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Hebron and Beit Ummar
Hebron
Monday, May 14th we visited
the Christian Peacemaker Team [CPT] in Hebron, south of Bethlehem. We had met
several CPTers previously, but were excited to see how their team functioned.
CPT is located in the Old City of Hebron, which we
Checkpoints and constant
Israeli soldier and settler harassment make it difficult for Muslims to live in
the Old City and to
visit the old mosque/synagogue where the Abraham family is buried.
Most of the shops have been closed and many Muslims have moved away.
Israelis began illegally settling in Hebron in 1968 and there are now four illegal Israeli settlements – massive fenced-in apartment enclaves – in the city. There is a bit of debate about whether the settlers actually live in the settlements or whether they have homes in other parts of the country or abroad and come to the settlements only enough claim them for Israel. These religious settlers claim the land is theirs because “God gave it to them.” Their intent is to expand the four settlements until they become contiguous.
In 2002, Palestinians ambushed Israeli soldiers in the Old City. Eleven soldiers were killed and three Palestinians died. Ariel Sharon ordered the Israeli army to bulldoze ancient housing complexes, perhaps dating to the Crusades or before, as collective punishment in retaliation for the ambush. CPTers were successful in contacting European archeologists who were able to stop the destruction of this historical site.
John, a delightfully wise older British Quaker CPTer and a retired architectural engineer, took us for a tour of an ancient hill place in old Hebron that is written about in the biblical book of Genesis. This area is yet to be excavated, but dates back to pre-Abrahamic times, more than 4000 years.
John also took us by a new, nearly completed Palestinian apartment building that was taken over less than a month ago by illegal Israeli settlers with no compensation to the owner. The settlers continue to complete the construction as they take up occupancy!
Hebron has some of the most persistently violent settlers in the occupied territories who yell obscenities, hit, throw rocks, garbage and bottles, and generally harass Palestinians who live in this occupied city. CPTers do school patrols to try to protect the Palestinian school children from this harassment. We went with CPTers on the morning school patrol on May 15th, the Palestinian day of Al Nakba (Arabic for The Catastrophe) and Israel’s Independence Day.
On this day in 1948, Israel took control of about 70% of the land that was Palestine. John, in his gentle way, wished the Israeli soldiers well, but said it was a sad day for the Palestinians. He added that the day is coming when both Palestinians and Israelis will celebrate together in peace and justice in a land that they truly share
Beit Ummar
We returned to Bethlehem for two demonstrations and then went south to Beit Ummar to visit friends, a young Palestinian man and an American Jewish woman whom we worked with last summer and who now work with the Palestine Solidarity Project. It was wonderful catching up with all the many nonviolent peace actions and projects they are organizing.
We thought it would be a peaceful night with nothing to report, but we were awakened at 1:00 a.m. by loud pounding on the door. The sister of our Palestinian friend asked us to stay in our room, while her brother went to the door to speak with Israeli soldiers who had come in a jeep. An Israeli soldier with rifle ready, speaking in English, checked our friend’s documents, asked if he had company, told him he recognized him from an olive tree planting demonstration and told him to be careful.
Our friend suffered in prison for five years when he was younger and later for a week a couple of times. Last year when he was detained, settlers beat him. He paid well to be released each time. Last time, our Palestinian friend told the Israeli judge that he would probably see the judge again because he intended to work for Palestine for the rest of his life.
After the soldiers left our house, we saw them go briefly to several other homes on the street and then drive to the street behind the house, where they shot off their rifles and entered several homes on that street. About ˝ hour later, all was quiet again. No one was physically injured that we know of, but everyone was frightened and worried about the future. |
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