Thursday, December 3
Abdel Hadi Hantash of the Palestinian Land Defense Committee (LDC) reported
that three new caravans (large mobile
homes) were placed on a hill three kilometers southeast of the Jewish
settlement of Susyia (Hebron District). The hill and surrounding land belong
to Palestinian landowner Sa'iid Thebaan. Hantash witnessed bulldozers working
to open a new road from the caravans to the settlement.

CPT Hebron hosted diplomats from the Ethiopian Embassy, French Consulate, and
Canadian and Chilean representatives to the Palestinian Authority. Team
members gave a tour of Hebron and talked about the situation of Palestinians
living under military occupation and about the work of CPT.

Monday, December 7
Two thousand Palestinian political prisoners went on a hunger strike to
protest the Israeli government's release of 250
common criminals rather than the 750 political prisoners who were expected to
be freed as part of the Wye Agreement. Members of the team visited a fast
tent located across from the Red Cross in Hebron for family members fasting in
solidarity with their brothers, fathers or sons in prison.

A march calling for the release of prisoners ended in stone-throwing and two
hours of clashes at the border of the Israeli and Palestinian-controlled
areas. After two hours, the clashes subsided in Hebron, but clashes in
Bethlehem, Ramallah and Abu Dis claimed one young Palestinian man's life.
Clashes in the latter part of the week resulted in three more deaths.

The team watched as Palestinian firefighters put out a blaze in the souq
(market) after supper. At least seven Palestinian young men were detained
several hours later near Beit Romano; some were barefoot or in other stages of
undress, indicating they were likely taken from their homes unexpectedly. One
soldier detaining three young men near the souq muttered that they were
seeking one man in a white-colored jacket and another in a dark jacket in
relation to a "blast," even though the three being detained there were walking
past the site several hours later.

Later, settlers blocked a road in Hebron after a settler woman and her son
reported being stoned by Palestinians. (See CPTnet, "You Want to Kill Us,"
December 11, 1998).

Tuesday, December 8
Pierre Shantz volunteered to be the victim in a "torture demonstration" held
by the Israeli Public Committee Against
Torture in Jerusalem. The demonstration against the torture of Palestinians
in Israeli prisons was held in Jerusalem outside the venue for a human rights
conference at the same time as the head of the Shabak, Israel's security
services spoke inside about human rights.

Wednesday, December 9
Musallem Shreitah, a Palestinian farmer and professor at Hebron University
with whom CPT has worked in the past reported that settlers have planted on
his land, which they seized last summer. He has asked the team to consider
helping him replant the land. Several team members were arrested in 1995
after uprooting trees that settlers had illegally planted on his land at that
time.

Friday, December 11
An old Palestinian man was hit by an Israeli military ambulance in front of
the souq (Avraham Avinu settlement).
Observers said that the ambulance squawked a warning but made little attempt
to stop. A large crowd gathered but no clashes occurred. The old man was
taken away in the ambulance.

Abdel Hadi Hantash of the Land Defense Committee said that settlers have
seized two more hills near Harsina settlement, just east of Hebron city,
putting the land and homes of more Palestinian families at risk. He continued
to outline a list of at least 13 violations of "land for peace" by Israelis
since the Wye Accords were signed in late October.

Saturday, December 12
A Palestinian talking to CPTers on night patrol asked why President Clinton
bothered to visit Palestine (the West Bank and Gaza)in the wake of the land
seizures and events since
Wye Plantation. In a strange kind of foreshadowing of the U.S.
bombing of Iraq on December 16, he also denounced the sanctions and suffering
of thousands of children and their parents in that country.

Tuesday, December 15
CPTers tried to greet President Clinton with hand-made banners and an open
letter. (See CPTnet "International
Christian Peacemaker Group Holds Banners to Welcome U.S. President," December
14, 1998) and "Waiting for the 'King'", December 21, 1998).

Wednesday, December 16
At 11 p.m., the U.S. and Great Britain bombed Iraq.