CPTnet
August 31, 2000
HEBRON UPDATE: August 1-15, 2000

Saturday, August 5
In the early evening Michael Goode and Bob Holmes followed Israeli soldiers
running down Shuhada Street to the intersection near the Israeli settlement
of Avraham Avinu. There they entered a crowd of soldiers, settlers and
Palestinians and were informed by a soldier that two young settlers had
thrown rocks off the roof of a shop onto Palestinian cars below. He said
they would be arrested if caught.

As Jim Satterwhite arrived, the team noticed an ambulance further down the
street where another crowd had gathered. Calling for more CPTers to come,
Goode, Holmes and Satterwhite headed in that direction. Witnesses explained
that settler youth had damaged a parked Palestinian car and that the owner
and other Palestinians neighbors had come out of their homes to protect
their vehicles. (See August 14 release, "Settler Violence Increases
Tension in Hebron.")

Sunday, August 6
In the afternoon Kawther Salaam, a Palestinian journalist, requested CPT
accompaniment as she investigated Saturday's violence. Grace Boyer and
Holmes went with her to visit a family whose car had been vandalized the
night before. They learned that two young settler women approached
Palestinian boys, 10 and 12 years old, selling biscuits in the alley.

Kicking the table and stomping on the fallen biscuits the women then told
soldiers that the Palestinians had been
sexually abusive in their language. The soldiers pursued the boys into
their home and arrested their father and uncle whom they handcuffed, brought
outside and beat. At the police station, the police officers on duty refused
to process the arrested men and sent them instead to the hospital.

The settler youth responded to the women's complaint by vandalizing
Palestinian cars in the alley.

Monday, August 7
The team observed the soldiers making ID checks in both the morning and
afternoon and noted that the number of ID checks both for pedestrians and
cars (mostly taxis) is increasing. In one hour at one checkpoint five cars
or taxis and eight pedestrians were stopped. One pedestrian was held for 40
minutes. Attempting to reduce the harassment, team members questioned
soldiers when they checked IDs frequently and photographed soldiers when
they were unnecessarily aggressive.

Tuesday, August 8
Jeremy Bergen and Satterwhite, while traveling to the village of Beit Ummar
saw an IDF unit supervising the destruction of market stalls along bypass
highway #60. (See August 12 release, "Fruit Confiscated, Fruit Stands
Destroyed in Beit Ummar.")

Thursday, August 10
At 6 p.m. Nait Alleman and Goode observed a group of settlers, about 100-120
persons, proceeding down Shuhada Street. When the group reached the
Palestinian market a young settler woman, claiming that the had been struck
by a stone that someone had thrown at her, began overturning cartons of
fruit
and vegetables. Alleman and Goode entered the market in an attempt to
reduce the violence. (See August 14 release, "Settler Violence Increases
Tension in Hebron." )

Sunday, August 13
In the evening Bergen, Goode and Holmes noticed a crowd gathered near the
high gate at Beit Hadassah. The team approached to find that settler women
had attacked two Palestinian brothers, throwing glass bottles at them
seriously injuring one over the left eye. Soldiers responded by standing
between the settlers and the Palestinians. The team learned that the two
Palestinians had a grant from the Hebron
Rehabilitation Committee to renovate their abandoned home adjacent to Beit
Hadassah. While moving materials into the house they were attacked. The
military authority issued a verbal stop-work order to the Palestinians and
insisted that they remove the building materials.

A group of about 20 settlers were verbally harassing them. To speed things
up some Palestinian journalists and CPTers helped carry cinder blocks out
of the house. One settler woman chanted, "Anti-Semites of the world unite!
You will all burn in hell." The settlers kept edging closer until removing
the materials became difficult. The soldiers tried to move the settlers
back but one woman sat down as her arms were grasped by women soldiers.
Another settler shouted and waved his finger in the face of the commanding
officer who backed down. The Palestinian brothers decided to leave the area
and the journalists and CPTers went with them.