CPTnet
July 28, 2002
HEBRON: Settler rampage kills one, injures many

by KR Kamphoefner

Several dozen Israeli settlers went on a rampage through the Old City of
Hebron Saturday and Sunday, wrecking things in their path and shooting into
Palestinian homes, killing one girl, stabbing a six year old boy and
injuring at least eight other Palestinians. The settlers carried out their
attacks in reprisal for the killings on Friday afternoon of four settlers
in the southern Hebron district, one of whom, Elazar Leibovitz, lived in
the Hebron settlement of Avraham Avinu.

Beginning Saturday night, settlers entered a home belonging to the
Sharabati family next door to Avraham Avinu, wrecking it inside, throwing
the water tanks into the street and piling up concrete blocks in front of
the home. Later in the night, they shot up a second house belonging to
another Sharabati family near the same settlement.

Settlers also attacked the home of Adel Ramadan Samoh, a shoe shop owner
who lives above Beit Hadassah, in the middle of the night throwing stones
at the house. On Sunday morning, settlers threw stones over the wall of
his patio and hit Adel in the middle of his forehead and right
shoulder. An Israeli soldier took him to Tel Rumeida Military Camp for
first aid. He returned home, but soldiers had kept his
identification. CPTers Greg Rollins and Jim Satterwhite went to the
military camp to retrieve his ID. Because the family was in shock and
feared the settlers would return, Rollins sat with them for the afternoon.

Anwar Maswadi, a 26-year-old man engaged to Wila'a al-Attrash, a long-time
friend of the Hebron team, lives near the entrance of the Ibrahimi Mosque/
Cave of Machpela, where the
funeral procession started on Sunday. He said settlers threw rocks and
tear gas at Palestinian houses nearby. Maswadi threw rocks back, and
settlers opened fire, shooting at houses and water tanks on various roofs
and wounding Maswadi in the left foot and left hand. The Israeli military
ambulance arrived and took him to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.

According to another local family, settlers entered the market between 12
and 12:30 pm on Sunday. They heard the settlers throwing stones and
shooting into the Palestinian homes on the second floor of the main market
street,hurried away from their windows and locked their doors. The Israeli
soldiers on duty behind Avraham Avinu did not respond to the settlers'
entry into the market initially. (The Israeli army usually keeps settlers
out of the Old City). When Palestinians began to throw stones back from
their rooftops, soldiers came and started shooting at the
Palestinians. The settlers stayed at the junction near the coffeehouse and
then went into the narrow passageway.

CPTers LeAnne Clausen and Jim Satterwhite responded to the distraught cries
of two men running through the street. They explained that at their house,
the children were playing when settlers came into their courtyard. Their
mother ran to gather them inside. The men of the family ran to get the
soldiers to remove the settlers. Ahmed an-Natsche, age 6, was in a separate
room with his aunt. His aunt said a settler entered and struck her. Then
the settler man knifed Ahmed in the back and hit him in the head with a
stone. When soldiers came, they gave Ahmed first aid and carried him away,
which terrified the family, but they calmed down after they saw Ahmed was
getting medical help.

In the Old City above the main market area, a fourteen-year-old girl,
Niveen Jumjum, was killed while looking out the second floor window of her
house. Her brother was also shot in the arm. The settler mob ran through
the residential quarters of Old City area and shot into the homes there.

About two hundred Israelis, including two battalions of soldiers, attended
the funeral. The mourners walked up Shuhada Street to the cemetery at Tel
Rumeida. After it finished, another group of settlers went towards Bab
iZaweyya. When they went back down the street from Tel Rumeida, settlers
ripped off the metal driveway gate to one driveway and turned over potted
plants en route.

Ha'aretz reported that police arrested two settlers for the
attacks. According to Israel Radio, fifteen Israeli police officers and
border policemen were injured in the violence.