CPTnet
December 2, 2002
HEBRON UPDATE: November 23-29, 2002
Saturday, November 23, 2002
Curfew on entire city
CPT members Kristen Anderson, Sue Rhodes, Mary Yoder, LeAnne Clausen, Jerry
Levin, and John Lynes spent the night in Jabel Johar neighborhood with
Palestinian families. A settler rally began at 9PM and neighbors reported
groups of settlers tried to enter the neighborhood, but soldiers stopped
them.
Families in the area reported that soldiers entered houses the previous day
and evening, pulling male family members out of their homes and beating
them. As a result, some men were sleeping in relatives’ houses outside the
neighborhood. One family’s house was searched three times. On the third
search, soldiers took a puppy belonging to a 14- year-old boy. That
morning, the boy found his other puppy–taken earlier in the week by
settlers–shot full of holes and half buried near the house. The team later
met members of Doctors Without Borders, who said they would have a trauma
counselor visit the home.
Sunday, November 24, 2002 Curfew lift in H1 several
hours,
No curfew lift in H2
At 3:00AM Yoder and Clausen awoke to the noise of an Israeli military
bulldozer destroying a vineyard in the middle of the neighborhood. They
videotaped the destruction. Soldiers had bulldozed a new road about 300
meters long. A tanked pushed a car belonging to Abdel Salam Dana down the
road and flattened it. After interviewing neighbors, CPTers learned this
new mud path was for Palestinians to use while the paved road would be used
exclusively for settlers and soldiers
Rhodes and Clausen went shopping and discovered soldiers blocking crowds of
Palestinians in Bab iZaweyya being from opening half the market. The other
half of the market was busy. The team investigated and heard contradicting
reports given about which parts of the city were open. The soldiers began
declaring curfew and pushing the shoppers. A Palestinian man collapsed in
the middle of the intersection. Two soldiers went to resuscitate him. One
of the soldiers asked Clausen, “Was that good?” Clausen responded, “Hey, you
guys can save all the lives you want.” Soldiers then resumed declaring
curfew.
Monday, November 25, 2002 Curfew lift in H1 2PM-5PM
No curfew lift in H2
Anderson, Lynes, and Yoder grocery shopping. Temporary International
Presence in Hebron (TIPH) told CPTers that curfew would be lifted in H2 from
2-5PM. The Red Cross has been unable to deliver food to H2 for the previous
eleven days and planned to deliver 300 aid packages during the time curfew
was lifted. However, curfew was not lifted and soldiers prevented the Red
Cross from entering Bab iZaweyya.
At 3AM, Rhodes heard trucks in Shuhada Street and discovered that they were
carrying concrete blocks toward the apartment. A crane lifted the blocks to
make a fortification surrounding the army base near Beit Romano.
Tuesday, November 26, 2002 Curfew on entire city
Anderson and Rhodes did follow-up visits in Jabal Johar. One family had
been interrogated by fifteen soldiers the night before who took many
pictures inside and outside the house. The family requested that the CPTers
return for the night and told them that soldiers had given a close neighbor
a house demolition order.
The delegation and team members visited Abdel Hadi Hantash, who works for
the Palestine Land Defense Committee. Hantash confirmed that fifteen
Palestinian houses in Hebron are slated for demolition.
Wednesday, November 27, 2002 Curfew in H2 lifted in AM
Delegation members visited the Jabel Joher area. While they were there,
groups of tourists brought in by settlers entered the neighborhood
accompanied by Israeli soldiers. The Palestinians, fearing attack, hid in
their homes for several hours.
At 2PM, Clausen observed soldiers enforcing a curfew in Bab iZaweyya by
firing tear gas grenades into crowded streets. Shoppers and storeowners
began to flee immediately. Soldiers then moved up the street to Al Amanara
where they took keys from five taxi drivers and left their cars blocking the
road. The soldiers also detained a Palestinian ambulance and searched it.
They grabbed one driver by the neck and tried to pull him out of the car.
Clausen and two journalists approached the vehicle and the soldiers let the
man go. Clausen then followed the soldiers into a crowded vegetable market
where they screamed orders at a 70-year-old man and kicked over his eggplant
crate. Clausen helped pick up the eggplants and was subsequently
tear-gassed by the soldiers.
Thursday, November 28
Curfew in H2
Yoder made several unsuccessful attempts to coordinate food delivery by the
Red Cross to the Old City. The Red Cross has been unable to deliver food in
the Old City since implementation of curfew on November 14.
Yoder and Lynes spent the night with the Mohmoud Jaber family in the Jabel
Johar neighborhood. The family moved back into their home after the Israeli
military demolished the bathroom and kitchen. The house is very close to
the new Kiryat Arba settlement extension, and settlers broke every window in
the remaining structure on November 16.
CPTers learned that the Israeli military killed a four year old boy from Abu
Sneineh, a Hebron neighborhood. Soldiers, enforcing curfew, shot randomly in
the air. A bullet hit the child, who was watching from an upper level
window.
Friday, November 29
Curfew in H2
