CPTnet
December 23, 2004

HEBRON UPDATE: November 12-November 17, 2004

[Note: The CPTnet editor regrets having posted the November 18-28 Hebron
update before she posted the November 12-17 update. The next Hebron update
posted will be November 29-December 21, 2004.]

 Friday November 12, 2004 Dianne Roe attended Yassir Arafat's funeral.
Earlier at 7:45am Jerry Levin left for Bethlehem. Soldiers did not permit
hi multi-passenger taxi (called a "service") to enter Highway 60. So the
service dropped its passengers at the barrier blocking the northern entrance
to Halhoul from Highway 60. Walking over it onto Highway 60, he then caught
another service. But it was turned back at the Gush Etzion intersection.
However, the driver taking side roads sneaked around the intersection and
got back on Highway 60. But then about a mile south of Efrata Settlement's
northern entrance an Israeli Army jeep speedily overtook the service and
forced it to stop. Two soldiers with guns jumped out and pointed them at the
service while a third soldier checked IDs. After examining Levin's ID, the
soldier told Levin, "You can go. The others cannot." Levin then walked into
Bethlehem.

Saturday November 13, 2004
As Joe Carr, Kim Lamberty, and Diane Janzen passed through the Beit Romano
checkpoint, on their way to Jerusalem, soldiers detained Carr. After five
minutes, Israeli police arrived and conferred with the soldiers for another
twenty-five minutes, but finally returned Carr's passport without comment.

Sunday November 14, 2004
Roe, returning from Jerusalem, was accosted by several Palestinian boys as
she was walking to the Old City. They tried to steal her phone and money.
She took refuge with a family living nearby. Family members offered to
accompany her to the entrance of the Old City.

 Monday November 15, 2004 Maureen Jack, coming down from the roof of the CPT
apartment where she had taken a tour group, was stopped by soldiers, who
asked about pictures the group had taken. Although the soldiers did not
commandeer any film or memory cards, they ordered that no more pictures be
taken from the roof. But then they began conversing with Jack and the
others. They said the settlers were
"difficult." One soldier said the settlers were "fanatics," and none of the
others disagreed.

Tuesday November 16, 2004
A young Palestinian friend visited the CPT apartment. He wanted to know
about the difference between CPT work in Palestine and Iraq. "We
Palestinians always welcome Internationals," he said. "We are not like Iraq.
It is terrible what Zarqawi does. Unspeakable. We cannot imagine it."

Roe took a group to Beit Ummar. They visited a family whose son showed the
scars of wounds he received two years ago when he was 11. Soldiers shot him,
during curfew, when he stepped outside his house to empty the garbage.

Wednesday November 17, 2004
Roe and Levin conducted a late afternoon checkpoint watch at Beit Romano.
They were ordered to move "inside the Casbah." They did, but then they
realized that they could no longer see what the soldiers were doing with
some young men they had detained. So they moved much closer just in time to
see a soldier kicking the legs of one of the detainees who had not spread
them far enough apart to suit the soldier.

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