CPTnet
October 26, 1998
Hebron Update: October 12-October 18

Tuesday, October 13
Curfew was lifted. However, the section of Shuhada Street in front of Beit
Hadassah remained closed to Palestinian pedestrians.

Wednesday, October 14
Joanne Kaufman witnessed soldiers forbidding a 90-year-old man to pass Israeli
settlement of Bet Hadassah. She advocated on behalf of the man, pointing out
that he was old and that making a detour would take him much longer to get
home. The soldier would not listen and made the man walk 15 minutes out of
the way.

In the market, chicken shopkeepers told a Sara Reschly that soldiers would
not open the gate at the checkpoint below CPT's apartment for big trucks to
drive in and out of the chicken market. This limitation makes transporting
chickens and eggs very difficult. Reschly asked a soldier at the checkpoint
why they are keeping the gate closed and when it would be opened. They
soldiers replied, "I don't know."

Reschly commented, "Having the gate closed makes it very difficult for the
shopkeepers." The soldier replied, "Yes, it is very difficult to them, but
what can we do? We have orders."

Thursday, October 15
CPTers visited a family whose home is the only one in their immediate area
threatened with demolition. Explaining why this might be so, a relative said,
"The Israelis want a
land empty, a land without a people." Later, he added, "[The
Israelis] look at us with the eye of an enemy, not with the eye of the cousins
they are to us; not with an eye of mercy."

CPTers continued to witness soldiers turning Palestinians aside on the road in
front of Beit Hadassah, the oldest Israeli settlement in Hebron.

Reschly asked soldiers, "Are you still not allowing Palestinians to walk on
this street?"

Soldier: "They are not allowed."

Reschly: "But it's their street too."

Soldier: "But it's for the safety of both sides."

Reschly: "So you're protecting the Palestinians from the settlers."

Soldier: "Yes, we're protecting the Palestinians from the settlers. If you
think about it, it's the only logical thing to do."

Friday, October 16
CPTers joined two Israeli peace activists who took a handmade bench to the
Jabber family. The bench now sits in the shade of a fig tree amidst the
rubble of the Jabbers' two demolished homes.

Saturday, October 17
Land Defense Committee cartographer Abdel Hadi Hantash showed CPTers where
2000 dunums (about 500 acres) are being bulldozed in the north of Hebron
District for expansion of the Gush Etzion settlement block. A new "bypass"
road is
planned to go from Atnimil (an Israeli military camp) parallel to Road #345
all the way to the border between the West Bank and Israel.

Sunday, October 18
Meeting with Hantash, CPT learned that settlers put a tent on a hill east of
Susiya, a settlement south of Hebron. Having seized 400 dunams (about 100
acres) of land from the
Palestinian owner, the settlers are preparing the land with concrete to put in
caravans. Amira Hass, a journalist with the Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz,
asked the Israeli Civil Administration (military authorities charged with
administration of the West Bank) about the settlers' action. The Civil
Administration said it would investigate.

Settlers moved four mobile homes into another military camp, Nahal Nagahot.
This is generally the first step of transforming a military camp into a
civilian settlement.