Dec 16, 2007
Two shopkeepers from Hebron’s old city told ISM that at 3pm yesterday approximately 70 settlers and tourists, many in Jewish religious garb, came through the old city from the direction of the Ibrahimi Mosque, accompanied by roughly 15 soldiers. On the way through they knocked, scattered and stamped on merchandise from a jewelry and handcraft shop. The shopkeeper reports that he approached a soldier to complain about this, but the soldier just smiled at him. He says this has happened many times before.
The traders report that the group was predominantly teenagers young adults, both male and female, many of whom were carrying guns.
Fixing Hashem’s Pipes
Workers from Hebron municipality were today repairing the pipes which carry water to the Al Azza family, who live just below the caravans of the Tel Rumeida settlement. Last week settlers cut their pipes, leaving the family without water for more than a week, thus forcing them to buy water and carry it to their home along the steep, rocky and circuitous path which they use to access their home. The direct path from their house to the street is closed by the army as it runs right in front of the settlement.
This is a regular occurrence for the family–the pipes were smashed at least 17 times in the first half of 2007–and forms part of the sustained campaign of intimidation, violence and bribery used by the settlers to try to force the family from their home.. Before the current incident, they were last broken in September, after which the municipality put the pipes underground to make them harder to break. This most recent act of sabotage was done using power tolls. The pipes were cut within several metres of an IDF post.
When asked whether he intended to report this to the Israeli police, Hashem Al Azza indicated that he has done so numerous times before, and now feels there is no point as no consequences ever follow.
Settlers smash windows of Palestinian home in Tel Rumeida
(Dec 15, 2007) Today at around 3pm settlers in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Al Khalil (Hebron) celebrated the Sabbath by throwing stones through the windows of a Palestinian family home in Tel Rumeida. The house is close to the Jewish cemetary and right next to a tomb which is regularly visited by settlers.
The grandmother of the family was sitting in the living room when the rocks came throught the windows and immediately went into another room to more safely look out of another window. By the time she looked no settlers were visible but soldiers were present at the edge of her property. It appears that the soldiers were well aware of what was happening.
This is the third time in 4 weeks that settlers have smashed the windows of the family’s home. Twelve panes of glass have been broken and the cost is a strain for the family as only one family member is working, as his brother currently in an Israeli jail.