CPTnet
27 August 2005

HEBRON LETTER: "They said they were here to protect Palestinians."

by Christina Gibb

[Note: The following is an excerpt from a letter that Christina Gibb, a CPT
reservist from Dunedin, New Zealand, sent to her supporters.]

10 August 2005

I arrived back here to rejoin the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) in the Old
City of Hebron a few days ago. It is good to be back, meeting old friends
and new. Straight away I can see some dramatic changes since I was here last
November.

Twice in the last week, the IDF have taken over Palestinian homes for 2 to 3
days, preventing any of the family from going in or out during that time. We
kept watch outside one of these homes and rang the IDF with our concerns.

JoAnne Lingle and I visited the family when the soldiers had gone. One
daughter, Sayida, 25, [not her real name] who is at University here and
spoke English, told us about their ordeal: "Seven of us - my parents, my
two younger sisters and my youngest brother were at home when twelve
soldiers came," she said. "We were all told to stay in one room with the
curtains drawn and not to call attention to ourselves. They took our cell
phones and disconnected the land line. They did not go up on the roof, [like
soldiers usually do when they come in to Palestinian homes] and they would
not tell us why they were here."

"However," she went on, "they were good people. They treated us with
respect, and did no damage. They allowed us to go to the toilet and to the
kitchen to cook, and when they sent out for supplies, they asked if there
was anything we needed, and fetched the asthma medication for my sister.

"When my brother came home and could not come in, he was frantic. He was
trying to break in, which would have made everything much worse, so I
begged the soldiers to let us tell him we were safe. At length, they let me
call out from the window just those few words.

"We had interesting conversations with the soldiers. They were surprised to
find that my parents are both teachers. They had never had ordinary
conversations with a Palestinian family before. They said they were here to
protect Palestinians. We do not know what to make of it all."

We hear rumours that extremist settlers from here, who are currently in the
Gaza Strip, may come back after the disengagement with plans to attack their
Palestinian neighbors. Five Israeli Human Rights organizations have issued
an urgent call to the Israeli Government to have effective measures in place
to protect the Palestinian population. Maybe the temporary occupation of
that family's home was part of such preparations.