CPTnet
July 10, 2004

HEBRON UPDATE: June 27-July 2, 2004

Sunday, June 27
No curfew

Monday, June 28
No curfew

A new group of trainees in the EAPPI (Ecumenical Accompaniment) program came
to Hebron for a tour led by Maureen Jack.

Tuesday, June 29
No curfew

Maureen Jack took visitors from Scotland on a tour. At the Ibrahimi Mosque,
border police, pointing at the CPT hat, indicated Jack could enter the
mosque if she removed the hat. She did so, and put the hat back on when she
got outside. The officer said, "You just want to make war between Arabs and
Jews!" She replied, "No, we want there to be peace."

Chris Brown, Donna Hicks, and Jack met with volunteers and a representative
from LOWNP (Library on Wheels for Nonviolence and Peace) to work out details
for the upcoming Festival Shopping Day for the Old City. Representatives of
a French group attended and explained that on the morning of the drawing for
the shopping day prize, there would be sports activities for the children at
the drawing site.

Wednesday, June 30
No curfew

Bischoff and Carpenter visited a family in Idhna who had received a home
demolition order and had requested CPT's help. On the way there, a family
friend explained that townspeople were not sure of the plan for the Wall,
but feared they would be on the Israeli side. The family's home is in a
group of about twenty nearest to the bypass road and under Israeli control
(Area
C.) Seven homes and five shelters have demolition orders, delivered on June
17, 2004. The Israeli military destroyed one shelter on June 28. The home
owner has been proactive in contacting organizations and individuals who
might assist him in stopping the home demolition. CPT prepared a letter
alerting the US embassy to the situation.

Anderson, Jack, and Kathie Uhler accompanied a BBC film crew for the BBC
program 'Songs of Praise' to the Jabal Johar neighborhood, so they could
document a family's experiences with Israeli military and settlers over the
last year and a half. During this time the Israeli military had bulldozed
the family's fruit trees, confiscated land, and threatened the family with
home demolitions.

The military ordered the CPTers and journalists out of the home but took
neither film nor cameras.

Carpenter, Jack, and a guest of the team accompanied the BBC journalists to
the Ibrahimi Mosque soup kitchen. Many children with their buckets and
canisters were getting soup for their families. Staff at the kitchen told
the visitors that the children often had difficulty getting to the kitchen
during Shabbat and curfew.

Thursday, July 1, 2004
No curfew

CPTers distributed raffle tickets to merchants for the prize, a washing
machine, for the second Shopping Day in the Old City. Customers making a
purchase received a raffle ticket for the prize. Israeli military at the
Beit Romano checkpoint created a bottleneck by briefly detaining most people
coming into and out of the old market.

Near the CPT apartment, CPTers Jack and Uhler observed an Israeli military
patrol detaining four Palestinian men who had volunteered to work on the
Shopping Day. One soldier was on one knee with his rifle pointed at the
Palestinians. CPTer Brown came out of the CPT apartment and waited with
Jack and Uhler until all four men were released. The leader of the patrol
asked why CPT was in Hebron. Brown said, "We live here. You are welcome to
come and have tea as long as you leave your weapons at home." The soldier
smiled, and said, "I can't do that."

Friday, July 2, 2004
No curfew

Saturday, July 3, 2004
No curfew

CPTers Hicks, Diane Janzen, and Jim Satterwhite walked through the old
market to see if children were having difficulties getting to the mosque
soup kitchen for their soup. On the way, they encountered an Israeli
military patrol escorting a group of about twenty-five religious Jews - men,
women, and children - through the market. Upon reaching the soup kitchen,
the CPTers found it closed. On the way back to the CPT apartment, the
CPTers encountered the tour group again. A man came up to Hicks and said,
"You look amazed that we would be here, as if we were monsters, and
shouldn't be here. We've lived here [for many years.]" Hicks replied, "I
am sad that you see it that way." The man continued in the same vein, and
Hicks responded, "I am sad you see it that way." He then walked off.

Between 2:00 and 2:30pm, Hicks and Janzen listened as Israeli settler boys
tossed more rocks at their window nearest Shuhada Street. More glass was
broken out. The boys also hit the office windows, but did not break the
glass. Janzen went to the roof to call to the Israeli soldier normally on
the roof across the street, but there was no one stationed there.

Satterwhite observed the activity on his way back to the apartment and also
called up to the military post on the roof.