Tag: Hebron

by Ernesto

At 8:30am on Sunday, July 30th, six internationals accompanied Abu Ayyash and Yousef, both farmers, and Ahmed, a local organizer, from Beit Ummar, to spray their grapes with pesticides. Despite aggressive activity by settler militia and an Israeli military presence, the farmers successfully completed their tasks.

The Karme Tzur settlement has been constructed directly across the street from the farmer’s grape vines. The farmer’s plot of land is bordered on two sides by a paved road that carries settlers in and out through a gate with a guard post. The settler militia is extremely hostile to Palestinian farmers working their land, referring to them as “terrorists.”

When we arrived, one international who had accompanied these farmers before noticed that a dirt road had been created where grape vines once grew. There were pink ribbons on some of the vines that remained that might have signaled the path of the road. The bulldozer was parked a few meters away on the other side of the settler road. It was probably the one that bulldozed over a few dozen grape vines on this plot alone and countless numbers on farmlands around the settlement.

As the farmers sprayed their vineyard, four settlement guards arrived and one attempted to enter the land by force but was called back by his comrades, when he couldn’t manage to get past internationals who demanded to know why he was entering land that didn’t belong to him.

Another settlement guard began to become verbally abusive and taunt the farmers and internationals by making fun of the greeting “salaam”, and plainly stating “You are my enemy! If you come here with Palestinians and have no military permission you are my enemy.” He also attempted to enter the land proclaiming, “This is my land!”

The military also attempted to remove the farmers from the land saying that the Palestinians need to get permission from the military to be on land so close to a settlement. However, we were able to stall the military and the settler militia long enough for Abu Ayash and Yousef to finish their work for the day. Unfortunately, Abu Ayash is afraid that the next time he is due to spray his grapevines, there will be none left, either as retribution for his summoud (steadfastness) or to pave a wider road.

We will provide Abu Ayash with photos of the land for his legal battle to protect his rights and property.

On July 28th, a human rights worker (HRW) was sitting by checkpoint 56 (which is the main entrance to Tel Rumeida, Hebron from the Palestinian controlled H1 area) from about 12 noon til 3:00 in order to monitor the behavior of the soldiers. During this time she was also drawing the surrounding buildings in her sketchbook. The two soldiers on duty who were friendly, asked to see what she was drawing and she showed them. The soldiers behaved well towards the Palestinians coming and going through the checkpoint and complied when the HRW requested they keep their dogs away from the Palestinians. They made an effort to control the dogs and the HRW thanked them for this.

At about 3pm the “nice” soldiers left and were replaced by two new ones. At about 3:30pm, approximately six other soldiers and a police jeep showed up. One soldier asked the HRW what she was doing. She showed him the drawing she had been doing and he asked to see the whole sketchbook. She denied his request. The police officer asked her if she was causing problems or taking notes about the soldiers at the checkpoint. She said no she was only sketching the buildings. At this point there were about six soldiers standing around her, accusing her of causing problems for the soldiers on duty at the checkpoint and demanding that she show them her sketchbook. She refused again and tried to leave the area. The soldiers physically blocked her path but she pushed passed them.

She headed back to the her apartment and was intercepted by a soldier at the top of the hill by the apartment. He told her she needed to stop. She refused, telling him she urgently had to go to the bathroom. He told her she must leave her backpack with him if she wanted to go to the bathroom. She refused and he attempted to grab her backpack and physically prevent her from going into the apartment. She held onto the backpack, pushed passed him and entered the apartment.

by B.B.

On Wednesday, July 26th, at approximately 1:30 pm, a group of internationals went with the farmer Abu Jabber Soleiby to document the most recent damage to his land by settlers from the nearby settlement Beit ‘Ain. The settlers from Beit ‘Ain have been bringing their sheep down the steep hill to graze from the settlement onto Soleiby’s land. As the group of three internationals and two Palestinians including Abu Jabber and his brother approached Soleiby’s land, they noticed at first one sheep among the trees. It was then observed that an entire flock of approximately 15-20 sheep were on Soleiby’s land and were clearly destroying the trees and grape vines.

The sheep were accompanied by two male settlers, one of whom was armed with a large automatic rifle. The group approached the settlers and demanded that they take the sheep off the land immediately. Internationals took pictures and filmed as the Palestinian men herded the sheep -and the settlers- back towards the settlement. As one international woman was taking pictures of the armed settler, he turned and raised his gun to her head from 12-18 inches away. Other than this particular show of force, the settlers were clearly outnumbered by internationals and Palestinians and allowed themselves to be escorted off of the land with little direct confrontation.

In the past, settlers from Beit ‘Ain have beaten and shot at Abu Jabber and his family, cut down limbs of trees, burned trees, and dammed up the small stream that provided the irrigation for his land by rolling large boulders down the hill from the settlement into the water. The nearby larger settlement, Gush Etzion also controls the piped water to the area (including some Palestinian homes in Beit Ummar) and had cut the water off for the previous three days.

Abu Jabber attempted to file a complaint with the Israeli police stationed in Gush Etzion the next day, but when he arrived he was told that the settlers were free to do whatever they want and refused to take his statement (this would have been the ninth complaint filed by the Soleiby family about the actions of settlers from Beit ‘Ain).

by Harry Pockets

On Wednesday, July 19, 4 volunteers from then International Solidarity Movement accompanied a farmer from the village of Al Jab’a whose fields had been burned by settlers. Al Jab’a is a small farming village located in the shadow of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. The settlers from a settlement outpost, Beit Aien, are responsible for starting two fires in recent months to farmers’ land in Al Jab’a that have burned olive trees and other arable land.

In addition to burning land, the settlers drain waste water from the settlement, that sits on top of a small mountain, to the farmers’ land in the vally. This water has poisoned many trees so that many are brown and dying.

The farmer needed to cut dead limbs off the trees in order for new branches to grow, but feared harrassment from settlers. The settlers of Beit Aien live a short distance from his land and have threatened him and his workers with guns on several prior occasions. The day was successful, nevertheless, with no appearances by the settlers and a large amount of work completed by the farmer and his workers.

On July 24th, people from Beit Ummar, Halhul and Hebron, and internationals marched against the ongoing war in Lebanon and Gaza. About 400 people were gathered of Halhul in protest of the disequilibrial war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Yehuda yells at some soldiers who don’t want us to go to the Abu Haykal house

by Shlomo Bloom

July 24th: Today was the 16th birthday of two girls in the Abu Haykal family who live at the end of Tel Rumeida street, surrounded by the extremist Jewish settlers of Hebron. This Palestinian family is constantly under attack either by the settlers directly or though intimidation by Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) soldiers. The family was recently informed that they are not allowed to use the paved road to their house, instead they must walk up a long, rocky dirt path that leads to the back of their home.

A birthday party was organized by members of CPT (Christian Peacemaker Teams) and Breaking the Silence (a group of Israeli ex-soldiers) which included members of ISM, ICAHD (Israeli Committee Against Housing Demolitions) and other Israeli and international activists. Altogether, there were over 30 activists and with Yehuda of Breaking the Silence leading them up Tel Rumeida hill, the marchers proceeded past the soldiers’ station, through the Tel Rumeida settlement to the Abu Haykal house at the end of the road. The soldiers panicked and attempted to stop the group. Yehuda, with a balloon in hand, explained the purpose of the visit, and refuted the soldiers in Hebrew when they tried to prevent the group from passing. There were just too many people to stop, and while the soldiers scrambled, the activists made it all the way to the Abu Haykal’s gate where they came upon a disgusting barrier blocking the way.

Settlers had piled a large heap of random garbage and razor wire in front of the gate to the house, preventing safe passage. The activists had to move some of it aside, and climb over the rest in order to pass though.

Over 12 IOF soldiers, 10 police, and 6 military police eventually arrived, and although they had no invitation to the birthday party(!), they entered the family’s porch where they had what appeared to be a discussion on whether or not this birthday party was legal. Some of the activists made it though the gate and into the house but the rest were forced by the police to turn around and walk over a quarter of a mile down the street and around Tel Rumeida hill to enter the house through the back entrance (about a 10 minute walk).

“Is this birthday party illegal?”

Once all of the guests were inside, Hani, the father, thanked everyone and shared his story about last Saturday, when settlers attacked his home with rocks and he called the police but they never came. Last week, not one police officer came when the house was under attack, but this week they showed up in full force when friends and activists, invited to the party, used the most convenient road which has been designated a closed military zone. Only settlers are allowed to use this road because use by anyone else is said to be a provocation to the settlers.

Cake and punch was served to all, and gifts were given to the girls. Hani said his home was open to anyone, Muslim, Christian, Jew, whatever their religion or color, as long as they respected human rights for all, and harm no one. Hani’s sister gave a speech saying that “my family sheltered Jews in 1929 and we want to do the same now. If anyone from the North [of Israel, where the threat of rocket attacks continue now], wants to come here now for shelter I will welcome you again, this is a house of peace.” A man from Haifa said he was afraid to return to his home at the moment, and that he was glad to be here.

The birthday girl

So there we were, Muslims, Christians, and Jews having a birthday party together for two young women with their whole lives ahead of them. With tears in their eyes, the family apologized for the difficult entrance to their home and said they hope we can all return in the future – for another party, this time without having to go through any gate, and with no soldiers or police trying to prevent us.

After the party was over and people were filing out, the police were still waiting outside the house. They escorted the guests down the rocky path (through the back way this time) and Hani explained that the reason the police remained was in order to provide protection for the Israelis activists who the police felt were in danger of being kidnapped by Palestinians!