Hebron: Weekly Update, August 23-30

Sunday, August 23 - Mark Frey & Natasha Krahn broke curfew to go to the
Jabber family's at 6:30 a.m., arriving safely without harassment around 7:45
a.m. Remaining team members learned from soldiers that the team was
"exempt" from the curfew and visited a Women's Center while getting food in
the Palestinian-controlled area of Hebron.

Monday, August 24 - At the request of a neighbor, CPT investigated the
detention of a young man (See "Prisoners at Home" August 24 release). In
the evening, Dianne Roe & Jake Kaufman visited CPT acquaintances on Dubboya
Street who are routinely harassed by settlers -- their windows were broken
by settlers from nearby Beit Hadassah. Palestinians fear that their homes
will be invaded and taken over by settlers if they leave to escape the
intense harassment.

Frey reported continued work on a two-room house near the site of the Jabber
demolition. Frey and Krahn remained at the Jabber home as an international
presence Monday night. Roe started working on a large banner (about 6 feet
by 8 feet) for the Jabber family.

Tuesday, August 25 - Jeff Halper of the Israeli Committee against Home
Demolitions reported that the owner of the house in Anata, destroyed twice
in July-August, has been granted a permit.

Thursday, August 27 - Frey & Kaufman travelled with advisor Abdel Hadi
Hantash to see the proposed extension of an Israeli bypass road, Route 60,
in southwest Hebron District. The road cuts off yet more Palestinian fields
and in some places, would lie a few meters away from the present road. In
Hebron, settlers held a large march in the evening to mourn murdered rabbi
Ra'anan.

Friday, August 28 - Laurie Hayes and Kathy Kapenga from Jerusalem joined
Krahn and Kaufman in a visit to the Jabber family. Rodeina said that just
10 minutes prior to their arrival, she had seen army vehicles passing and
feared they would come to destroy the framework of the new house.
(Technically, the new house cannot legally be destroyed unless a new
demolition order is issued because it was built on a different site than the
previous house.) "I was shaking," Rodeina said. Kaufman and Krahn then
visited the Al-Atrash family, staying overnight.

Saturday, August 29 - Kaufman and Krahn visited and helped the Al-Atrash
family make shoes in their tent home. Yussef, the father, said that it
would take them four or five months of steady work to build a two-room house
for the 10-member family. Kaufman and Roe met an 8-member delegation from
the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions at the Jabber family home for
a solidarity visit. Closure of entry points into Palestinian-controlled
parts of Hebron was lifted.

Sunday, August 30 - The team goes to Jerusalem for church and hymn-sing.
Tom Malthaner joined the team and Krahn left for Canada. The curfew for
Palestinians in the Israeli-controlled part of Hebron was finally lifted.
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Christian Peacemaker Teams has maintained a violence-reduction presence in
the West Bank city of Hebron since June of 1995 at the invitation of the
Hebron Municipality.