the Hebron

Dear ones,

Many of you probably know that as a result of israeli military aggression, over 1800 people (nearly all palestinians) have been wounded in the last week. The Palestinian hospitals are in DESPERATE need of medical supplies. Since it costs $35 to wire money there, MECA is willing to collect your checks and send it over there in chunks.

Make checks (no amount is too small!) out to MECA and mail ASAP to 905 Parker Ave., Berkeley CA 94710 -- be sure to mark "medicine" on the memo so we know that is what you intend it for!

Many thanks -- please also pressure clinton and albright to pressure barak to end the aggression and killing!

Thanks--in solidarity, for peace with justice,

          dina saba
Middle East Children's Alliance
Here's a behind the headlines view of what's happening on the West Bank.
--Esther

The Martyrdom of Innocence

By Anita Fast

The stories of firebombs, bullets, rocks and injuries fill the newspapers. Live ammunition is replacing rubber-coated bullets. Officials and civilians alike are quick to say that things have rarely gotten this bad. But there are stories that continue to go unheard. Stories of regular people who don't want to go out and join the violent struggle, but who get caught in the cross-fire nonetheless. They have not been walking in the streets and chosen the wrong alley-ways. They have not even left their homes. In fact, they cannot leave their homes. Unlike in Palestinian- controlled cities such as Bethlehem and Ramallah, where clashes happen on the borders and people who wish to remain uninvolved in the violence can usually make that choice, for many in Hebron the story is different. Because of the Jewish settlers in the heart of the Old City, and the 1500 Israeli soldiers who are stationed here to protect them, the scene looks very different. The 35 000 residents of the Israeli occupied part of Hebron, H2, are under full, 24-hour-a-day curfew. For some families living in H2, only blocks away from our CPT apartment, their lives have become lives under siege.

On Wednesday, with Palestinian journalist, Kawther Salam, and fellow CPTer Andrew Getman, I visited two families whose rooftops have become strategic military outposts. Approaching the first, I felt as if I were coming upon an old deserted home. The windows were boarded up with wood and tin. Broken bottles and rocks littered the walkway. Black evidence of fires streaked up the walls. But there were some differences. A face peered out from inside an enclosed bunker and a deep voice shouted, "Go away! Get out of here!" It was a soldier. We ignored his warnings and knocked on the door. The door opened and a young father stood inside holding a four-month old girl. Four other children, all boys under the age of 12 gathered around him. We were invited in. There was the faint smell of gas in the dimly lit rooms, which had all light and ventilation extinguished due to the boarded up windows. One of the boys opened the door to their nicely furnished sitting room. Rocks littered the floor, and a burned out bottle lay shattered upon the charred carpet. The four-year old held the curtains away from the windows and pointed. The glass was shattered and sharp shards covered the floor.

The father, Jihad Sede Ahmad told his story. The previous afternoon, a clash started in their area. Because of the soldiers stationed on their roof, their home became the target for stone and molotov-cocktail throwing Palestinians. Jewish settlers threw the same from the other side. The soldiers shot back. And inside, the children screamed, the baby cried, and they all ran to hide inside the bathroom. That night, the children wanted to sleep under their parents' bed.

Next door stands the beautiful home of a doctor. The previous night, Dr. Taisir Zahdeh's home was invaded by soldiers. They wanted to use his roof for another shooting post. The doctor and his wife shared their story. Three days earlier, some soldiers came knocking at the door. They wanted in, but the doctor refused. The soldiers smashed the window of the door and started yelling, demanding that they be given entry. The doctor still refused. The next night, he awoke to the noise of hammering on his metal door. He went to investigate, only to find that the soldiers had returned and were battering at the door, trying to break it down. Some settlers from Beit Haddasseh settlement were helping.

Dr. Zahdeh, remembering how his resistance to soldier's requests in 1998 resulted in his being beaten into a coma, told the soldiers that he would let them in. But when he tried his key, the lock was already too damaged. The soldiers and settlers continued beating and prying at the door. An hour later, they succeeded in opening it. Once on his roof, they proceeded to drill holes in the wall of the roof so that they could be hidden while watching and sh ooting through the holes. Day and night, there are soldiers going up and down the stairs, disturbing the family's sleep and frightening his four children who scream in fear.

Dr. Zahdeh recalls the horrors of having soldiers on his roof several years ago. They urinated and threw bags full of their feces over the edge of the roof onto the heads of people coming to visit. They made lots of noise and carried dirt through the ho use. They went to the bathroom down the pipes that carried water down from t he roof for the family to use. He and his wife fear that these things will start up again, now that the soldiers are back on their roof.

These are the civilian casualties that do not get recorded. These are the bodies that don't have visible scars. These are the lives which carry the cost of military occupation in memories and nightmares of degradation and horror. There is no glory in the martyrdom of innocence for these children. And in the words of Dr. Zahdeh, "there is no end to the stories that could be told."

U.S. says Sharon holy site visit caused tensions

WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The United States on Friday put some of the blame for violence in Jerusalem on Israeli rightist leader Ariel Sharon, who made a controversial visit to the Temple Mount or al-Haram al-Sharif on Thursday.

The U.S. State Department, which usually refuses to say who started a particular outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence, said Sharon's visit to the holy site had caused tension.

``We ... were quite concerned that the visit by Sharon to this site risked creating tensions, and in fact it did,'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told a daily briefing.

The violence escalated on Friday when at least four Palestinians were killed and more than 200 people hurt in clashes with Israeli police at the site.

The United States, reverting to its traditional position, appealed to both sides to maintain calm, exercise restraint and ``avoid any action that provokes tension'' in the area.

``We think it's incumbent on people on both sides to avoid actions that inflame the situation,'' Boucher said.

``Clearly this is a sensitive place for Palestinians, Israelis, Muslims and Jews and the needs and interests of both sides need to be respected,'' he added.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Friday about the Middle East peace process and planned also to talk to Israeli acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, Boucher said.

He said the events of the past few days showed how important it was for both sides to focus their efforts and reach a final peace agreement. ``We call on both sides to take steps to restore calm and ignore any actions or words that could inflame the situation,'' he added.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators had two days of talks with U.S. mediators near Washington this week, without any evident sign of progress.

The aim is to bridge the gaps on the future of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and the borders of a Palestinian state.

Talks between Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak broke up in July at Camp David without a deal.

Boucher also issued a warning to Americans going to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, calling for caution, particularly around the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's walled Old City.

On this week's Israeli-Palestinian talks, he said: ``We had some intense discussions for a couple of days and will remain in contact with the parties. We expect they will remain in contact with each other.''

Saturday, September 16

While on night patrol, Anita Fast and Bob Holmes noticed a mentally retarded Palestinian man yelling and making gestures at a jeep of soldiers, who gunned their engine and taunted the man. A group of other Palestinians stood near-by watching. As Fast walked towards the jeep, intentionally in full view of the soldiers, the jeep sped off, only to go around the block and return moments later to continue the game. Again, Fast and Holmes approached the jeep of soldiers, but they sped off before the CPTers reached them. A visitor to Hebron, who was on night patrol with the CPTers, remarked how this mentally retarded man is probably the only Palestinian who can get away with such open cursing of the soldiers.

Monday, September 18 Saturday, September 16

While visiting a family in Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, Fast, Holmes, and Natasha Krahn spoke with a representative from the Beit Ummar Municipality who said that the Israeli military prevents the municipality from bringing services such as electricity, plumbing, and paved roads to those living in Area C - the area of the West Bank under full military control. However, the Israeli Civil Administration, which is in charge of Area C, rarely provides these services. The long road leading to the family's home with whom we were visiting remains unpaved in spite of municipal attempts to pave it.

Tuesday, September 19

As Krahn was walking along Shuhada street, a soldier stopped her and asked, "Where are you from?"
Krahn responded: "Canada."
Soldier: "Are you Jewish?"
Krahn: "No, I'm here with Christian Peacemaker Teams."
Soldier: "Why are you walking by yourself? I'm not sexist, it is just not usual to see a female walking by herself."
Krahn: "I am North American. Sometimes we can bend the rules."
Soldier: "I am Jewish. We always break the rules."

Thursday, September 21

Fast and Holmes experienced the frustrations of checkpoints and the lack of freedom of movement for Palestinians during their trip to Jerusalem. On the way there, soldiers turned back the taxi-van in which CPTers rode at both the Jerusalem checkpoint and then the Bethlehem checkpoint because the driver did not have the proper papers for the vehicle to go into Jerusalem. CPTers finally walked across the checkpoint and boarded another taxi on the other side along with the other passengers of the taxi-van.

Saturday, September 23

During CPT Hebron's first week of fasting and praying on Saturdays, the mood in Hebron remained calm and the day passed without incident (see Release: Help for My Unbelief).

Tuesday, September 26

Fast and journalist Kawthur Salam returned to the Abu Daoud family's home next to Avraham Avinu to check and see whether the garbage and feces, left by Israeli soldiers, had been cleaned up (see Hebron Update: Sept. 15). While the garbage had been removed from the roof, but the pile of feces and the smell of urine remained. When the soldiers noticed Fast and Salam on the roof, they called for back-up, and shortly thereafter another four soldiers came up onto the roof . Fast introduced herself to the soldiers and pointed at the feces on the roof.
Fast: "Do you know what that is?"
Soldier: "Yes, I know what it is."
Fast: "Well, I am very concerned about the affect of such things on the family who lives here. The smell comes in their windows and there are bugs coming through their pipes. The family used to collect rainwater from their roof, but now they cannot. Is there nowhere else you are able to go to the bathroom?"
Soldier: "Yes, we are able to go to Avraham Avinu."
Fast: "I am not suggesting that you personally did this, but I am asking that you be responsible to see that it gets cleaned up. Will you guaranteed that this will be cleaned up please?"
Soldier: "Yes, I promise that it will get cleaned up."
Fast: "Thank you. I will come back next week to check."

Later that afternoon, the team went on a drive around the West Bank with Abdel Hadi Hantash of the Palestinian Land Defense Committee. On their way back into Hebron, soldiers at a checkpoint began to pull the taxi-van over to I.D. the driver. However, another soldier noticed that it was CPT riding in the back of the van and said to the other soldier, "It's CPT." They then let the van go through the checkpoint without any further hassle.

Wednesday, September 27

While on night patrol, Holmes and Andrew Getman watched as an Israeli police officer stopped twelve vehicles in a row for I.D. checks. He completed his series of I.D.'s in 20 minutes and then drove off.

Thursday, September 28

While entering the Old City of Jerusalem at Jaffa Gate in the morning, Krahn was stopped by Israeli soldiers who told her that there was a potential bomb in the gate. She was re- routed to another gate of the city. Later on, when Krahn was joined by Fast, Holmes, and Getman for Eucharist at Sabeel, a Palestinian Liberation Theology Center, the team learned that earlier that morning, Israeli right-wing MK, Ariel Sharon, had visited the Haram Al- Sharif - the site of the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque, which is also the Temple Mount for the Jewish people. The visit, in which Sharon was accompanied by hundreds of soldiers and bodyguards, was taken as an attempt to assert Israeli sovereignty over this disputed site. Other members of the Israeli Knesset requested that Sharon not make the visit due to its provocative nature. During Eucharist, CPT and Sabeel prayed that there would not be a massacre resulting from this act.

Later that day CPT hea rd news reports that there had indeed been some clashes at the Haram Al-Sharif/Temple Mount, with 25 soldiers reported injured, and 3 Palestinians.

Friday, September 29

CPT Hebron went to Jerusalem in the afternoon to be picked up for a church retreat whose focus was on prayer as a source of strength during erupting hostilities. When the drivers, Michael and Susan Thomas, did not show up on time, and ambulances started streaming towards the Old City, it became evident that something had happened.

Shortl y thereafter, a helicopter started circling the area, and CPT received word that there were major clashes at Haram As-Sharif/Temple Mount and the Thomas' could not yet get through. An hour later, the Thomas' made it to the meeting point and the caravan d eparted for the retreat, which was being held in Tiberias at the Sea of Galilee.

Saturday, September 30

While Fast, Krahn, and Holmes fasted and prayed for peace in Hebron and all of Palestine and Israel, word came to those on retreat that clashes were spreading throughout the West Bank and Gaza, including Hebron. Belief in the power of fasting and prayer took on new significance at such a distance from the site of clashes, when all hope had to be laid at the feet of God, and all action be channeled fully into supplication and waiting.

Saturday, October 7

Curfew remained imposed on H2 today. During CPT's morning patrol, Natasha Krahn and Bob Holmes spoke with a soldier about the current situation. The soldier was very concerned that CPT know that soldiers are not allowed to shoot unless they are fired at, and that they still need to get permission before firing. He relayed his father's words from five years ago, "If we allow them freedom (Palestinian self- government), they will arm themselves and rise up against us." The soldier concluded by noting, "Just like they are now."

On afternoon patrol, Andrew Getman and Anita Fast observed burning tires at the Duboyya St. border, and clashes at the Shalalla St. border. It seemed calmer and less intense than in previous days. As it was Shabbat, a number of Jewish settlers were out on the streets, and most returned greetings of "Shabbat Shalom". Later in the afternoon, the team heard a commotion in front of the apartment and Krahn and Holmes went down to check it out. Several Hebron municipal observers were attempting to distribute some buttermilk and marmalade to the poorest families along Shuhada St., but the soldiers would not allow it. Fast and Krahn tried calling the Brigade Commander of the IDF to get him to allow the municipality to distribute the food, but after the first phone call was cut off, succeeding phone calls were not answered. Finally, Krahn, Fast, and Holmes took the food and distributed it themselves. Afterwards, Fast called the International Red Cross office in Hebron about the food concerns.

At 8:00 p.m., gunfire was shot from the apartment rooftops next to the CPT apartment. The shooting lasted for a few minutes. Several more times there was a smattering of gunfire before things seemed to quiet down for the night.

CPT received word that three IDF soldiers were taken hostage by the Lebanese Islamic Resistance movement, Hezbollah. Israel responded by threatening to bomb Beirut, as well as issuing a warning to Arafat to stop the Palestinian's violence within 48 hours (by Monday night) or else Israel would employ full force in the West Bank and Gaza and consider the peace process null and void.

Sunday, October 8

At 8:00 a.m. the curfew was lifted for three hours. Holmes and Fast went on patrol and shared excited greetings with Palestinians who were finally able to leave their homes and buy food. Cars were not allowed on Shuhada St., but horse drawn carts were used to bring some supplies into the area. The streets were bustling with activity almost immediately. There were no more soldiers out than usual, and in fact, at some of the clash-points soldiers had pulled back completely and were nowhere to be seen. This allowed freedom of movement without intimidation. Holmes and Fast walked up to Tel Rumeida and met the doctor who has soldiers occupying his rooftop (see Release: The Martyrdom of Innocence). When asked whether his family had enough food, he replied, "Food! Food isn't the problem. The problem is the soldiers on our roof! They shoot all night and the children can't sleep and are afraid! No one should have to live like this!"

Krahn and Getman continued the patrol until the curfew was re- imposed. Soldiers were not aggressive as they told shopkeepers to close up their stores and people to return to their homes. CPT did not observe any incidents of violence during the relief of curfew, in spite of soldier's predictions that lifting curfew would mean that people would start throwing stones at them.

Because the team was unable to go to Jerusalem to church, they celebrated Eucharist in the apartment. In the afternoon, three people from World Vision, and a visiting Anglican priest, came to see the team in Hebron. Everyone was thrilled to see, for the first time in 7 days, people from the "outside".

The evening was very quiet and, for the first time in a week, largely passed without gunfire.

Monday, October 9

On morning patrol, Fast and Holmes watched two large trucks unload bundles and bundles of sandbags at the IDF army base next to the CPT apartment. Later in the day, Getman and Kawther Salam noticed that a solid wall of cement blocks had been placed across the street at the Shalalla St. border.

CPT received reports that there has been a dramatic increase of violence against Palestinian civilians by Israeli Jews and settlers in both Israel and the West Bank. Soldiers stand and watch as Israeli Jews and settlers attack Palestinian villages and neighborhoods, but will attack the Palestinians as soon as the Palestinians fight back. Several reports have said that settlers have been given permission to shoot at Palestinians, even if they are unarmed.

On afternoon patrol, Holmes and Getman went with Palestinian journalist, Kawther Salam, to visit the Taqia Ibrahimi Food Clinic, next to the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron, which feeds 450 poor children daily. Because of the curfew, it has been unable to feed anyone. The men who run the clinic were very angry, not only because the food program is stopped, but more so because of the Israeli soldiers shooting in the evenings into the nearby neighborhood of Abu Sneineh. They also expressed great anger at the U.S.A. for unequivocally supporting Israel and at the media for reporting incompletely on what they observe.

Holmes, Getman, and Salam then visited the Abu Daoud family who have soldiers stationed on their rooftop and were shown a 'necklace' made out of a hundred M-16 shells, all of which fell into their courtyard from soldiers shooting off the roof of their home.

On the way back to the apartment, a group of soldiers stopped a young boy carrying 8 bundles of bread to his family. Holmes and Getman spoke with the soldiers and insisted that the boy be allowed to take the food home. Finally the soldiers allowed the boy to pass. An old man also tried to pass and was stopped as well. Again Holmes and Getman argued with the soldiers, and finally Holmes walked with the man the three blocks to his home while a group of soldiers followed.

Later in the afternoon, Getman, Holmes, Salam and another Palestinian journalist, Nayef Hashlemoun witnessed the International Red Cross and the Hebron municipality trying to deliver food, but once again, the soldiers were not allowing the municipality to deliver it. CPT and the journalists took pictures and talked with the soldiers until they allowed the municipality to continue delivering food. Holmes accompanied the municipality on their route.

As this update is being sent, 8:30pm, there have been a number of rounds of gunfire in CPT's neighborhood.

_________________________________________________

CPT Hebron has maintained a violence reduction presence in Hebron since June of 1995 at the invitation of the Hebron Municipality.

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is an initiative among Mennonite and Brethren congregations, and Friends meetings who support violence reduction Teams around the world. Contact CPT at P.O. Box 6508 Chicago, IL 60680 USA; Tel: 312-455-1199; Fax: 312-432-1213; e-mail: CPT@igc.org To join CPTNET send an e-mail to admin@MennoLink.org and the message: Group: menno.org.cpt.news Visit us on the WEB: http://www.prairienet.org/cpt

"The Sign of God is that we will be led where we did not plan to go." --Levely
          

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