Harassment and crop destruction in Hebron

International Solidarity Movement

16 June 2010

Hebron's Palestinian residents face more harassment and abuse from soldiers and settlers than in any other major West Bank city
Hebron's Palestinian residents face more harassment and abuse from soldiers and settlers than in any other major West Bank city
Tel Rumeida raid, 14 June

The Israeli army conducted a night raid the on the mosque Othman Ibn Afan in Tel Rumeida, Hebron, 14 June 2010. At 9.30 pm local residents and mosque visitors witnessed approximately 14 heavily armed soldiers waiting outside the mosque, ultimately for the purpose of detaining several men.

The men were taken individually to the other side of the street and were stripped of their belongings, photographed and identified. A group of international activists arrived around 11 pm, and shortly thereafter the soldiers packed up and left the mosque. According to local residents none of the detained men were arrested or hurt. The Israeli soldiers outside the mosque called the night venture “an intelligence operation”.

Crop destruction near Kiryat Arba Settlement in Hebron, 16 June

During the night, settlers raided and destroyed crops and water supply on the land of a family living in Jabal Jahwar near the Kiryat Arba Settlement in Hebron. The following morning, the family, upset by the damage to their land, detailed regular property destruction by the settlers. Offenses included ongoing harassment, destruction of plants and water supply for the crops, poisoning plants and trying to cut down olive trees.