Tag: Hebron

Another Fallen Friend and Martyr

The death of Tom Fox and a true test of solidarity
By Joe Carr

I first met Tom Fox in Chicago at a Christian Peacemaker Teams’ training and we became good friends through our work together. He was a father with children about my age, and was like an uncle to me.

He was my team’s coordinator during my month in Iraq. Shaggy, a young Iraqi friend and translator, nicknamed him “Uncle Tom” because of his paternal but playful manner. He provided a calm and steady presence, and an open and compassionate ear. His warmth and humor helped me to hang on through my depressing and fearful time in Iraq.

I remember the comforting sound of Tom’s recorder, which he played in place of his clarinet. I will miss the mornings when he led worship, often in the silent Quaker tradition.

Tom was truly committed to maintaining an international presence in Iraq despite the danger. He understood the privilege we have in being able to choose whether or not we face violence, a choice denied to Iraqis, Palestinians, and poor people of color around the world. His commitment to solidarity led him to Iraq, to share in some of that risk.

Dozens of Iraqi bodies show up in Baghdad each week. Many are killed by US-sponsored death squads, trained to use brutal counter-insurgency tactics against militants and civilians alike. In the chaos of occupied Iraq, thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped for profit. But we only hear about it when it happens to internationals.

I was standing with 23-year-old American activist Rachel Corrie when an Israeli soldier intentionally drove over and crushed her to death with a US-made Caterpillar bulldozer. A month later, I was with 22-year-old British activist Tom Hurndall, helping to move Palestinian children out of the line of Israeli sniper fire when that sniper purposefully shot Tom in the head.

The three-year anniversary of Rachel’s murder is March 16, next Thursday, and activists around the world will host events to commemorate her life and sacrifice. But we will also commemorate the thousands of Palestinians who’ve given their lives to the struggle, over 3,500 since September, 2000.

Activists are also gearing up for demonstrations next weekend to mark the three-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. As we mourn for Tom Fox, let us remember the 100,000-250,000 Iraqis murdered by US occupation forces, and the 15,000-17,000 Iraqi hostages, held without charge in US and Iraqi detention facilities.

The loss of my comrades hurts very much, and it scares me to be so close to our few western martyrs. But my pain and fear only deepens my sense of solidarity and determination to continue their legacy of struggle.

Iraqis, Palestinians, and oppressed people everywhere are fighting and dying for freedom, and it’s long passed time for Americans to join them.

Let us grieve for our loss, together with families everywhere who’s loved ones have fallen. Let us also continue the legacy of Tom Fox, Tom Hurndall, and Rachel Corrie, to build a global solidarity movement for peace, justice, and freedom.

Let us see to it they do not die in vain.

Of Shabbat, Settlers and Destroyed Homes; Reports From Occupied Hebron

by Mary

26/02/06

It was Shabat (25/02/06). In the morning, I was at the crossroad at the top of Tel Rumeida hill, waiting to escort Palestinian children to their homes near the Tel Rumeida settlement. When two girls, who live opposite the settlement arrived, I walked with them up to the soldier outside the settlement. The soldier said to go no further and that he would see the children to their house. I turned to come back to the crossroad. There were three teenage settler boys coming, followed by about ten settler adults. While the soldier’s back was turned, a boy of about 16 came over to me and spat in my face; he was laughing. I called to the soldier and showed him the spit on my glasses. I also indicated which boy was the offender. The soldier was shocked, and the settler adults spoke to the soldier as they passed behind the boys into the settlement.

Later, when I took another group of children up to the soldier, he seemed frightened and asked me to please not come up there. He said that he would see that the children were properly looked after and safe, and more soldiers arrived. I do not know who the settlers threatened – the children, the soldier or me. But I would not want to be the cause of danger so I stayed back.

Beer il Haia 25/2/06

I went with a Palestinian friend to Beer il Haia in H2 ( Israeli controlled Hebron), where the Ajlum and Gait families now live. Four years ago, they moved to Beer il Haia, when they were forced to leave their previous homes behind the Ibrahim (Abraham) Mosque. The families concerned need more accommodation and have been obliged to build without a permit from the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces). The IOF will not grant permits, saying that the land is zoned for agricultural use. A few days ago, the IOF came with a bulldozer and destroyed a house, a well and a stone shed, which provided shelter for sheep and goats. They are supposed to give notice for such action and they say they did. However, the notice was left on the ground and not handed to the owners of the land and buildings to be destroyed. The owners did not see it.

There are two more houses, which are inhabited but not completely built and which are to be destroyed because they have been built without a permit.

There is great inconsistency between the IOF behavior when dealing with settlers and Palestinians. Here, in Tel Rumeida, we have settler caravans assembled on a street, without permit, and left there for years. Palestinians families, living on that street, are not allowed to use the street and have difficulty reaching their homes. At Beer il Haia, there is plenty of space to build and the land is owned by the families. There are plenty of houses about and there seems to be no good reason why there should not be more. It’s not near a settlement, so that’s not the reason for the IOF’s decision. And, if it is to be agricultural land, why did the IOF destroy the well and animal shed?

Help Needed in Hebron

By Katie


Settler Grafiti on a Palestinian home in Tel Rumeida

There is enough drama here for 10 seasons of some ridiculous reality show. I really think that there should be such a show in Hebron because it would allow the rest of the world to see what is going on here. If people knew, they would find it unacceptable.

The reality of violence and intimidation is beginning to affect me in that I accept it as part of normal life in Hebron. Tell another person living in Palestine about some horrible situation you were in and they barely bat an eye, something equally horrible or worse happened to them the day before. And I’ve only been here a little over a month.

Here’s a typical story from Tel Rumeida: Last Saturday, Ahmad who is eleven years old was playing soccer outside his house with his brother. Like many houses in Tel Rumeida, theirs is adjacent to a settlement. Ahmad’s brother saw 6 or 7 adult settlers approaching, one about 55
years old, the rest in their 20’s. He yelled to Ahmad to run back to the house and the settlers began throwing rocks at the children. Ahmad was hit in the eye and on the head with two rocks, causing him to trip and fall as he was running away. He broke his arm when he fell.


Ahmed sitting between his brothers

His father took him to the hospital. His mother wanted to come with them but their daughter saw settlers approaching the house throwing rocks, so the mother took the daughter to a neighbor’s house, then went to the hospital.

What kind of place is this where a mother has to make sure her daughter isn’t in danger so she can go see her eleven year old son, who was just attacked by seven adults, in the hospital???

The family called the police when they got back from the hospital, but since the Israeli police have juristiction over Tel Rumeida, not the Palestinian police, it did not help.

Ahmad has nightmares now, and did not go to school for 5 days because he was frightened.

We need help here. We need your help. Please come to Palestine or find some other way to assist. Volunteer your time to an organization working for peace, donate money if you can, write letters to your representitives. This is normal, everyday life for people here and I wish it wasn’t. Right now I am working with 4 international volunteers in Tel Rumeida and we need at least 6.

See the previous post for more stories from Hebron.

We need people here in Tel Rumeida to protect children from violence, to encourage the soldiers to protect Palestinians from settler violence, who will stand up and not be intimidated when the Israeli special forces enter the neighborhood, demand our passports and take down the
information, like they did yesterday. The Israeli authorities deported an ISM volunteer a week ago. But we will not go away. We must continue to observe, intervene, record and write reports in the hopes that someday things will change.


ISMer(center) with Palestinain friends inTel Rumeida

You have more in common with these people than you realize. We are all human beings and in order for there to be peace in this region we must all let go of our prejudices and loyalties to our races, our religious groups, our nations or our cultures and allow ourselves to see every person in this world as our brother or sister. In this global and interconnected society what hurts Palestinians will eventually hurt us and what is good for Palestinians is also good for us.

Just Another Day in Tel Rumeida

By Katie

“Security Post” in Hebron-Photo By Chris

February 11, 2006:

At approximately 11:05 a.m., three eggs were thrown out of the window of the Beit Hadassah settlement at two HRWs (human rights workers) and a group of Palestinian school girls on the street below. The soldier on duty at the time called for reinforcements and approximately six or
seven additional soldiers arrived and remained at the IOF post until the school run was over.

At approximately 4:30 p.m. a female settler passed two HRWs on the street and sang at them: “the Muslims are going to get you, la la la la la
the Muslims are going to get you, la la la la la.”

Later on a HRW was walking down from the olive groves by the Cordoba school when a Palestinian youth called him over to talk. The HRW went into a house with the youth and found many Palestinian men who were concerned over the presence of some soldiers in their attic. The house in question had a history of soldiers entering uninvited, making themselves at home, leaving trash and destroying furniture. The HRW called another HRW to come over to the house and help assess the situation. Both HRWs then went upstairs and found six soldiers sitting
in a small attic. The owner of the house pointed out a bag of trash that the soldiers had thrown into the water tank on the roof just outside. When the soldiers saw the HRWs, they immediately began packing up their things to leave. One of the HRWs asked the soldiers what they were doing there, and if they would please remove their trash from the water tank. The soldiers responded that they were leaving and after some more encouragement from the HRWs, removed the bag of trash from the water tank and left.


A “security fence” in downtown Hebron photo by Chris

At approximately 6 p.m. a HRW was walking toward the apartment on Tel Rumeida street when he noticed a police car parked in front of the grocery store at the top of the hill and many Palestinian men gathered outside the store. The soldiers had two Palestinian males approximately 20-24 years old against the wall of the store and were searching them repeatedly and roughly. The HRW approached the soldiers and asked what was going on. The soldier stopped searching the men and said the they appeared suspicious and that they would be detained until the soldiers were satisfied they were not terrorists. The soldiers took the Palestinians across the street and told the HRW to stay away from them. Two police cars arrived. About 10 minutes later, another HRW arrived and asked the soldiers why the men were being detained, if they were suspected terrorists, when they would be released and if the soldiers had the men’s IDs. The soldiers responded that they would be released soon. About five minutes later the men were released.

Last night I was walking home with a few friends and we went through the checkpoint that separates the Palestinian controlled part of Hebron from the Israeli controlled section and saw that two of our neighbors were being detained. We asked them how long they had been held for, and they said two hours. We asked the soldiers why the Palestinians were detained. They said it was because they had to make sure that a CD player and a desk that the Palestinians were bringing through the checkpoint were neither stolen nor explosives. I kid you not. They thought the CD player was an explosive. I tried reasoning with the soldiers for some time and then called Machsome Watch, an Israeli human rights group that monitors checkpoint harassment. The nice lady from Machsom Watch called the IOF headquarters and succeeded in getting the men released.

Olive Trees, Wheat Fields Destroyed Again

Reported by Operation Dove

Several olive trees were discovered uprooted or broken and a field of wheat destroyed by a jeep in the Southern Hebron Hills village of At-Tuwani Thursday, February 9. The discovery was made in the Khorruba area close to the outpost “Hill 833.” The fields had been replanted in an action organized by Rabbis for Human Rights January 19 after settlers cut down close to one hundred trees.

Field owners filed a complaint with the Israeli Police. Villagers and Rabbis for Human Rights attempt to replant the privately owned Palestinian fields again, but were prevented access by armed soldiers and policemen. The soldiers declared the area a “closed military zone,” but refused to provide a legally-required warrant.

Military checkpoints have interfered with travel between At-Tuwani to Yatta nearly every day for the last month. A section of the annexation barrier is planned to be built on the north side of Road 317. The barrier will significantly limit At-Tuwani civilians’ ability to transit to and between Yatta, and hinder economic and social life.

According to the United Nations Development Program, the Hebron district is the most impoverished area of the West Bank. Many villagers in At-Tuwani have been forced to live in caves due to repeated and systematic house demolitions.