21 December 2009
Schroeder and Funk monitored school patrol from outside and inside the Ibrahimi Mosque Checkpoint. At 7:25 a.m., an Israeli policeman approached Funk and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Keeping an eye on school children on their way to school.” “You have no right to stand there, only TIPH [See http://www.tiph.org/] can legally stand there.”
“We have been here for years and it has never been a problem.”
“You have no right to be watching soldiers.”
“We do not interfere with the soldiers. We were invited to be here by the municipality.”
“You have no right to be here.”
“I believe we do, but I will respect your wishes today.”
“Bring a paper next time to show you have the right to be here.”
In the afternoon, Kern, Herbert, and Schroeder went to al-Bweireh to accompany the children and to interview the mother of a child who had been attacked by the settlers the previous week on Wednesday. A member of the team’s Advisory Committee drove the team there and translated for them. From the interview they learned the following:
The seven-year-old was with a brother and cousin when the settlers attacked. As they ran toward a nearby house, he tripped and fell, which caused the wound on his face and hand. His brother ran back to pick him up and carry him to safety. The injured boy is especially afraid of settlers, so much so that he sits beside his brother in 7th grade for an hour-and-a-half after his own school dismisses, rather than walk home without him. A settler on horseback tried to snatch up his younger sister a few weeks ago, and the house is attacked two to three times a week. The settlers who chased the boys on 17 December could have been anywhere from sixteen to twenty years old. They had a dog with them. The police refused to allow Mr. Za'atari to make the complaint the next day without the seven-year-old present and then asked the boy, when he arrived, if he had taken pictures of the settlers.