CPTnet
October 13, 2001
Hebron Update: September 16-25, 2001

Sunday, September 16, 2001
In the middle of the night, Israeli forces moved the cement blocks that
separate the Israel and Palestinian sides of Hebron twenty meters further
into the Palestinian side of the city.

Monday, September 17, 2001
Shooting started between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen at 7:00 PM,
and went on until 10:00 PM. Palestinians were confined to their homes at
7:15 PM, when Israeli forces imposed a twenty four hour curfew in H2, the
Israeli-occupied part of the city.

Tuesday, September 18, 2001 Curfew remained in H2.
The team escorted Palestinian children to school in H2. (Even when there is
a curfew in the city, the Israeli District Commanding Officer has given
Palestinian children and teachers permission to go to school. Israeli
soldiers and police, however do not always recognize this and sometimes
refuse to allow the children and teachers to pass.)

At 1:00 AM, Israeli forces filled in and demolished eight Palestinian caves
and homes south of Hebron near the Israeli settlement Suseya. David Cockburn
and Anne Montgomery went down to see the damage. (See September 22 release
HEBRON DISTRICT: Happy New Year, or Just Another Day?")

In the afternoon Israeli soldiers threw tear gas into the gates of a
Palestinian elementary school. The soldiers claimed children had thrown
rocks at them.

The team received a call from a Palestinian friend that soldiers had
entered her brothers house and taken him to the police station. When CPTers
Mary Lawrence, and George Weber got there to investigate, they saw that
soldiers had also smashed about twenty flower pots, as well as broken in the
neighbour's door and smashed a chair in the home.

Wednesday, September 19, 2001 Curfew
Shooting between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen started at 4:45 PM
and continued until 7:00 PM.

Montgomery and Weber responded to a call that two Palestinian children were
being detained for throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers. On the way there,
settler children threw rocks at the two CPTers. Near the spot where the
Palestinian children were being detained, they saw that soldiers had kicked
in the door of a Palestinian home. Police came and took pictures. When they
were finished taking pictures, the police took the two Palestinian boys and
their mothers to the police station, apparently to make a complaint.

Thursday, September 20, 2001 Curfew was lifted from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
In the morning soldiers refused to let Palestinian children walk to their
schools. Montgomery told them to call their commander who told the soldiers
to let the children pass.

At 9:30 AM the team received a call from a friend who asked if CPT could
help him escort Palestinian children home from school, which had been
cancelled because Israeli soldiers had not allowed their teachers to enter
H2. Montgomery, Mika Minio-Paluello, and Greg Rollins helped take the
children home. Settlers threw eggs at Rollins while he was walking some of
the children past the Israeli settlement Beit Hadassah.

Friday, September 21, 2001 Curfew
Shooting started at 1:00 AM and continued until 4:00 AM.

Saturday, September 22, 2001 Curfew
During clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian youth, Cockburn and
Minio-Paluello saw a Palestinian man shot in the leg with a rubber bullet.

In the evening Cockburn and Minio-Paluello investigated reports that an
Israeli soldier had broken into a Palestinian home. When they arrived they
found soldiers outside the home, but the soldiers denied ever having been in
it.

Sunday, September 23, 2001 Curfew was lifted at 5:00 PM
Weber and Minio-Paluello spent two hours trying to get five Palestinian
children to the school in the morning. Every time they tried to leave the
old city, Israeli soldiers would stop them and say they had to find another
way out.

Near the Israeli settlement Abraham Avinu in the Old City, settler children
stoned an elderly Palestinian, who had to be hospitalized after the attack.
They then began breaking into Palestinian shops, using crowbars to break the
locks. When CPTers showed up, Weber, Lawrence, and Minio-Paluello were
pelted with stones.

Monday, September 24, 2001
The curfew was lifted but Israeli soldiers refused to allow the shops in the
chicken market beneath the CPT apartment, to open. When asked why, the
soldiers refused to comment.

Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Shops in the chicken market were again not allowed to open. Soldiers still
refused to explain why.

Cockburn and Rollins went down to be with Palestinian families south of
Yatta near the Israeli settlement of Susiya. Israeli soldiers were
attempting to evict the families from their caves that had been demolished
earlier in the year. After pressure from Israelis and internationals, who
were already staying with the Palestinian families, a court issue a
restraining order stopped further demolitions.

Late in the evening, sporadic gunshots were heard throughout the city, but
they never materialized into anything heavier.