CPTnet
24 August 1998
HEBRON RESIDENTS: PRISONERS AT HOME
by Joanne "Jake" Kaufman

Hebron, West Bank -- The smell of rotting vegetables and dying
chickens wafts through the silent marketplace on this third day of a curfew
and closure imposed on residents in Israeli-controlled part of Hebron after
the murder of Rabbi Shlomo Ra'anen in his trailer home last Thursday night.

An Associated Press release said that the curfew/closure is for the
"protection" of Palestinians. Observation of reality here suggests that it
is rather a form of collective punishment. A soldier on duty told us that
all Arabs should be punished since they "all agree with what the man did."

But at least one Palestinian said that the murderer, if Palestinian, was "a
traitor." Others might agree, since the Israeli government now plans to make
permanent the temporary housing of Tel Rumeida, the Israeli settlement where
Ra'anen and his wife lived. The Israeli government has also authorized
increased military patrols and troops in the Hebron area.

Saturday night, soldiers accompanied settlers holding a memorial walk for the
rabbi. But inside the market, settlers overturned the shelves and tables used
by Palestinian merchants. In the streets, car windows were shattered
by settlers taking out their anger on Palestinians -- clear evidence that
soldiers are either unwilling or unable to contain settler violence.

The team in Hebron experienced curfew and closure of the Old City first-hand
on Saturday. However, soldiers have permitted the team to visit friends and
do night patrols since early Sunday morning. Through visits, CPT is learning
the multiple inconveniences experienced by families. One man's car headlights
were broken by settlers Saturday night. Most
schools are closed, although they were scheduled to open Saturday.

Children who do go to school are detained as they return home. Shots echo as
soldiers exchange gunfire for the rocks occasionally thrown by angry young men
or boys in clashes at the borders of the closure. A young man was detained
outside CPT's window after his mother sent him out to get bread.

Many Palestinian men are being detained in centers around Hebron as soldiers
continue searching for the Rabbi's killer.

At 10:30 a.m. Monday, one of CPT's neighbors asked the team to find out where
her cousin was. Adnan Sharabati, 21, was returning to his home from work at
the Hebron Municipality. Soldiers detained him at about 9:45 a.m. on the
street just in front of his home.

CPT first went to Adnan's family home. His mother asked if she could try to
accompany the team to find him. Soldiers refused to let her pass. A
journalist filming the soldiers turning her away said that soldiers had
detained even a 5-year-old that day for an hour in the hot sun.

CPTers went to a police station after soldiers suggested that Adnan was there.
The police said he was at a post outside Kiryat Arba. A call revealed he was
not there, but elicited more numbers to call. Before CPT could call all the
numbers, the neighbors said that Adnan had been released.

Adnan is the only son in a family with 10 sisters, so his arrest
caused much concern. Soldiers suggested that he had been throwing stones,
but the family said he avoids even the semblance of trouble --especially since
he is the primary breadwinner.

Adnan was released around 2:30 p.m. this afternoon. However, many
Palestinians are still being detained in centers around the city. Please be
praying for these prisoners, as well as the people who live in the Israeli-
controlled part Hebron -- literally prisoners in their own homes.