CPTnet
August 23, 2000
HEBRON: Violence in the market
By Jeremy Bergen

For the second time in three weeks, CPTers
witnessed clashes between settlers,
Palestinians and Israeli soldiers on the
Sabbath in the Palestinian vegetable market
near the Israeli settlement of Avraham Avinu.

On August 19, around 1:00 p.m., Michael Goode,
Natasha Krahn, Bob Holmes and Jeremy Bergen
saw dozens of settlers gathered in the middle
of the road near the entrance to the market.
Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers tried to
clear Palestinians out of the area and ordered
them to stay behind barricades in the market.

Israeli settlers walked freely on the street
and hurled verbal insults at the Palestinian
crowd telling them to get out of Hebron. A
few settlers threw fruit at the Palestinians.
Some Palestinians became agitated and shouted
back. As this escalated, the IDF pushed the
Palestinians further into the market. A few
soldiers chased individual Palestinians and
either roughed them up or took them into
detention. Two soldiers restrained a
Palestinian man, who was quite aggressive,
while a third pinched him in the neck. The man
lost consciousness and was taken away by
ambulance.

CPTers maintained a presence in the market for
several hours, taking pictures and placing
themselves in front of the Palestinians,
trying to absorb abuse from the settlers and
pushes from the soldiers. Krahn and Bergen
were pushed to the ground with several
Palestinians as soldiers held their guns
across their bodies and used them to force the
crowd back into the market.

Goode, Bergen and Holmes were warned several
times to leave the area or face arrest. Goode
told the soldier that the team needed to be
there to observe the situation. "I'm
concerned that the IDF's response here is
provoking more violence," he said. Goode was
then detained for "inciting a riot," but was
released five minutes later.

As Holmes placed himself between a soldier and
the crowd in the market, he asked the soldiers
why they were clearing the Palestinians from
the area but not the settlers. The soldier
agreed that getting the settlers away from the
market would reduce the tension, but they were
not allowed to do this. "It seems to me the
soldiers' mandate is to protect the settlers,
not keep the peace," said Holmes.

As the incident progressed, settlers entered
the market. The Palestinians fled while
settlers fought with soldiers. After 10
minutes soldiers successfully removed them,
but allowed them to remain on the road at the
entrance to the market.

 Some Palestinian children and
youth threw fruit and stones at the soldiers and settlers from the market
and chanted in defiance. One block from the market, Palestinian youth threw
stones at IDF soldiers who responded by firing rubber bullets.

The settlers decided to leave the area around
4:30 p.m., by which time the IDF had cleared
the market of most Palestinians. Up the road,
rock-throwing and shooting continued in a
"controlled" fashion for several hours.
According to news reports, the incident was
sparked when a Palestinian taxi driver hit a
settler boy. The Jerusalem Post reported that
three settlers and 10 Palestinians were
arrested.