Soldiers checking Palestinians’ IDs before

threatening arrest.
 

On Friday, November 2nd, Kathy and Brenna of MPT joined with Palestinian, Israeli, and international peace activists from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) to help the Jabri Family work their land for the first time in seven years. The Jabri family’s land is located directly across from the gate of Kiryat Arba Settlement, an illegal Israeli settlement in the heart of the Palestinian city of Hebron. Established in 1972, the settlement is home to about 7,000 Jews.

The Hebron settlers have a strong reputation within Israel for their violent, and often irrational, behavior against the Palestinians among whom they live. (The center of Kiryat Arba displays a large monument devoted to the memory of Dr. Baruch Goldstein, an Israeli settler who gunned down Palestinians while they were praying in a Mosque, killing 29 and wounding many more.

Kathy (MPT) and Palestinian planting tree

Due to their fear of violent attacks by Israeli settlers, along with the reality of soldiers preventing them from reaching their own land, the Jabri family was forced to allow their small farm to become covered with rocks and trash. (Israeli settlers directly benefit when they can claim Palestinians have “abandoned” their land – Israeli law then allows the settlers to claim it for their own.) On this beautiful Friday, however, the family, with the help of the activists, cleared stones and weeds from the land, and harvested the few olives they could from their neglected trees. During the morning, Israeli soldiers came and threatened to arrest the Palestinian workers, but they backed off when the Palestinians showed them the papers that proved Jabri family ownership. During this time, a few young settlers harassed the workers, who in spite of this, continued with their labor, and planted seven brand new olive trees!

 Palestinians and internationals removing a big rock

from the land

Aggression began, however, when our group moved to the plot of land that was adjacent to the road that separated the Jabri farm from Kiryat Arba settlement. We began to clear rocks from the land and put them on the edge of the road, in order to prevent the settlers’ regular practice of driving onto the field and destroying the land. Soldiers repeatedly ordered our group to stop clearing rocks, and threatened to arrest the Palestinians among us (soldiers do not have the authority to arrest internationals – only police do). The soldiers told us that the whole area had just become a “closed military zone” – something soldiers often say in order to intimidate people into leaving. Familiar with Israeli law, the internationals in our group told the soldiers that they needed to show us a military order in writing before we had to leave.

Brenna working despite soldier, settler, and police presence.

Brenna, Kathy, and the workers continued working in the field, while Israeli soldiers tried to stand in their way, yelling that they could be arrested and deported when the police arrived.

Crowd of settlers insulting Palestinian workers.

The Israeli police soon arrived and confirmed to the soldiers, and to the then-gathering crowd of Israeli settlers, that the Palestinians did indeed have the right to work on their own land. The group continued to work for about another two hours. Throughout the entire time we were working, Israeli settlers – men, women, and children – insulted us, screamed at us, and kicked rocks from our barrier. Soldiers and police arrested nobody. At one point, five Israeli men and boys chased an eight-year-old Palestinian boy with the obvious intent of beating him. Police intervened only after Palestinians and internationals prevented the attack. (Again, no arrests.) An Israeli settler woman driving by stopped upon seeing Palestinians and internationals working together. She got out of her car, began kicking down the rocks, and shouted, “Go home! Go home! You are crazy for working with the Arabs!” Another young settler girl shouted at one of the internationals: “You will be executed tonight!”

 

Israeli Settlers across from Kiryat Arba Gate

Despite the threats, after finishing our work for the day, we were filled with the satisfaction of knowing that the field in which we had worked was ready to be planted the next week. We left and drank tea at the family’s house to celebrate.

That night at 6 PM, about 200 Israeli settlers surrounded the Jabri family home, threw rocks at it, and shouted insults at them. Three internationals went to join the family, although by the time they got to the family’s home, the police had already arrived. Settlers remained gathered outside the family’s house until 11:30 PM, however, singing loudly and drinking alcohol. The internationals stayed the night with the family.