CPTnet
August 21, 2003
HEBRON: New Israeli military camps go up Sunday night in H-1

by Kathy Kamphoefner

On Sunday, August 17 two new hilltop Israeli military camps suddenly
appeared in Hebron: one in the Harit es-Sheikh neighborhood to the east and
one in the Abu Sneineh neighborhood to the west of the Old City.

Kristin Andersen and Kathy Kamphoefner visited the Juneidi family, whose
land was taken for the Harit es Sheikh army camp, to hear their story. The
camp lies in H1, the area under Palestinian control according to the Hebron
Protocol.

"On Thursday, we completed an agreement with the Hebron city government to
sell them the land for a new elementary school," said Baha' Juneidi, 21. On
Sunday, the army bulldozed a new road to the hilltop and began setting up
camp. The Juneidi land taken is about forty dunams or ten acres.

'The Israeli army didn't say anything to us," said Juneidi's older sister,
Suhair Sherif, 38. "They just came and plowed the road and built the camp
very fast. I think they are trying to establish facts on the ground that no
one can change," she said. "They are not allowed to even enter this area by
the peace agreements."

Juneidi said the army has put barbed wire around the site. Soldiers told
the family they may no longer use the back driveway to their home, nor can
they enter their olive and fruit orchards, by military order.

"Now the army is always there, about ten to twenty persons," said Juneidi.
"Before they were not here regularly. They had a outlook on top of house
down the hill. This area is in H1, which belongs to the Palestinian
Authority under the peace agreements. Now the soldiers are conducting ID
checks on the main road in the evening," Juneidi said.

"They built the fort in the exact place where the school was planned to be,"
Juneidi said.

Sherif fears this is the first step towards establishing a new settlement
inside Hebron. "The next step is they will put caravans [mobile homes] on
that land, and later they will build a permanent settlement," she said. "You
see, the settlers wanted this land before the agreement in 1999, so now the
army is taking it."

Juneidi thought the military built the two camps in preparation for the
separation wall, which is slated to divide the city of Hebron.

"I hope that all who want peace will work with us to stop this," Sherif
said.