Tag: Christian Peacemaker Team

CPT: Netanyahu statement on Ibrahimi Mosque leads to unrest in Hebron

Christian Peacemaker Team

22 February 2010

On 21 February 2010 Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced the Israeli government’s intention to designate as Jewish heritage sites Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem and the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. Netanyahu’s statement has led to considerable concern and outrage in the Palestinian community. The Ibrahimi Mosque is one of the most important Muslim sites, and is the one most accessible to West Bank Palestinians. The prospect of these sites becoming closed to Muslim worshipers has been particularly keenly felt in Hebron, where the Ibrahimi Mosque regularly draws large numbers of Muslim worshipers and was the site on 25 February 1994 of the massacre of 29 Muslim worshipers by Dr. Baruch Goldstein, an extremist Jewish settler.

There is international concern too. In a statement, Robert Serry, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said he was concerned by Israel’s announcement regarding the Hebron holy site. ‘I call on Israel not to take any steps on the ground which undermine trust or could prejudice negotiations, the resumption of which should be the highest shared priority of all who seek peace,’ Serry said.

In protest at Netanyahu’s statement there was a general strike on 22 February 2010 in Hebron, as a result of which most children were not at school. Around 08:30, Palestinian boys made their own response to the statement by throwing stones near the Qitoun checkpoint in the Yatta Road, while other Palestinians threw stones at soldiers between Bab il Baledeyya and Bab iZaweyya. Press reports have suggested that bottles were also thrown, but CPTers saw nothing thrown apart from stones. The Israeli military’s response was to shoot repeated rounds of tear gas at the Palestinians, causing alarm and discomfort to people on the street and in their homes and shops. At Yatta Road a group of small children huddled together as they got into a bus to take them home. In the Bab iZaweyya area (by the H1/H2 border) CPTers Gainey and Nichols observed Palestinian policemen work to move the crowd away. The incident there was over by 10:45. CPTers Chiba and Jack were at the incident near the Qitoun checkpoint, which lasted until 11:30.

On Thursday 25 February 2010 Hebron residents, supported by Israeli and international friends, will mark the anniversary of the mosque massacre with a non-violent demonstration calling for the opening of Shuhada Street to Palestinians. At 05:00 that same day, Hebron residents will worship in the Ibrahimi Mosque in memory of those who died in the massacre.

CPT: Israeli settlers chase, intimidate Palestinian school children

Christian Peacemaker Teams

Israeli soldiers refuse to continue daily escort

22 February 2010

AT-TUWANI – On Monday morning, 22 February 2010, four Israeli settlers chased Palestinian school children who were walking home after school in At-Tuwani village.  For one hour they awaited the Israeli military escort assigned to ensure their safe passage to their home villages of Tuba and Maghaer Al-Abeed.  Because the Israeli military failed to arrive, the children were forced to take a circuitous path home taking over an hour. They finally arrived in Tuba and Mughaer Al-Abeed three hours after the end of the school day.

After the Israeli military refused to respond to members of Christian Peacemaker Teams’ repeated phone calls for over half an hour, Israeli settlers approached on a farm tractor.  Two men, one masked, drove down to the children’s regular waiting point on the dirt road that bisects the Ma’on settlement and the Havat Ma’on settlement outpost.  Using the tractor, they tried to form a barricade by pushing boulders onto the road surface.

Normally, the road is in daily use by the children and their escort, because it connects their home villages with At-Tuwani and Palestinian cities to the north.  However, three times in the previous three school days, the Israeli soldiers had failed to perform their assigned escort.

The two settlers returned to their outpost.  After waiting for an hour for the military to arrive, the children decided to return home by a longer path around the settlements.  As they walked, four settlers came out from Havat Ma’on and chased them.  As the children ran from the settlers, Israeli military jeeps appeared ahead of them, but stopped while soldiers spoke with the four settlers.

Soldiers detained the children for approximately one hour and refused to provide safe passage around the settlement.  The children detoured yet again, taking a circuitous path home through dangerously rugged terrain. They finally arrived in Tuba and Mughaer Al-Abeed three hours after school.

The school children of these villages require the military escort because of Israeli settlers’ repeated attacks and harassment, year after year. Whenever the soldiers fail to meet them promptly before and after school, the children wait in dangerous areas under “de facto” settler control.

For a thorough report on the school escort in 2007 and 2008, including maps, photos and interviews with the children, please see “A Dangerous Journey” (.pdf).

For more information contact:
Christian Peacemaker Teams: 054 253 1323
Operation Dove: 054 992 5773

CPT: ‘My son, my son’

Maureen Jack | CPT Hebron

13 February, 2010

Yesterday a man died in Al Khalil/Hebron. Israeli soldiers shot him, and he died of his injuries. He was a Palestinian of about forty, with a large family.

There are different versions of what happened. The Israeli military have reported that the man attempted to stab one or more soldiers with a knife and that the soldiers then shot him. Locals say that this is not true. One report CPTers have heard is that Palestinian kids were throwing stones and the soldiers started shooting; the man had not been involved but was shot while he was trying to escape from danger. We were not there and so do not know.

There has been no large funeral of the kind often held when a Palestinian dies this way. The man was buried quietly late last night; a Palestinian friend told us that this was at the insistence of the Israeli authorities.

Earlier this week a Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli soldier to death in the Nablus area. Did that influence the soldiers who pulled their triggers in Hebron yesterday? I don’t know.

What I do know is that the soldiers here in Hebron go out in groups of six and that each soldier wears heavy body protection and a helmet. If the man did indeed have a knife, might it have been possible for the six soldiers to have disarmed him without killing him?

Three of us from CPT were at the spot an hour or so after it happened. I heard a Palestinian woman wail, ‘Ibni, ibni’ (‘My son, my son.’) She was the man’s mother. I have been thinking of her today, and of the mother of the Israeli soldier killed near Nablus. I know that I shall think of them too on Good Friday, as I think of another mother grieving for her son.

CPT: Israeli settlers invade At-Tuwani village

Christian Peacemaker Team
26 January 2010

Israeli soldiers enter Palestinian homes, attacks Palestinian, and throw tear gas.

For more information, contact:
Christian Peacemaker Teams 054 253 1323

AT-TUWANI – On Tuesday, 26 January 2010 approximately fifteen Israeli settlers from the Israeli settlement of Ma’on and the Israeli outpost of Havat Ma’on attacked Palestinians in the village of At-Tuwani. The settlers were accompanied by Israeli soldiers in three army jeeps and the settlement security agent of Ma’on. Villagers from At-Tuwani arrived, protesting the settlers coming into their village. An Israeli soldier punched a Palestinian villager, who was hospitalized for his injuries. Immediately thereafter, Israeli settlers began throwing stones at the Palestinian villagers while soldiers fired three canisters of tear gas at Palestinians.

Afterwards, the settlers drove to the entrance of At-Tuwani, and began throwing stones at passers-by on the road.

The day’s incident began at 9:20 am when three army jeeps and a pickup truck with an Israeli settler from Havat Ma’on and the settlement security guard from Ma’on drove into At-Tuwani. The settler walked throughout the village, entering Palestinian homes, accompanied by the soldiers and settlement security guard, and then remained in the village and made phone calls until other settlers arrived.

Journalist arrested at peaceful tree-planting action

Christian Peacemaker Team

23 January 2010

Village residents come together to plant olive trees
Village residents come together to plant olive trees

On 23 January, Israeli soldiers declared Palestinian land south of the Israeli settlement outpost Havot Ma’on (Hill 833) a closed military zone, then arrested a Palestinian journalist from Pal Media. The journalist was reporting on a demonstration organized by Palestinians from the village of At-Tuwani after the recent destruction of an olive grove. Despite the Israeli military interventions, the Palestinians successfully planted 20 olive trees during their demonstration.

While Palestinian farmers, accompanied by internationals, were planting olive trees, fifteen settlers approached the area, some carrying slingshots. Israeli soldiers and police also entered the area. The soldiers informed the Palestinians that the area was a closed military zone, showing them a map that encompassed a large area south of Havat Ma’on outpost. Police arrested the journalist, saying he had violated the closed military zone order.

At-Tuwani residents organized the demonstration in response to recent property damage. On the afternoon of 14 January, Palestinians discovered that a family-owned olive grove in Khoruba valley had been destroyed. Twenty mature olive trees were broken at their trunks. The family believes that Israeli settlers from the Ma’on settlement and Havot Ma’on outpost are responsible for the vandalism. This is the fifth time since 1997 that settlers have destroyed the olive trees in this grove. This most recent attack on Palestinian agriculture follows a month of Israeli settler violence and harassment aimed at preventing Palestinian farmers from plowing their fields and thus earning their livelihoods. In addition, in recent months, Israeli military have consistently used closed military zone orders to prevent Palestinians from working their lands.