“We are surrounded by hostile neighbors.” “ They want to destroy
everything that we build.” These are two sentiments we frequently hear
expressed in the Kurdish Region of northern Iraq.
Pray for the Palestinian residents of the south Hebron hills. Israeli settlers have escalated their restriction and harassment of them. This week, settlers assaulted two Palestinians and two accompanying internationals, all of whom needed minor hospital treatment.
Doug Pritchard
Christian Peacemaker Teams
Toronto , Canada
Deadly threats to the security of campesinos living in the Cimitarra
Valley continue. They believe the very entities responsible for their
safety and protection are promoting rather than preventing their forced
displacement in an effort to expropriate their farms and territory.
This weekend, the Team went to Azadi Park, a spot of beauty in the
heart of the city, all the more remarkable because it has been
reclaimed (can land/space be resurrected? Redeemed, certainly) by the
Kurds. It was previously a Ba'athist-only holding adjacent to one of
Saddam Hussein's prisons where Kurds were routinely tortured. The
prison is now a museum.
"The Army treats us like dirt," said another farmer." They have
checkpoints on the paths to our fields, and they stop us and accuse us
of being guerrillas and detain us for hours at a time. They entice our
children with candy and then try to pump them for information. Is that
legal? Sometimes people just disappear and are never heard from again."