CPTNet
HEBRON: Armed Hospitality
by Jamey Bouwmeester
December 23, 2000

[SPECIAL ADVENT REMINDER: Remember to ask your
congregation to observe five minutes of silence and darkness
during its Christmas service in solidarity with the people of
Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour. See December 3
CPTnet release, "No Christmas in Bethlehem.]

The 14 members of the Abu Fanouni family live in a two-story house
overlooking a broad valley. On the other side lies the settlement of
Beit Haggai. Since the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada this
September, Palestinian gunmen have used the Abu Fanouni's
neighborhood just south of Hebron to shoot towards Beit Haggai
with pistols and rifles. Army personnel stationed in Beit Haggai
have responded with heavy caliber machine guns, tank shells, and
rockets. Houses in the neighborhoods have been riddled with
thousands of bullets and have sustained severe damage
from the shelling. Many families have abandoned their homes for
fear that the bullets that routinely penetrate their walls and
shatter their windows would hit something more precious than their
furniture or dishes.

But on Monday, December 11th, the Abu Fanouni's house ceased
to be a target for Israeli machine guns. If that had been the end of
the story the family would have been happy, but today they say
they'd gladly go back to the way things were. The Abu Fanouni's
home is no longer drawing fire because on Monday morning IDF
soldiers moved in, taking over the second floor and the roof. The
family is now confined to the first floor of their home through which
soldiers walk whenever they enter or leave the house.

When Gary Brooks and I visited the family our taxi stopped at a
bulldozed barrier of overturned cars and dirt, about 200 feet from
the home. We were met there by Khalil Abu Fanouni. A soldier
watched us from a sandbagged window in the house. Khalil
suggested that we try walking to the house, but thought it almost
certain that we would be stopped before getting there. We
began to walk, but at the foot of the house, the increasingly
alarmed soldier pointed his gun down at me and yelled, "You -- stay
-- right - there!" In a moment three soldiers came down and
informed us that we were trespassing in a Closed Military Area.
Only occupants of the houses in the area were allowed to enter.
This was certainly not the warm greeting I've come to expect and
appreciate in Palestinian homes.

We asked the soldiers if extended family members were allowed
into the area. "No," he said, "Two people came here a few days
ago to see the family and I told them they had to leave. Then they
came back the next day and I told them again."

"Were those people from the Red Cross?" asked Gary. "Yeah, the
Red Cross. I told them No One is allowed here!"
The soldier wouldn't even let us talk to the family outside of their
house. "Well, can we talk to the family if we go over on the other
side of the barrier?" asked Gary "Outside of the Closed Military
Zone?"

"Yes, but I'm going to send a soldier along with you and you must
translateeverything into English so that he can know what you are
saying."

"No, that's not going to happen. You don't have any right to hear
what we're saying."

"But you could give them a gun that they could bring back into the
house."
"Okay search me here if you're afraid of that. I'll let you search me;
I don't have a gun. But you're not sending a soldier with us while
we talk."

Finally we were allowed to speak in private with Khalil and his wife
Nafiza. They told us a story of soldiers living in their rooms, using
their water and electricity, and bathroom. Whenever anyone wants
to enter or leave the home they must get permission from the
soldiers. Even groceries must be searched before they are allowed
into the house. An armored personnel carrier with a roof-mounted
machine gun is parked at their front door. At night this gun sprays
bullets into the surrounding neighborhoods.

Their house is no longer a target, but it is also no longer their
home. As Gary and I left we handed Nafiza a gift of Arab coffee.
She thanked us and smiled wryly, knowing that in a few minutes
this symbol of Palestinian hospitality would be poked and prodded
by armed invaders in her home.

Christian Peacemaker Teams is a program of Brethren, Quaker and Mennonite
Churches. CPT P. O. Box 6508 Chicago, IL 60680 tel. 312-455-1199 FAX
312-432-1213, E-Mail cpt@igc.org WEB www.cpt.org