On Friday, 9th June, at 2:00 PM The people of South Mt. Hebron will demonstrate against the ‘inner barrier’ being built in that region.
This “inner mini barrier” is being built along road 317 in South Mt. Hebron is being constructed as a means to circumvent an Israeli Supreme Court decision forbidding construction of the separation barrier along this route. The Palestinians of this area, who are mostly shepherds will not be able to access their lands by car or even on foot with their flocks. They will also be isolated from the nearest city, Yata, on which they depend for their living.
The alleged “security” reasons for the construction of this barrier were openly challenged by military experts who claim it would increase security risks rather than diminish them.
For more information contact:
Hafez 0544613449
Or the ISM media office 02-2228485
by Shlomo Bloom Closed Palestinian shops in what was once a lively market in Hebron
On June 4th at approximately 3:30 pm a delegation from France came to Tel Rumeida to learn more about the situation here. We met with them at the Tel Rumeida community center and I told them a bit about our work here. After we all talked for a bit, a man who lives directly across the street from the Tel Rumeida settlement invited the delegation of about ten people to visit his house. No one is allowed to even go near this house unless they actually live there (meaning Palestinians or internationals). Settlers, of course are allowed in this area which is about half a block from where I live.
We could have predicted what happened next of course. The soldier on duty at the top of Tel Rumeida hill refused to let the delegation go to the man’s house. I kept back and did not intervene because I wanted to give the French people a chance to experience for themselves the ridiculousness of the situation. However I can guess at the reasons the delegation were told why they were not allowed to visit the man at his home.
security
provocation to the settlers
no one is allowed in that area unless they are Jewish
So in the end, even with all the French passport waving and the French insisting that they were politicians and diplomats, the soldier did not give them permission. So I guess they are going to go back to their country now and write about how they got to witness first hand the racism that governs Tel Rumeida. Hopefully this will be more fuel for boycotts and a nail in the coffin for the settlements in Hebron.
Can you imagine not being able to visit your neighbor who lives half a block away because it will provoke the people who live near him?
Qawawis, 4th June 2006: About thirty inhabitants of the small Palestinian village of Qawawis and the neighbouring villages of Jatta and Al-Twane gathered in Qawawis this morning at around 9 am. They were joined by three internationals from ISM and CPT as well as several journalists. All were assembled in opposition to the construction of a meter-high wall on the nearby settler-only road that building started on last Wednesday, and was due to be completed this morning. The demonstrator’s demand was a gap in this wall, to make it possible to pass through to the village by car and to reach their farming land on the other side.
The group went to the road and positioned itself in the work area, preventing continuation of the building. At that time no army was present, only the workers, so a villager from Qawawis tried to talk to them to convince them to leave their work. After around 15 minutes the first army jeep arrived and the soldiers asked the demonstrators to leave the area. They were not prepared to debate with the villagers and threatened to use violence if the people continued hindering the work. Over the next half an hour, three more army jeeps and two police cars arrived. The demonstrators held firm in their places while some were trying to negotiate with the soldiers. One soldier and a police man were videotaping those gathered in the demonstration, and police men were taking passports and ID cards of some of those present.
After some time, the responsible officer agreed after negotiating with Moussa Abu Maria, a Palestinian activist in the Hebron region, that there will be an opening left that allows passing through.
Altogether the group hindered the continuation of the construction for about three hours, until around 12am. Afterwards we could see the army jeeps driving around nearby and soldiers harassing people who were on their way back from the demonstration.
One of the Palestinians said today that he thought most of the settlers were in Kiryat Arba and there were very few of them on the street so there was hardly any trouble.
At about 3pm, three settler boys of approximately 10 years of age began throwing rocks at two Human Rights Workers (HRWs) on Shuhada street. One HRW began filming and the other tried to get the boys to stop and encouraged the soldier to help. The soldier was able to get the boys to stop throwing rocks. A few minutes later a police jeep came by, asked if everything was OK and a HRW told him 3 boys were throwing rocks. The officer said he would look into it. After that, about three border police appeared at the stone stairs that lead to the Qutarba girls school.
At approximately 4pm the old man with his donkey attempted to pass through the checkpoint. The soldier on duty would not let him. A HRW inquired to see what the problem was. There was one nice soldier and one mean solder. The HRW spoke at length to the nice soldier who told her his commander had ordered them not to let the man through. The HRW told him the man goes through that checkpoint everyday. The soldier said he could not go through today. Attempts at reasoning with the mean soldier were futile. An HRW called Machsom Watch (the Israeli human rights group that monitors the behaviour of soldiers at checkpoints), who said she would see what she could do.
Eventually a deal was reached wherein the Palestinian man with the donkey would show the soldiers what was in the saddlebag and then he could go through. He was allowed to pass after approximately 20 minutes.
Tomorrow, Sunday morning villagers will lie down along the route of the wall demanding the a gap is left for them to be able to pass through.
The villagers of Qawawis woke up Wednesday morning to workers building a meter-high cement wall along the road that runs through their land between the illegal Israeli settlement of Susya and Hebron. The mini-wall designed to keep Palestinian cars from accessing the settler-only road will have the effect of preventing the villagers from being able to access their villages by car or being able to access their lands on the other side of the road. Sheep, tractors or even donkeys will be unable to access the land.
A previous demonstration against the mini-wall that was violently oppressed by the Israeli border police. Two Palestinians were arrested.
Qawawis villagers, whose sole income is shepherding are forced to live in caves since any structure they construct is demolished by the Israeli authorities.
For more information:
Hafez: 0544613449
ISM Media Office: 02 297 1824
(1) For backround on the area see: www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/721882.html
