Tag: Hebron

RMIT University press: “Mary’s Middle East mission”

Interview from community radio of RMIT university, Melbourne, Australia

A former RMIT University lecturer has become a volunteer peacekeeper on a Middle East frontline – at 75.

Mary Baxter, who lectured in statistics and mathematics from 1968 to 1996, is based in Tel Rumeida, a suburb of the Palestinian city of Hebron in the West Bank.

“My chief task is to get Palestinian children to and from school safely. Israeli settlers train their children to throw rocks and stones and often watch them doing this,” Ms Baxter said.

“The young Israeli soldiers stationed in the area are supposed to protect the Israeli settlers but it is the Palestinians who need protection.”

Ms Baxter pays her own way, working with International Solidarity, a Palestinian-led non-violent organisation. Her work involves collaboration, too, with Machsom Watch (Israeli mothers and grandmothers), Christian Peace Teams and the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel.

“I work at getting the soldiers to see the Palestinians as people. It helps that I automatically like the soldiers and am able to separate who they are from what they do. They are very like the engineering students that I taught for 30 years at RMIT.”

Ms Baxter was the first permanent woman lecturer in a technological area at RMIT.

She told Openline: “In the early days, Brigadier Jackson (Principal of RMIT) would visit each department for morning tea. When he met me, he asked, ‘How do you manage classes who are all young men?’ My boss replied for me, ‘She has five sons’. The Brigadier then said to me, ‘I take the question back’.”

What made her take up her new and challenging role?

“A mixture of things. I know the area. I was in Jerusalem for an International Ecology Congress (Statistics section) in 1978. Then, again, with my husband Alan (who was an Anglican priest) in 1987 on a Melbourne Jewry-sponsored tour for Christian clergy. Alan did a locum in Damascus in 1988 and I joined him for two months.

“I was definitely bored in retirement. And I think it is a call from God. I am certainly healthier in Palestine, in spite of the danger, than in Melbourne.”

Are there signs of hope?

“Not much from governments. Israel says they will remove settlers but keep taking more land. Positive signs are that young Israelis come to help, as do overseas Jews.

“Also a lot of the soldiers are nice kids. Sometimes a soldier will say, ‘I’ll look after the children, Mary’. Then I don’t have to antagonise settlers by going so close to where they live.”

What are the signs that things are getting worse?

“There are more and more roadblocks. Just south of Hebron, the Israeli army is building a wall one metre high. As usual, they say it is for security. But people can get over it. Tractors and donkeys can’t. And, of course, it is right in the middle of Palestinian land.”

Are you fearful for your personal safety?

“Not really. I do get hurt at times but if the settlers really wanted me dead, I would be by now.

“I have five sons and 12 grandchildren who all agree that being in the West Bank suits me.”

Olive Harvest 2006

Your presence is needed for the Olive Harvest 2006 in Palestine!

Palestinian communities are calling for the presence of international activists to support them in the 2006 Olive Harvest. Throughout the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinian land continues to be stolen for illegal Israeli colonies and the Apartheid Wall as well as settler roads, checkpoints, and closed military zones.

Since October 2000, hundreds of thousands of olive trees have been bulldozed, uprooted, or burned by the Israeli military and Israeli settler colonists. The olive tree has been a native symbol for Palestinians for hundreds of years. As well as a source of livelihood and a symbol of the people’s bond to their land, the olive tree is also a powerful symbol of cooperation between peoples.

Cooperative actions between internationals and Palestinians have concentrated around the olive tree. Palestinian communities remain steadfast and are strengthened in refusing to give up their olive harvest. The solidarity offered by international activists enables many families to pick their olives and stay in their communities.

ISM will be providing training, media and legal support to international activists in response to the demand from local communities. Activists will use their creativity, determination and courage to support these communities at this important time of year. There is an especially big need for the campaign this year, as a big harvest is expected. Ground work has been done by ISM activists in the Nablus region on making contacts with at least 18 villages in the region who would like to have international accompaniment because of dangers they will face from Israeli colonists, and obstruction and harassment from the Israeli army. Many of these villages have worked with internationals before.

An international presence makes it less likely that Palestinian farmers and landowners will be met with brutal and sometimes lethal violence as they care for their land and harvest their olives.

The Olive Harvest Campaign, part of the people’s non-violent resistance to the occupation, will begin 15th October and last until the middle of December. Some villages have expressed a desire for internationals from mid-October although most villages we have contacted will start picking after the three day religious holiday of Eid il Fitr, which is expected to be from October 25-27. The majority of villages will be picking during November. The first Olive Harvest orientation and training will be held on October 15th and 16th and will continue every Sunday and Monday until the end of the Olive Harvest. During Eid il Fitr there will be no olive picking. Olive harvesting is expected to be finished by the middle of December. Please contact Hisham at hishamjamjoum@yahoo.com for questions about training.

Please register to join us at: palsolidarity.org
For more information, please contact info@palsolidarity.org
or see: palsolidarity.org

Important Notes

  • It is recommended that you stay for at least two weeks, though if this is not possible, your presence anytime throughout the duration of the campaign is appreciated.
  • As a guide, it will cost you approximately $100 per week for food, accommodation and travel in Palestine.
  • The two-day training and orientation is mandatory for activists participating in the non-violent resistance including the Olive Harvest.

Updated 14th September: the paragraph in this call about dates has been updated and clarified.

Ongoing Campaigns

In the meantime, we also invite internationals to join our on-going efforts to support Palestinian non-violent resistance all over the West Bank. In recent months Israeli aggression has increased in the West Bank whilst more international attention has been focused on Israeli atrocities in Lebanon and Gaza.

Palestinians in the Tel Rumeida district of Hebron suffer some of the worst settler violence in the West Bank. There has been an international presence in Tel Rumeida for 1 1/2 years. Activists who have attended ISM training have a permanent presence in the international apartment in Tel Rumeida. The work there involves accompanying Palestinian schoolchildren to school and protecting them from and documenting attacks by settlers. Internationals also maintain a presence on the streets in the settlement to document and intervene in the regular settler attacks on local Palestinian residents.

Israeli settler colonists in other areas in the Hebron region also frequently attack and intimidate Palestinian farmers. This involves physical assaults or the destruction of farmland. As with the Olive Harvest the presence of internationals enables farmers to work their land. This summer, internationals supported farmers in this way around Beit Omar village. Although the Wall has been largely built in the northern West Bank and around Jerusalem, land is currently being destroyed for the route of the Wall in the south of the West Bank, in the Bethlehem and Hebron regions. Internationals have supported weekly demonstrations against the Wall this summer in Al Khadr village west of Bethlehem as well as participating in actions around Karme Zur settlement between Halhoul and Beit Omar. There will be continuous non-violent resistance to land theft and the destruction of olive trees, vines and other agricultural land in the Hebron region.

In Bil’in village west of Ramallah, the illegal Apartheid Wall has stolen over half of the village’s agricultural land. Internationals have supported their 1 1/2 year struggle against the Wall which has focused around weekly Friday demonstrations. Internationals aim to maintain a permanent presence in the village which has been targeted by Israeli forces for its non-violent resistance.

Training Dates

We hold trainings every Sunday and Monday if there are at least 5 people. Please contact Hisham at hishamjamjoum@yahoo.com for questions about training.

Update, 7th October

See this post on our site for a more detailed plan for the Olive Harvest 2006.

Update, 16th October

Read about the recent ruling in the Israeli Sureme Court that orders the Israeli military and police to protect Palestinian farmers from settlers. See coverage of the ruling in the Israeli media: in Ha’aretz and the Jerusalem Post. See also this investigative article in Ha’aretz which brings up evidence that suggests the Israeli army will not live up to their promises. Compare also with reports from the early Olive Harvest (i.e. before Eid, which is likely to be either the 22nd or 23rd of October).

Palestinian Child Attacked by Israeli Colonist in Hebron

Click here to view video of the interview with the boy’s father mentioned below. Click here to download it.

by ISM Hebron and Tel Rumeida Project

At 1:15pm on September 1, 2006, in Tel Rumeida, Hebron, two Human Rights Workers (HRWs) were approached by a young boy of approximately six or seven years, and an older man, later identified as his father, Idris Zahadi. The boy lifted his shirt, displaying a contusion on his chest, and said something in Arabic that the HRWs were unable to understand. The young boy communicated that he had been injured, but did not speak either of the HRWs’ languages with sufficient fluency to describe the details to them since they did not speak much Arabic. With permission from Mr. Zahadi, one HRW photographed the victim’s injuries: a small contusion with broken skin on the left temple, and a larger contusion without skin breakage on the lower left chest. The victim then described the incident to his father, who related the events to the HRWs in a videotaped interview.

About one hour earlier, Mr. Zahadi’s son was walking to his home, which requires that he pass in front of the Beit Hadassah settlement on Shuhadah Street. An adult settler with a beard and glasses, possibly in his late twenties, began throwing stones at the boy, who was very afraid. He was struck by two of the stones, in his head and his chest. Mr. Zahadi was not at home at the time, and only found out about the attack upon his return.

Mr. Zahadi was obviously upset by the attack on his son. After finishing his description, he added, “Every day is like this; the soldier can’t do anything! Even if he has bullets it’s no good. You need a policeman here, not the soldiers.”

Settler Children Burn Down Palestinian Olive Tree in Hebron, Israeli Soliders Block Firefighters

by ISM Hebron

On Saturday August 26th, at approximately 12 noon, a Palestinian family in Tel Rumeida, (in the Israeli controlled H2 district of Hebron) noticed a group of settler boys setting fire to the dry grass in front of their home. This land contains many olive trees and settlers have attempted to burn down these trees on many occasions by starting grass fires. The family put the fire out with water but the kids returned and started a fire which spread to the center of a large olive tree. By the time the family noticed, the fire was so hot that they could not put it out by themselves. Phone requests to the DCO (District Command Office of the military) to allow firefighters from the Palestinian municipality of Hebron to enter into H2 to put the fire out were denied.

The family tried to solicit the help of soldiers who poured a white, firefighting powder on the burning tree. This attempt at putting the fire out was not successful and eventually the whole tree was destroyed. Soldiers attempted to charge the family 600 shekels ($135) for the firefighting powder and the family refused. The soldiers threatened to come back and confiscate the family’s television is they refused to pay.

In addition, settlers set the ground on fire in another location next to this same family’s house. No olive trees were destroyed in this fire.

Palestinian Children Assaulted by Israeli Army

by ISM Hebron

On Sunday August 27th, two HRWs were on Shuhada Street in front of the military post which watches the Beit Hadassa settlement in Hebron. At around 5 p.m. a group of six Palestinian kids between approximately 10 and 12 years of age, who had been around the area for a few hours, went towards the checkpoint and started a conversation with the soldier in the military post. After a couple of minutes, the group of kids sat down on the steps in opposite of the post and started obviously joking with the soldier, so that it was not clear if the kids were detained, or if they were just joking around with the soldier. The HRWs wanted to clarify the situation and asked the soldier what the kids are doing there. The soldier responded that the kids were detained because they tried to steal a bicycle from the settlement and that he called the police to deal with this case. The HRW asked the soldier to let the kids leave, but he refused to do so. A short time later, some Palestinian residents started talking to the soldier.

At about 5.30 p.m. one police officer and four Border policemen arrived at the military post and started questioning the boys and talking to a Palestinian woman who was still around. After about 15 minutes, three boys were allowed to leave and the Palestinian woman left with them, giving each a cuff on the head. The other three boys were still there, and the police officer told the HRW, who tried to intervene, that he should leave because they were “taking the kids back home”. The HRWs moved back several yards and saw the border police and the police officer take one boy after another into the military post, behind the camouflage netting, where the HRWs couldn’t see what was being done. When the first boy came out again (after about 15 seconds), the HRW saw that he was holding his head, so they suspected that those boys were taken in there to beat them. The HRW went quickly towards the military post while asking the soldiers and the police, if they would beat the kids in there. Being closer to the post, the HRW was able to hear slaps and see obvious moves. The Border Police came quickly towards the HRWs and tried to intimidate them while asking them questions and demanding their passports. Meanwhile, the three boys left.