CPT Al Khalil/Hebron

June 2009 Update

On team:  Jessica Frederick, Donna Hicks, Maureen Jack, Barbara Martens

General situation:  There continues to be a heavy Israeli military presence in the Palestinian city of Hebron.  ID checks at checkpoints are a daily occurrence, as are army patrols through the Old City.  The imposed physical separation of Palestinians from the illegal Israeli settlers makes confrontations between the two groups a rarity.  One exception to this is the settler-led tour through the Palestinian Old City each Saturday.

CPT’s work:  Throughout the month the CPT team continued with its work of meeting with other organizations and individuals active in the area, all of whom welcomed CPT’s return to Hebron.  The team also continued reorganizing its resources in preparation for the new Al Khalil (Hebron) project.  In accordance with guidance from the team’s new Advisory Council of local Palestinian partners, the team gave priority to regular patrols in areas of potential difficulties from either soldiers or settlers.  Although the team is attempting, where possible, to have Hebronites lead tours of the city, the team continued to host individuals and groups seeking information on CPT’s work.

New military installations

Wednesday 3 June

Hicks and Martens observed that the house on Worshippers’ Way formerly occupied by Israeli settlers, is now occupied by Israeli military.  The nearby checkpoint is staffed by border police.  Since the closure of CPT's Hebron project the military have installed roof-mounted cameras in Hebron's Old City and H2 area, directed at intersections close to checkpoints.

Checkpoint incidents

Friday 19 June

During Friday noon prayers Frederick and Hicks noted that Israeli border police were detaining Palestinian men briefly at the Gutnick Centre for ID checks.  One man had a somewhat heated discussion with the police.  He did not have his ID but said that he would go and get it and bring it back.  The police made him lift up his tee shirt to show there was nothing underneath it.

Monday 22 June

At about 5.15 pm Frederick and Hicks observed an incident at the Gutnick Centre checkpoint between a border police officer and a Palestinian man.  The atmosphere was tense, with the border policeman initially being confrontational with the man, though then backing down.  A local shopkeeper explained the situation.  The man, who lives nearby, has lost his ID, but has his ID number; he often receives trouble at that checkpoint.  Today, the border police officer wanted to do a special bomb check with him.  Initially, the man accepted the request, but when he began to feel that this check was about humiliation and not security, he refused.  The border police called for their captain, but eventually let the Palestinian go before the captain arrived. 

Settlers in the Old City

Saturday 6 June

Local Palestinian partners informed the CPT team that during their Saturday tour settlers had attacked a Palestinian café in the Old City.

Sunday 7 June

The café proprietor told Hicks that the previous day young settler visitors had broken three pieces of pottery at his shop and that the Israeli soldiers had done nothing to control them.    Further down the market, the owner of a shop beneath Avraham Avinu said that the settlers were rude but that the soldiers had prevented them from causing damage to his goods.  Some of the settlers had told women running another shop that they were thieves, because the shops in the Old City belonged to the Jewish community. 

Saturday 20 June 2009

While shadowing the settler tour through the Old City Frederick and Hicks came across some small girls who were caught between the tour group and their way home; they were visibly afraid of the settlers and soldiers.  They asked Frederick to speak to the soldiers to let them go through, because they were late and they wanted to go home.  Slowly the tour moved on, and the girls were able to go home.

Tuesday 30 June 2009

A shopkeeper alerted Hicks and Jack to the fact that a patrol of soldiers was accompanying a settler leader through the Old City.  Later another shopkeeper told Jack of a previous visit, maybe a month before, by a settler leader, accompanied by about 15 soldiers.  The soldiers went into each shop in the main street and measured its dimensions. 

Harassment by soldiers in Beit Ummar

Monday 1 June

Shortly after 3 pm the team received a call reporting that the Israeli military had impounded cars in Beit Ummar.  In a program of collective punishment, Israeli military have been harassing people in the village since a Palestinian went into the nearby illegal settlement Bat Ayin and killed a settler.

Destruction in the Beqa’a Valley

Monday 8 June

The team received word before 8 am of the destruction of cisterns and irrigation pipes outside Hebron (see CPT's 8 June 2009 release ‘Israeli Civil Administration, military and police destroy cisterns in Beqa’a Valley.’ )

Wednesday 10 June

Around 6 pm a resident of the Beqa’a Valley called the team to say that three Israeli military jeeps were in the area and that the soldiers were pulling up tomato and zucchini plants.  Shortly after, a female settler arrived and took photographs.