SPECIAL HEBRON UPDATE: Gaza, Beit Ummar, and Hebron, 25-27 January 2008
January 28th, 2008
CPTnet
28 January 2008
SPECIAL HEBRON UPDATE: Gaza, Beit Ummar, and Hebron, 25-27 January 2008
The Hebron team responded in many directions as events unfolded in Gaza, Beit Ummar, and Hebron this past weekend.
Friday morning, 25 January, the team received news that two Palestinians were killed attempting an attack in the settlement of Gush Etzion. CPT later learned that the two dead were from Beit Ummar and closely related to friends of the team. The Israeli army entered Beit Ummar during Friday prayers, surrounding the mosque.
As the team determined a response for Beit Ummar, four team members on a tour of Shuhada Street with the Israeli group Breaking the Silence witnessed Israeli settler harassment against the Israeli tour leaders.
Meanwhile CPT Hebron was preparing to send two team members to participate in an Israeli-organized relief convoy to Gaza. Jessica Frederick and Paulette Schroeder left to join the Gaza convoy. Dianne Roe and Eileen Hanson traveled to Beit Ummar.
Roe and Hanson learned that the Israeli army was using live ammunition and had killed eighteen-year-old Mohammed Mahmoud Awwad, and injured several including Musa Abu Maria, a Beit Ummar non-violence organizer. Following the burial of Awwad, Palestinian youth threw stones and the Israeli Army responded with tear gas. Roe and Hanson, caught in the teargas, took shelter in the home of a villager. CPTer Tarek Abuata traveled from At-Tuwani to stay overnight in the hospital with Abu Maria. The hospital released Abu Maria on Saturday, 26 January; he did not require surgery.
Sunday afternoon, 27 January, Mary Wendeln, Kathie Uhler, and Roe visited Beit Ummar again to call on the families of the two killed at Gush Etzion. Relatives still await the return of the bodies.
On the way from Beit Ummar, Wendeln received a phone call that the Israeli army was detaining six Palestinian teenagers near Avraham Avinu settlement in Hebron’s old city. Wendeln called Schroeder who went to the scene with Jean Fallon. Roe and Wendeln joined them upon arrival in Hebron. Roe called Zleekha Muhtaseb, a friend of the team, and was able to give her the names of the boys detained. Muhtaseb and Uhler went to the families of the boys. As the Israeli army handcuffed and blindfolded the young men and led them to a paddy wagon, relatives of the boys poured into the streets, surrounding the vehicle. Roe and Wendeln joined the mothers in blocking the vehicle, entreating the police to let family members go with their sons to the police station. The mothers backed down and cried as their sons were taken away. At midnight, the Israeli authorities released the boys.
For photos of the standoff at the personnel carrier, go to http://www.cpt.org/gallery/album234
in:
CPTnet
28 January 2008
SPECIAL HEBRON UPDATE: Gaza, Beit Ummar, and Hebron, 25-27 January 2008
The Hebron team responded in many directions as events unfolded in Gaza, Beit Ummar, and Hebron this past weekend.
Friday morning, 25 January, the team received news that two Palestinians were killed attempting an attack in the settlement of Gush Etzion. CPT later learned that the two dead were from Beit Ummar and closely related to friends of the team. The Israeli army entered Beit Ummar during Friday prayers, surrounding the mosque.
As the team determined a response for Beit Ummar, four team members on a tour of Shuhada Street with the Israeli group Breaking the Silence witnessed Israeli settler harassment against the Israeli tour leaders.
Meanwhile CPT Hebron was preparing to send two team members to participate in an Israeli-organized relief convoy to Gaza. Jessica Frederick and Paulette Schroeder left to join the Gaza convoy. Dianne Roe and Eileen Hanson traveled to Beit Ummar.
Roe and Hanson learned that the Israeli army was using live ammunition and had killed eighteen-year-old Mohammed Mahmoud Awwad, and injured several including Musa Abu Maria, a Beit Ummar non-violence organizer. Following the burial of Awwad, Palestinian youth threw stones and the Israeli Army responded with tear gas. Roe and Hanson, caught in the teargas, took shelter in the home of a villager. CPTer Tarek Abuata traveled from At-Tuwani to stay overnight in the hospital with Abu Maria. The hospital released Abu Maria on Saturday, 26 January; he did not require surgery.
Sunday afternoon, 27 January, Mary Wendeln, Kathie Uhler, and Roe visited Beit Ummar again to call on the families of the two killed at Gush Etzion. Relatives still await the return of the bodies.
On the way from Beit Ummar, Wendeln received a phone call that the Israeli army was detaining six Palestinian teenagers near Avraham Avinu settlement in Hebron’s old city. Wendeln called Schroeder who went to the scene with Jean Fallon. Roe and Wendeln joined them upon arrival in Hebron. Roe called Zleekha Muhtaseb, a friend of the team, and was able to give her the names of the boys detained. Muhtaseb and Uhler went to the families of the boys. As the Israeli army handcuffed and blindfolded the young men and led them to a paddy wagon, relatives of the boys poured into the streets, surrounding the vehicle. Roe and Wendeln joined the mothers in blocking the vehicle, entreating the police to let family members go with their sons to the police station. The mothers backed down and cried as their sons were taken away. At midnight, the Israeli authorities released the boys.
For photos of the standoff at the personnel carrier, go to http://www.cpt.org/gallery/album234