CPTnet
September 30, 2003
HEBRON UPDATE: September 17-23, 2003

Note: The Israeli army did not impose general curfews on H1 and H2 all
week. They imposed curfew in selected areas when conducting military
operations.

Wednesday, September 17, 2003

Benno Barg, Chris Brown, and Greg Rollins went to a local hospital to take
photos of the babies.

Thursday, September 18, 2003

Members of the Medicins San Fronteras (Doctors without Borders) visited the
team to discuss how the two groups can cooperate. They are preparing to set
up a clinic in Hebron's Old City.

Rollins and a visiting volunteer saw friends in the Beqa'a Valley. All was
quiet there, in spite of last Sunday's home demolitions.

Barg, Kathy Kamphoefner, and Dianne Roe toured the area around the wall that
Israel is constructing in the
northern West Bank which will confiscate many square miles of Palestinian
land.

Friday, September 19, 2003

Team members Brown and Rollins and a volunteer observed the Mosque area as
the worship let out. Israeli soldiers detained four men for an ID check,
before letting them go.

Saturday, September 20, 2003

Brown and the volunteer spoke about peace at a girls' high school in H1.
Many girls said that no one in the West cares about what happens to them.

Returning home, Brown, Rollins, and the visitor saw a group of about fifteen
Israeli settlers touring the Old City, pointing out homes that Jews had
owned before 1936 (when the British forced the remaining Jewish families to
leave.) Israeli soldiers
guarded the settlers. Hebron area settlers have invited Israelis to tour
Hebron as part of festivities just before Rosh Hashanah.

Sunday, September 21, 2003

Brown, Rollins, and the visitor chatted with a soldier at Beit Romano
checkpoint. He mentioned that many soldiers are going home for the Rosh
Hashanah holidays. The solders are currently working eight hours on and
eight hours off.

The September 2003 CPT delegation arrived in Hebron safely, under the
leadership of Mary Lawrence.

Monday, September 22, 2003
Curfew imposed around Haroos.

Returning from school patrol, Brown and Rollins heard of a home demolition
underway in the Haroos area in H1. The suspect had apparently hid in the
house, but was not related to its owner, Abdel Karim Shaheen, who was in
Jerusalem. The suspect told the woman and her mentally handicapped son to
leave the house. The soldiers then shelled the house beginning about 1:00
am. When Brown and Rollins arrived, the Israeli army had the area sealed
off and under curfew. The home was already demolished, and the soldiers
were looking for the remains of a wanted man.

Children from a school near the Haroos demolition threw stones at the
soldiers, who fired teargas and rubber bullets at them.

Tuesday, September 23, 2003

A documentary filmmaker visited to film school patrol and interview the
team.

Brown observed bulldozers cleaning up rubble and garbage in Bab ib-Baledeyya
Square, next to Beit Romano checkpoint. A friend of the team said the army
told shopkeepers they can reopen shops there but they should fence off the
area to protect themselves from the settlers.

Brown and Diane Janzen attended a meeting with university students about the
wall that the Israeli government plans build in the Hebron District--a
continuation of the wall already built in the northern West Bank--which will
divide the City of Hebron.