CPTnet
November 26, 2001
Hebron Update: November 5-11, 2001

Monday November 5
CPTers Le Anne Clausen and Claire Evans patrolled by the Ibrahimi boys'
school.
The headmaster suggested that they keep a street presence throughout the
day because of an incident the previous day in Jerusalem. (A Palestinian
from Hebron had shot at a bus, killing 2 Israelis and wounding 46.)

Rich Meyer and Mary Lawrence patrolled by Qurtuba girls' school. Settler
children were throwing stones at the teachers as they walked by. One
teacher was injured in the stomach seriously enough to need ambulance
transportation to the hospital. The soldiers would not allow the Red
Crescent ambulance through the checkpoint onto Shuhada Street so the
headmistress and another woman accompanied the injured teacher down to the
checkpoint. They helped her into the ambulance. As it was pulling away a
soldier shouted at the driver to come back. The driver backed the ambulance
up to the checkpoint, the soldier got in and made an inspection, and then
the ambulance was allowed to drive away.

Tuesday November 6
JoAnne Lingle and Lawrence patrolled at the Qurtuba school. One of the
settler boys threw a stone at Lingle and hit her. When CPTers asked him to,
the soldier at the checkpoint stopped the children throwing stones. On the
way back through the market a shopkeeper reported that soldiers had shot a
tear gas canister into the market earlier, and so many of the shopkeepers
had closed up and gone home. A journalist also reported that settlers had
set fire to a carpenter's shop near the Avraham Avinu settlement yesterday.

At the Beit Romano exit from the market Clausen and Evans observed that
children were being prevented from getting to school by a soldier who said
that curfew had been imposed. He was shouting and running at the children.
They scattered, but then tried to come back. Eventually they gave up.

Clausen and Evans traveled to Ramallah, where they joined about 20
students, accompanied by an equal number of international observers and
press, in a march to Birzeit University. The students were challenging the
military occupation of Ramallah by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), which
had prevented them from attending classes for the past three weeks. About
20 minutes into the walk, the nonviolent marchers were blocked by an IDF
tank, which fired bullets over their heads. Student leaders announced, "We
are unarmed students on our way to school. We have a right to attend
classes." Another attempt to proceed was met by a barrage of
bullets. However, eventually the tank moved out of the way and the group
was allowed to continue to the university. There they discussed with the
university president what to do if the blockade continued, but contingency
plans were not necessary as the IDF withdrew from Ramallah the next day.

In the afternoon CPTers received a call saying that soldiers were holding
four Palestinian young men at gunpoint in the closed vegetable market by
the Avraham Avinu settlement. Lingle and Lawrence went to investigate. They
found a soldier holding the men, who were spread-eagled along a wall.
Lawrence took several photographs and Lingle telephoned a report to TIPH
(Temporary International Presence in Hebron). Shortly after more soldiers
arrived and the Palestinians were given their IDs and allowed to leave.

Wednesday, November 7
Meyer and Lawrence accompanied teachers to the Qurtuba school. Settler
children threw stones at the TIPH jeep, but not at the teachers.

Thursday, November 8
A shopkeeper came to the apartment asking for CPT's help. He wanted to be
allowed to get into his shop in the old market (which is now a closed
military zone), in order to retrieve his merchandise. He had been turned
back by a soldier on an earlier attempt. Clausen and Lawrence went with the
man and asked a soldier if he could retrieve his merchandise. The soldier
refused to let them in the area and did an ID check on the Palestinian,
which lasted over an hour.

In the afternoon CPTers Meyer, Lingle and Lawrence went to the Beq'a valley
to visit the Isamail Jaber family and celebrate the fact that his
four-year-old son, Mahmoud, was home from the hospital.

Friday, November 9
Lingle, Evans, and Lawrence went to Beit Ummar because CPT had received
reports that every Friday afternoon soldiers were entering the village and
shooting. At about 1pm, after prayers, young Palestinian men and boys, some
with slingshots, began throwing stones at the soldiers' post. The soldiers
responded with bullets, percussion grenades, and tear gas. At one point a
tank moved into the village. The stone throwing and shooting continued in
waves until about 4:30pm.

Saturday November 10
CPTers Meyer and Clausen went to Tel Rumeida to document settler
construction. Four of the five new small structures had been dismantled.

The debris was scattered over the land behind the Bahkri house, which had
been broken into again. The furniture, which had been stored in one room
after the initial break-in in July, was now broken and strewn throughout
the house.

Meyer and Clausen later went to a Palestinian home on Tel Rumeida because
settlers had broken the water heater. They documented the damage. On their
way back down settler youth threw stones at them, hitting Clausen in the
leg.

There were hundreds of Jewish visitors to the Hebron settlements because of
a festival commemorating the patriarch, Abraham's purchase of the cave of
Macpelah, (which is under the Ibrahimi Mosque). Banners had been hung
across the street and on walls that read in Hebrew: "Hebron is all ours,"
and quoted the Torah: "All the land that you see I shall give to you."

CPTers Anita Fast and Lawrence went down to the exit of the market near
Avraham Avinu settlement to accompany some Palestinian women out onto
Shuhada Street, as they were afraid of the crowds of settlers. They
accompanied several small groups of women a short way down the street until
they were clear of the Avraham Avinu area.

At one point a Jewish woman
visitor engaged Fast in conversation. Several settler boys kept shouting at
the woman not to continue talking with Fast, saying she was a Nazi. The
woman would not be deterred, and continued talking to Fast. The settler
boys spat at the CPTers and kicked them. A soldier asked them to leave as
things were getting out of hand.

Later that afternoon Evans and Lawrence went down to the market exit to
continue accompanying Palestinians along Shuhada Street. A