CPTnet
January 29, 2001
Hebron Update: January 17 - 26, 2001

Wednesday, January 17th
On a morning patrol, Anita Fast and Anne Montgomery saw soldiers stop a
group of Palestinian women. The soldiers told the women that they were
forbidden to walk in front of Beit Hadassah settlement. Fast asked the
soldiers why and was told that settler children might attack the women.
Fast and Montgomery offered to accompany the group past the settlement, but
the soldiers still refused.
Finally the women were forced to go by a longer route.

Saturday, January 20th
Abdel Hadi Hantash of the Palestinian Land Defense Committee visited the
team and reported that Israel is confiscating and bulldozing land throughout
the Hebron district. Seventy-five acres have been recently confiscated from
Surif village, 13 acres from the Beqa'a valley, as well as several smaller
seizures in other areas.

Johnson, And Bob Holmes spoke to a woman who said a soldier slapped her
daughter twice. The woman said that she and her daughter were walking in
front of Beit Hadassah settlement when a soldier told them they were not
allowed to walk there. When the daughter paused, the soldier slapped her.
Holmes and Johnson then spoke to a soldier who denied that the incident
happened.

Monday, January 22nd
In the afternoon, Bob Holmes saw two Palestinian men being put into an
ambulance outside of the Beit Romano settlement/yeshiva. Shopkeepers on the
street told him that there had been a fist fight between the two over some
disagreement.

In the evening Shantz was walking in front of Beit Hadassah settlement when
several stones whizzed by his head. He looked around and saw that several
settler boys had thrown them. Almost immediately a soldier came and said to
Shantz, "Go on, it's all right." Shantz turned towards the soldier and said,
"No, it's not all right. When Palestinian children throw rocks you shoot at
them. What are you going to do with these kids? Are you at least going to
get their parents?"

"No, no, no," the soldier replied. "It's okay, just go along." Shantz
turned again and continued on his way.

Tuesday, January 23rd
Johnson, Holmes, Shantz, and Art Gish traveled to Beir Zeit University near
Ramallah to speak with two students who are interested in organizing
non-violent resistance against the occupation. The CPTers also asked
Ghassan Andoni, director of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement and a
professor at Beir Zeit, to attend the meeting. The students were
enthusiastic and energetic, and seem
committed to doing the work necessary to begin organizing a larger group.

Thursday, January 25th
The four Canadian residents on the team met with Canadian Ambassador to
Israel, Michael Bell. Mister Bell listened intently to all the team had to
say and asked to be added to the team's e-mail distribution list. When
asked why Canada wasn't more critical of unjust Israeli policies, he
responded that the Embassy's positions come from the Canadian Foreign
Ministry, and that if public opinion in Canada were changed, then the
government would follow.

Friday, January 26th
At 6:00 the team heard 45 minutes of heavy machine gun fire. The
shots seemed to come from one of the Israeli military bases and appeared to
be aimed at the downtown section of Hebron which is under Palestinian
control.