CPTnet
13 April 2007

HEBRON UPDATE: 4 -10 April 2006

Team members serving during this period were Art Arbour, Dave Corcoran,
Donna Hicks, David Janzen, John Lynes, and Paul Rehm.

Tuesday 4 April

 Donna Hicks and an intern took a group from the Mennonite Central Committee
for a tour. The group was able to walk the length of Shuhada Street from
the Ibrahimi Mosque spur to the Dubboya Street checkpoint.

Wednesday 5 April

During morning school patrol, team members saw a large bulldozer shifting
debris at the dirt parking lot below the Ibrahimi Mosque. The clean up was
most likely in preparation for the many busses expected in Hebron during
Passover. Arbour and Hicks joined Ecumenical Accompaniment Project in
Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) and the International Solidarity Movement (ISM)
along Dubboya Street and at Qurtuba School when school was dismissed at
12:30 p.m.

 Art Arbour and Dave Corcoran went to the Hebron Governorate to celebrate
with other NGOs the beginning of Palestinian Child Week (5-9 April.) The
theme of the week, displayed on all the posters and banners in Arabic and
English, was "Life Without Violence is possible." DCI (Defense for Children
International--Palestinian Section) and PNCR (Palestinian Network for
Children's Rights) sponsored the event. Since rain was pouring down, the
children did not march, but went to the Ali Hussein School where the
principal talked to them. Then the children worked art projects for display
at their own schools as well as at the NGO Centers. Children in H2 (under
Israeli control) were not allowed to go through checkpoints to attend the
festival.

Thursday 6 April

 John Lynes and Paul Rehm led members of a tour group from Germany and the
U.K. who are working in Bethlehem. Near the Ibrahimi Mosque one of the
women wanted to take a picture of the soldier with whom Rehm and Lynes had
had a pleasant conversation a few days earlier. The soldier said "only with
my friend" and insisted that Rehm be in the photo.

 At 10:30 p.m. Arbour received a call from a family living just outside of
the 4/5 gate. They told him that they were unable to go into their home
because a crowd of Israeli settlers had gathered nearby. Arbour and Janzen
went out to investigate but were unable to reach the area due to closed
gates and the large settler group.

Friday 7 April

The team visited a family facing a building newly occupied by Israeli
settlers. See 12 April CPTnet release, "Israeli settlers seize another
Palestinian building."

 A representative from Hebron Land Defense Committee came by to brief the
team on four military orders involving the theft of Palestinian land:

Otniel--The Israeli military plans to build sixteen military towers around
this settlement, taking an additional 100 acres of land.

Ashkelot-- North of this settlement, the military plans to take 200 acres
for a helicopter landing facility.

Karmel -- A new road from this settlement to the bypass road near Zief, will
take 350 acres of Palestinian land.

Al Harub--The military plans to take 200 square meters to erect a new
military tower.

 At 2:00 p.m. the team met with members of EAPPI, SM and the TRP (Tel
Rumeida Project) to review patrols, monitoring and staffing in Hebron during
Passover.

 Hicks attended the opening of an art exhibit, "The Wall through Palestinian
Children's Eyes" at St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem. One of the artists
added this statement to his picture: "If they shut all the world around us,
they can't shut our mouths to talk about our freedom."

Saturday 8 April

Art Arbour, Rehm and Lynes walked with the youngest son of the family facing
the newly occupied building by the Avraham Avinu settlement, making sure he
got to school without incident. Rehm intervened between a teen-age settler
who was harrassing a Palestinian boy being on his way to school.

 Lynes and Rehm went along Haret Jaber to extend Shabbat greetings to
settlers returning from worship. Fewer settlers and more soldiers were
walking on the route than on the previous week.

Ed Gaffney, who is completing a film on peacemakers in Israel and Palestine,
interviewed Hicks.

Sunday 9 April

Arbour observed a quiet morning on school patrol until soldiers at the
Yatta Road checkpoint, forcing every student to open their bags, caused a
lineup of forty students to accumulate just before the start of school at
8:00 a.m. The school principal, noticing that many pupils were late, stormed
the checkpoint yelling at the soldiers. Within a few seconds the crowd of
children was allowed to stream through the cabin.

The Team participated in the Palm Sunday procession starting at Bethphage,
continuing over the Mount of Olives, past the Garden of Gethsemane, into St.
Stephen's Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, beginning the celebration of Holy
Week, 2006.

Monday, 10 April

The team visited the Jaber families by the Israeli settlement of Kiryat
Arba. The families had been free of settler harassment for at least a year
but, because of poor prices for grapes, they had to convert their vineyards
to vegetable plots.