14 April 2009
At about 3 PM in the old city of Hebron, 5 Israeli settlers trespassed onto the roof of a Palestinian house, puncturing the 5 water tanks owned by the family and draining all of their water supply.
The house was owned by the Ewawi family, which is composed of a husband and wife, and 9 children. The wife and husband were the only members of the family at home when the settlers trespassed. The wife initially heard the settlers on the roof, and woke her sleeping husband. He woke up and tried to speak with the settlers, which he said were 5 in number, between 30 and 40 years old, coming from the adjacent building in Avraham Avinu settlement.
The husband described a settler with a gun entering the top floor of the house, pointing the gun at him and preventing him from observing what the other settlers were doing. The soldiers at the outpost did not do anything at all during the attack even though their post is just fifteen metres away form the roof.
Neighbors described the family’s house as being the biggest in the area, and a very important strategic location because it allows access to the main street in the old city. Members of the settlement have tried to buy the house twice, for $1 million and $2 million dollars about 5 years ago.
The house is adjacent to Avraham Avinu settlement, and has endured 3 attacks on its water tanks in the past 3 months.
Beside attacks on the house, members of the family have also suffered violence from the settlers, and in the past 2 weeks a 6 year old boy from the family was hit in the head by a rock.