al-Khalil (Hebron)

We love people, the planet, and powerful peacemaking! Also we love ice cream, sunshine, and "building partnerships to transform violence and oppression." For real! We didn't just write that because it's CPT's mission statement. Like our time with CPT, this phrase continues to inform us as we work with many communities to deepen their spiritual activism.

On November 18, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a news conference, “the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law.” Pompeo’s comment reverses a forty year US foreign policy position. This counter-productive decision has been condemned by Palestinians, the United Nations, and the European Union among others. Christian Peacemaker Teams, whose history of working for peace and justice in Occupied Palestine dates back to 1995, rejects the revised position of the U.S. government.

When millions of people are in an open struggle for freedom, the world takes notice. The Green Movement in Iran, the Arab Spring, the Maidan in Ukraine, are just some of the recent challenges to authoritarianism that have drawn global admiration—and headlines. Now it is Hong Kong’s turn.

“Al-Khalil will remain an icon of the resistance to occupation and settlements.” These were the words on one of the placards carried by hundreds of demonstrators in al-Khalil (Hebron) on 26 November. Palestinians marched peacefully from the Russian Orthodox monastery, known locally as al-Maskobiyeh, through the heart of the city. Some of the demonstrators carried their message right up to the line of Israeli soldiers blocking the route through the Bab az-Zawiyah intersection near the Old City.

The season of Jewish holidays that began this year with Rosh Hashanah and ended with Simchat Torah (30 September to 22 October 2019) is a troublesome period for Palestinians in al-Khalil (Hebron). The activities of Israeli settlers in al-Khalil, and of the Israeli military that enables them, are disruptive, discriminatory and violent towards the Palestinians who live in the city.

It’s autumn in Palestine. The olive trees—some of them centuries old—stand ready to provide Palestinian farmers and families another season’s worth of their precious crop.

The Palestinian community of al-Khalil (Hebron) experienced widespread civil disruption on 4 September when incumbent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Hebron in a scheduled appearance at the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City.