel.
We cannot make enough by selling in the village. The price of
water is too high. And they will not let us use our own
marketplace. We want peace, but these actions will only lead to
more fighting."

Fruit sold in town sells for about 1.5 shekels per kilogram, but 4
shekels by the road. The water rate, $1.50 US per cubic metre,
makes it prohibitive to irrigate. The Israeli army refused to allow
Palestinians use of an existing road to bring fruit to a newly
constructed central market in Beit Ummar; so the municipality
had to build a new one.