CPTnet July 17, 2004 Hebron Update: July 5 2004 - July 9, 2004 Monday, July
5, 2004 No curfew The July 1 Festival Shopping Day raffle drawing for the
prize washing machine was held at Freedom Park, with a shopkeeper from the
Old City of Hebron winning. Later, CPTers Kristin Anderson and Christy
Bischoff attended the presentation ceremony at an appliance store in the
city. Tuesday, July 6, 2004 No curfew Anderson, Bischoff, Cal Carpenter, and
Donna Hicks visited two Campaign for Secure Dwellings families in Beit
Ummar. One has been trying to get permission from the Israeli District
Coordinating Office (DCO) to go to her fields to prepare for the plum
harvest in about two weeks. She is concerned there will not be enough time
to get all the work done and would like accompaniment and help from CPT, but
fears the DCO would not grant permission. Her husband's son is still in
prison near Ramallah (see release
'They've taken our son' March 18, 2004). The Israeli authorities will not
grant permission for his father and his mother to visit. The second family
the CPTers visited talked about hardships stemming from unemployment. They
cannot afford milk and meat for their children.
Later CPTers Bischoff and Brown saw Israeli soldiers at the neighbor's
house. When CPTers went to the home, they saw ten soldiers walking up the
road near the house. The CPTers asked the mother what had happened. She
said, "They looked around but did not take anything or disturb things." She
said the soldiers had come the night before at 4:30 A.M. and banged on the
door demanding to search. "We are used to this," the mother said, "but they
should come when a man is present. This is forbidden with just women here."
Wednesday, July 7, 2004 No curfew
In the morning CPTer Satterwhite sat with a merchant near the Beit Romano
checkpoint when another shopkeeper came and opened his shop right at the
entrance to the Old City. An Israeli soldier came over and told him he
could not open because he was part of a group of shops close to the
checkpoint that have been closed for several months. The shopkeeper
insisted that his shop belonged to those in the Old City passageway that
were allowed to stay open, and he refused to close.
In the afternoon, Abdel Hadi Hantash led CPTers and two guests on a tour of
Beit Mersum and Ar Ramadin, in the southwest of the Hebron District, near
the green line with Israel, and thought to be near the seam line along
which the 'security fence' will be built. The Israeli military had issued
verbal demolition orders for nine homes in Beit Mersum, and issued 27 paper
demolition orders for homes, farm buildings, and cisterns in Ar Ramadin on
June 20. A man in Beit Mersum said, "If you gave me a pile of gold, I still
would not leave my land." The families in Ar Ramadin have joined in a
lawsuit to bring their cases to the Israeli High Court. The High Court has
not made a decision. One family, who has ten demolition orders, four of
them on wells, reported seeing 100 Israeli soldiers accompanied by
bulldozers coming towards their land the day before. However, they turned
around. The family said, "If they destroy our houses we will have nothing.
We will have nowhere to go - this is all we have." The group also viewed
two homes that had been demolished by the Israeli military the day before.
The Bedouin families are living in tents provided by the Red Cross.
Thursday, July 8, 2004 No curfew
CPTers Anderson, Bischoff, and Janzen visited a family in the Jabal Johar
neighborhood, near the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba. On their way,
they observed a children's party going on at the Israeli side of the
Ibrahimi Mosque, with a water slide and trampolines. Near the family's home
in Jabal Johar, Israeli soldiers had gathered near the Palestinian house
demolished by the Israeli military in November 2002. The settlers and
soldiers had departed from the area by the time the CPTers left the family's
home. CPT hosted a meeting with a group of Palestinian youth around how to
make the Festival Shopping Day in the Old City more alive. The youth
exhibited a lot of energy and good ideas. Friday, July 9, 2004 No curfew
CPTer Brown escorted two Swedes and a German guest on a tour. The Swedes
were filming a documentary. Along Shuhada Street, they encountered the
Border Police, who asked for press cards. Brown said they were guests of
CPT. The Border Police replied that they didn't care and that they would
take the camera if filming continued. The group proceeded towards the Yatta
Road and the camera person continued filming. Brown, Bischoff, Lorin Peters,
and Satterwhite observed an Israeli bulldozer moving rubble near the Avraham
Avinu settlement close to Palestinian homes. Israeli soldiers were posted on
nearby rooftops but did not prevent the CPTers from observing the activity.
Janzen and Bischoff observed an Israeli soldier urinating on the Palestinian
home. Two hours later, Bischoff and Peters encountered two Israeli soldiers
in the arch just east of the CPT apartment. One said an iron gate would be
installed where the bulldozer had removed rubble, by 'next week'. Later,
Bischoff spoke with the group of Israeli soldiers patrolling about watching
the soldier urinate. One soldier said he would speak to the soldier in
charge because that was not at all appropriate. Saturday, July 10, 2004 No
curfew CPTers Hicks and Peters observed Israeli soldiers stop a Palestinian
father teaching his son to ride a bicycle on the road near the Gutnick
Center below the Ibrahimi Mosque. It was Shabbat and Palestinians were not
permitted on the street. They were instructed walk down the sidewalk marked
off from the street by a plastic barricade. After a brief conversation, the
soldiers let the child ride haltingly down the road - the bicycle balanced
by his father.

CPTers Anderson, Bischoff, and Janzen joined Palestinians, Israelis, and
internationals at a women's silent vigil in front of the wall slabs
awaiting installation in the Jerusalem neighborhood of A-Ram.

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