CPTnet
September 24, 2001
HEBRON UPDATE: September 7-11, 2001

Friday, September 7, 2001 Curfew
Rick Polhamus went to the police station with a Palestinian friend to
retrieve her brother's ID taken by soldiers the night before. (See previous
update.)

Anne Montgomery monitored soldiers detaining a Palestinian vendor who was
in a closed military zone. Israeli settler children were throwing rocks at
the man. The soldiers kept asking Montgomery to
leave and told her the police were coming to arrest her, but she refused to
move. She left when the soldiers let the Palestinian man go.

Israeli settlers threw a petrol bomb onto the porch of a Palestinian family
who lives in the market. They narrowly missed hitting an old woman. When
Israeli police and soldiers showed up, CPTers demanded that soldiers call
an ambulance to take the woman to the hospital to treat her for shock and
smoke inhalation. One soldier got angry and told CPTer Kathleen Kern to
leave the scene saying, "I've had it up to here with you.' He told Kern if
she did not leave he would arrest her "with violence." He did, however,
assure Montgomery both Montgomeray and Kern that he would call an ambulance
for the old woman. The two women believed him and left.

Saturday, September 8, 2001 Curfew
In the morning Rollins and a friend escorted Palestinian children to
school. On the way they were stopped by Israeli police and border police
and told them they had to go home because of the curfew. One of the
children's aunts told police that children were allowed to go to school
despite the curfew, but the police would still not let them pass. They also
told Rollins that he had to leave because he was in a closed military zone.
When Rollins asked to see the order, the police refused and told him
to leave because he was there on visitor's visa. When Rollins refused, the
police ignored him. After fifteen minutes another police officer came by
and gave the children permission to pass.

Later that day that same
Palestinian friend of the team's called to say that soldiers and police had
stopped her nephew and told him that if his aunt and the Americans
interfered again the army would detain them for seven hours.

Shooting and shelling started at 5:00 PM. focussing mostly on Abu Sneineh.

Sunday, September 9, 2001 Curfew was lifted from 11:00 to 3:00
A fire was lit across the street from Beit Hadassah, but was not near any
Palestinian homes. Israeli settlers were seen throwing wood and cardboard
onto the fire, but it quickly went out.

Monday, September 10, 2001 Curfew
On the way home from the glass factory, Polhamus and Kern were pulled aside
by a group of Palestinian police officers. The police took them over to a
car and pulled out a tomato with a growth coming out of the top in the shape
of a
duck's head. It had a scar outlining the bill, and two dots for eyes. The
police officer wanted the world press notified immediately.

Tuesday, September 11, 2001 Curfew was lifted at 12:15 PM

Before the attacks in the United States:

Despite the curfew being lifted, soldiers insisted that the shops behind
the barbed wire put up on August 31, remain closed.

Rollins and British activist Angie Zelter witnessed soldiers detaining two
Palestinian men. The Palestinians had their hands against the wall as if
they were under arrest. The four soldiers were yelling at them and kicking
the wall and raising their fists as if to strike. When the soldiers saw the
CPTers, they stopped harassing the two Palestinians and let them sit down
in the shade. When asked, the soldiers said the two men had committed a
crime and were having their IDs checked. As the CPTers stood by watching,
more Palestinian men gathered to watch, which irritated the soldiers. Two of
them then pushed the crowd back around a corner and announced there was an
invisible line on the ground they couldn't pass. Each of the soldiers
pointed to a different spot on the ground. Rollins said to the soldiers,
"Hang on guys, where is the line? Because you say
it's here, and you say it's there? Are there two lines or is it one big
one?" Before the soldiers could respond, their captain told them to stand
down. Five hours later the two Palestinian men were released.

Dianne Roe and George Weber responded to a call saying that soldiers would
not let
a woman into her apartment and that Israeli settler youth were throwing
stones at the woman. When the CPTers arrived the woman was still being
detained but the youth had left. When the woman was released she took the
two CPTers up to her apartment and showed them damage done there by Israeli
settlers who had broken in earlier in the week. Everything connected with
Islam was destroyed. Pages of the Koran were strewn around the room. The TV
was also stolen.

After the attacks in the United States:

Having heard about the terrorist attacks in the US, Palestinian friends and
strangers called the team and stopped them in the streets offering their
condolences. One man told them, "As Palestinians, we know the
tragedy that comes from innocent people being killed."

Polhamus and Montgomery attended a farewell for friends at the United
States' s consulate immediately after hearing news of the attacks. In the
small groups of NGO workers attending, there were no expressions of
vengefulness, only mourning.

Thursday, September 12, 2001
The team helped a friend harvest his tomatoes and take them to the market.

Friday, September 13, 2001
A friend of the team's called from Beit Ummar saying that during the night
Israeli soldiers had entered the town
and placed concussion grenades next to peoples' home and detonated them.
The explosions broke windows and left cracks in the sides of building up and
down the street. They also severed a five inch-thick grape vine that ran up
the side of one
home to the roof where it gave shade to the balcony.

Palestinians were given permission by Israeli soldiers to remove barbed
wire that has been around their stores, as well as the CPT apartment, for
the previous three weeks.

Saturday, September 15 2001
Throughout the day soldiers continuously stopped Palestinians and checked
their IDs, but never held anyone for longer than ten minutes. Several times
CPTers also saw soldiers keep Israeli settlers from entering the
Palestinian market area.