| Hebron days
The Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron reports regularly on
what goes on in that area. Below are excerpts from three days in late July. For
more updates, see the team’s Web site at www.prairienet.org/cpt
SUNDAY, JULY 28
Curfew on entire city
The Israeli military placed the Old City under curfew at 8:30 a.m.
in preparation for the funeral of Israeli soldier Elazar Leibovitz, whom
Palestinian snipers killed south of Hebron several days earlier. Leibovitz had
been a resident of the Avraham Avinu settlement in Hebron.
LeAnne Clausen and Janet Shoemaker responded to a call informing
them that settlers were attacking a friend’s house near Tel Rumeida. The
settlers were gone by the time the CPTers arrived, but the family asked that
someone stay with them for the rest of the day in case the settlers
returned.
Shortly after noon, the team heard shots fired not far from the
CPT apartment. A neighbor called to say that the settlers were creating
problems in the market and invading houses. Clausen and Jim Satterwhite went to
investigate and learned that a group of settlers had left the funeral
procession and rampaged through the market, shooting randomly at Palestinian
homes and people. By the end of the day, nine Palestinians and 15 Israeli
police and soldiers were reported injured, and one Palestinian girl was
killed.
MONDAY, JULY 29
Curfew lifted 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Clausen and Shoemaker went with a human rights reporter from
B’Tselem (an Israeli human rights organization) to the house of Ahmed
en-Natsche, a young boy whom settlers had stabbed on Sunday. They learned that
during the attack on Sunday, a settler had grabbed Ahmed’s younger brother
by the ears, picked him up off the floor and slammed him back down. His ear was
bruised and torn.
At 4 p.m. two settler youth began throwing stones into the chicken
market. The shop owners ignored them and they eventually left when adult
settlers walked by.
A young Palestinian man directed Clausen and Shoemaker to the Abu
Samir Sharabati home that settlers had attacked Saturday. An elderly couple who
have spent years collecting Palestinian antiques owns the house. Settler youth
had overturned furniture and smashed everything in every room of the house. The
library, which contained rare books (some 1,000 years old) on the history of
Palestine, Islam, and Jewish-Arab relations in Hebron, was completely
incinerated.
TUESDAY, JULY 30
Curfew lifted 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
During the team’s morning meeting, settler youth began
throwing rocks into the chicken market at Palestinians. When Clausen and Jerry
Levin went to photograph the incident, teenage settler women entered into the
fray, walking into the market and threatening the CPTers. When Clausen
attempted to protect her camera from the settlers, the young women attacked
her.
An hour later, a neighbor of the team stopped by to express how
angry he was about the assault against Clausen. He kept repeating, “I am
very angry for you!”
Shortly after noon, the settler women entered again, with a few
more friends, throwing rocks and yelling. This time, the police arrived early,
but stood outside the barricade to the market and watched the young women
assaulting the shopkeepers. The women went further into the market until a
group of soldiers ushered them out towards Gross Square. They lingered at the
entrance of the market for a half hour until a group of Palestinian reporters
began photographing them. The soldiers then forced the Old Market vendors to
close for the rest of the day.
National Catholic Reporter, October 18,
2002
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