Tuesday, May 12
Charles Lenchner, an Israeli who hopes to establish a Jewish
Peacemaker Team, arrived to spend 3 days with the Christian Peacemaker
Team in Hebron.

Wednesday, May 13
Members of the team went with Abed al Hadi Hantash of the Palestinian
Land Defense Committee to the southern area of Hebron District to see
the construction site of an Israeli industrial park. According to
Hantash, the Israeli government has already confiscated 1000 dunams
for the project and plans to take 3000 more.

At about 8:45 p.m. back in Hebron team members noticed settler children
escorted by Israeli soldiers parading from Beit Hadassah to the Ibrahimi
Mosque. They were carrying candles to celebrate Lag Ba'Omer, a Jewish
holiday. In keeping with tradition, the youth lit a bonfire; however in this
case the fire was set on a Palestinian shopkeeper's back lot. The man
argued with Israeli police and soldiers, protesting the location of
the bonfire, but the youth continued adding wood and, in addition,
threw Palestinian flags into the blaze. CPTers were prevented by
soldiers from taking pictures and then were escorted from the area.
Lenchner, the teams's Israeli guest, overheard a soldier say in Hebrew
to a settler youth, "Why are you making all this trouble?" The youth
responded, "What trouble? I haven?t burned anybody yet!"

Thursday May 14
On this day Palestinians commemorated Al Nakba, (The Catastrophe). In
Hebron, over a thousand of Palestinians marched nonviolently in the
80% of Hebron under Palestinian-control (H-1), but clashes occurred at
the dividing lines between H-1 and H-2, the Israeli-controlled 20%
heart of the city, when dozens of young Palestinians began throwing
rocks. Team members witnessed the efforts of Palestinian security
forces to prevent additional boys from joining the clashes by linking
arms and standing between them and the rock-throwing youth. However,
after about an hour they were overwhelmed by the crowd and abandoned
the effort. Shooting by Israeli soldiers also continued, with some
firing from rooftops. Several Palestinians were injured, but none
fatally. Sporadic clashes continued through Sunday.

Saturday, May 16
Pierre Shantz and Sara Reschly witnessed more clashes in the
marketplace. They reported that Israeli authorities forcibly closed
Palestinian shops located some five blocks away from where the
stone-throwing occurred.

Sunday, May 17
Eric Graham and Jane Adas went with Hantash to visit Bedouin families
who live east of Yatta in the southern Hebron district. They are 1948
refugees from the Beersheba area of the Negev desert. A week and a
half ago they received stop work orders on houses that were completed
four years ago.

Monday, May 18
Graham and Adas visited with three Palestinian families living near
the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba whose homes were demolished last
year, although they had never received demolition or stop work orders.

Tuesday, May 19
Reservist Claire Miller arrived to spend six weeks with the team.

Around 7:30 p.m. the team was notified of a situation on the street
leading from Duboyya Street to the Tel Rumeida settlement. Upon
arriving, they saw settlers vigiling outside a Palestinian home. They
had posted a sign in Hebrew demanding security for themselves and
their children, and were now sitting on chairs by the street.
Palestinian men then brought out stools and sat on the other side of
the street, nonviolently protesting the settler presence by smoking
traditional Arab pipes, playing board games, and passing around food
and coffee. Israeli military jeeps and police cars patrolled the area,
and representatives from TIPH (Temporary International Presence in
Hebron) were also present. Around 11 p.m. the settlers left.

Wednesday, May 20
In the morning, a smaller number of settlers returned to the site of
the previous night's vigil.

Neighbor children and CPT members launched a homemade kite from the
roof of their apartment building with a tail bearing peace prayers.