CPTnet
21
August 2010
HEBRON: Israeli Military and Policemen Shut Three
Palestinian Shops
Every Saturday for the last several months, Youth Against the Settlements has
led a nonviolent action – “Open Shuhada Street” – at the entrance to the Old City of Hebron. On Tuesday, 10 August 2010 the Israeli military and police forcibly welded shut
three stores that stand directly behind the area of the weekly Saturday action
and across from the gate of an Israeli military base.
A local friend alerted CPT at 2:45 p.m. that the shopkeeper had received a warning that the military would
close his shops, and he had half an hour to remove all his merchandise. After
arriving at the site, CPTers alerted other internationals, partner
organizations and media to come. A crowd
of about 75 people assembled in front of the stores. As they waited, Palestinians removed and hid
two of the shop doors.
A little after 4:00 p.m., 30
soldiers and three policemen arrived and pushed their way into the shops where
internationals and Palestinians were waiting. The soldiers pulled the civilians
out of the shops, scattered much of the merchandise, and dragged a Palestinian
behind the gate. Red Crescent of the International Red Cross came shortly
thereafter and examined the Palestinian man who had been injured while being
dragged. They determined he had a brain
concussion and advised the police that he needed hospitalization. The police
replied they would take the Palestinian man to the jail, question him and then
decide if he needed hospitalization.
Declaring the area from the military base to the stores a “closed military
zone,” the soldiers formed two lines and progressively forced the crowd away
from the stores being closed. Other
soldiers retrieved the two hidden doors and welded shut the three shops. An
Israeli policeman pushed the shopkeeper’s large cart of merchandise into one of
the stores before the doors were welded shut.
One of the CPTers urged the policeman to bring the cart out of the shop
or allow her to retrieve it for the shopkeeper, but the policeman refused. One British man and four Palestinians were
arrested.
The British man was released the next morning at 2:30 a.m. on the condition that he immediately leave the West Bank and not return for 15 days. The four Palestinians are now in Ofer
Prison. The brother of the man with the brain concussion reported to CPTers
that his brother was never hospitalized.
