CPTnet
July 26, 2001
Hebron Update: July 8-15, 2001

Sunday, July 8
Satterwhite and a US journalist observed an Israeli soldier attempt
unsuccessfully to push over rabbit and duck cages in the chicken
market where the team has its apartment. The journalist reported that one
of the soldiers had rammed his rifle into his groin.

At 10:30 pm Israeli settlers tried to enter the market, but were prevented
by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). The settlers then staged
demonstrations on Shuhadda Street and at Tel Rumeida until nearly midnight.

Monday, July 9
Anita Fast and Greg Rollins attended a meeting at the Canadian Embassy in
Tel Aviv. They presented photos and CPT reports of recent damage caused by
Israeli soldiers and settlers in Hebron.

JoAnne Lingle and Dianne Roe attended a Beit Ummar meeting with
representatives of the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions
(ICAHD). The group discussed possible responses to Beit Ummar's virtually
complete closure and its resulting inability to market its farm
produce. Other ICAHD members who had planned to be a part of this meeting
instead went to Shuafat, near Jerusalem, to respond to the demolition of
fourteen homes there.

The Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz, reported that an IDF officer had filed a
complaint against five Hebron settlers for assault. Reportedly when he
attempted to prevent the settlers from shooting into Palestinian homes,
they beat him. The settler spokesperson stated that they had only hugged
him, because he was agitated.

At Bab al-Beledeyya (in the Old City Market), Kathy Kamphoefner observed
six Palestinian young men being detained by the IDF around 5 pm. When the
men attempted to stand in the shade, the soldiers ordered them to return to
standing in the sun.

At 6:45 pm a handful of shots were fired into the central Hebron area.
Roe visited a Campaign for Secure Dwelling (CSD) family in Beit Ummar. Last
week a young husband's prayers, Riyad, were interrupted by the IDF for an
identification check, the family reported. When he tried to finish his
prayers, soldiers beat him. In a separate incident, settlers allegedly
beat his brother, Abed.

Tuesday, July 10,
A friend from Beit Ummar reported that between 9 pm and 1 am last night the
IDF patrolled the town's streets, entering several homes. Soldiers also
fired tear gas, set off percussion grenades, broke windows, shot into the
homes from the street and destroyed cars.

On a visit to the Abu Eisheh family in Tel Rumeida, Lingle, Kathy
Kamphoefner, and Jim Satterwhite learned that settlers had thrown black oil
on the family's door two days previously. The five-year-old daughter had
also been knocked down in the street by settler children and had skinned her
knee.

In the evening, Greg Rollins and Satterwhite saw soldiers tearing down
awnings over the old market, just beneath Beit Hadassah. The awnings had
been placed by Palestinian shop owners for protection from the sun and from
objects dropped by settlers from above. When asked why, the soldiers said
they must
have a clear view of the market from above for the security of Beit
Hadassah settlers.

A friend from Beit Ummar told the team that around 10:30 pm soldiers
entered the center of Beit Ummar, firing tear gas and live ammunition into
houses. He has asthma and was therefore ill for two days from the tear gas.

Wednesday, July 11
Friends from the Beqa'a Valley told the team soldiers roused them from
their beds at 3:00 am for an I.D. check.

Midday Rollins and Satterwhite saw the army checking identification cards
in the coffee shop near the middle of the Old City market. The soldiers
also stopped passersby for identification.

Thursday, July 11 Curfew [announced at 12 noon]
There was considerable crossfire in downtown Hebron between 12:30- 2:30 am,
after a settler was reportedly killed near Kiryat Arba and another injured
from gunfire
About 10 am Hebron area settlers staged a demonstration in lower Shuhadda
Street. They slammed Palestinian shop doors shut and demanded they
close. Israeli police chased several settler boys who were attempting to
throw stones at the shop owners and Palestinian journalists.
At noon, the IDF declared curfew and patrolled the market, demanding that
shop owners close immediately and everyone go home.

Outside the back entrance to Avraham Avinu settlement, CPTers saw a crowd
gathered. Settlers had apparently assaulted a 10-year-old Palestinian
boy. His head was bandaged, and an ambulance took him away. His mother
was visibly upset and at one point almost vomited.

Anita Fast and Kamphoefner observed soldiers kicking shop doors shut and
shouting at shop owners, demanding they close their shops. A young
soldier told a fifty-year-old shop owner, "You have five minutes to close
your shop, and if you don't, I'll close it for you."

Rollins and Satterwhite helped some boys push their rabbit cart from inside
the main market into H1 [the Palestinian-controlled area]. En route
settlers threw stones at them.

CPTers LeAnne Clausen, Fast, and Kamphoefner visited the al-Baatch family,
who told them soldiers assaulted their three sons. Two neighbor women were
also assaulted by the IDF, according to the family.

Rollins and Satterwhite and accompanying journalists observed Israeli
settler boys attempting to break into market shops which they had burned a
couple months ago. The boys threw stones at the journalists.

A Beqa'a Valley farmer reported that settlers pulled up Palestinian
farmers' tomatoes during the afternoon.

When a chicken vendor was closing his shop, a soldier complained that he
took too long. One soldier took the vendor's keys and threw them on a
balcony overhead. Then the shop owner was ordered home because of the
curfew.

About 5:00 pm Kamphoefner observed an Israeli tank move into place,
blocking the taxi crossing into Hebron at Road 60. Traffic was backed up
about one kilometer each way by vehicles on their way to Hebron or
Bethlehem.

On their way home from Beit Ummar, Lingle and Rollins met a truck driver
who reported that soldiers had taken his keys.

Israeli activist Neta Golan informed Fast that Israeli prosecutors dropped
the court case against the police who had assaulted them in Al-Khaader
several weeks ago due to "lack of public interest."

Friday, July 13 Curfew and no electricity.
There was extremely heavy shooting in the central market from 12 midnight
until about 1:30 am. Electricity went out for most of H2
[Israeli-controlled Hebron] abou