Hebron Update: 20 to 26 May 2006

Team members: Angela Davis, Cassandra Dixon, Christina Gibb, John Lynes, Pieter
Niemeyer.

Saturday 20 May

During morning school patrol Israeli children threw a few stones at Palestinian
children going to school, and at their CPT escorts. There were no injuries.

Christina Gibb and Angela Davis took part in an action at Bet Ummar, organized
by the Israeli peace group Ta'ayush. About 50-70 Palestinians, Israelis, and
internationals split into 4 groups to accompany several Palestinian farmers to
their fields, adjoining the Israeli settlement of Karme Zur. Israeli settlers
and soldiers had generally prevented Palestinians from working there. When the
group arrived, soldiers and settlers were waiting at the edge of the land. They
watched throughout the day, but did not intervene. The farmers were able to
spray their vineyards and plow between the rows of vines. One farmer had been
so abused by settlers in the past that he had given up working his land. That
farmer's neighbor was able to plow part of his land for him

Monday 22 May

After morning school patrol Gibb and John Lynes visited the principal of the
Ibrahimiyye Boys' School. The principal said that end-of-year exams had already
started, and would continue until 29 May. Term would end on 31 May. He
confirmed that his staff had not been paid for March, April or May: "For us
today's date is 90 March!"

Tuesday 23 May

Atta Jaber, a local farmer and friend of CPT, visited the team and reported that
a fence had been erected cutting off his family from another six acres of land,
in addition to that already confiscated over the years by the Israeli settlement
of Harsina.

Wednesday 24 May

Davis, Gibb and Lynes revisited entrances to the Old City where metal gates had
been installed by the military in July 2005. They were pleased to find that, in
addition to the two gates by the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee offices, three
other gates had also been removed. Two gates remain closed near the Israeli
settlements.

In the afternoon, Davis and Gibb went with a translator to visit two families in
Al Fawwar refugee camp. The first family had ten children, who were very
excited to receive them. The youngest boy, aged about 18 months, had serious
health problems for which they could not get proper treatment. In the second
family, among eleven children, was a very severely handicapped girl of 13,
severely brain damaged after an operation went wrong. Her limbs were wasted.
She could do little for herself. She could hear, but not speak. Her immune
system was impaired, so lesions all over her scalp would not heal. She was lying
on a mattress in the hallway, but her mother carried her into the living room to
be with the family. She had a beautiful smile for the various family members
when they sat with her on the couch. Her mother used to take her to the UNWRA
Center for the Disabled in the camp, where she improved with massage and
physiotherapy. However, now they would have to pay, but cannot afford the
treatment. Her father was a teacher, so had too high an income to be eligible
for free treatment for the family. Like fellow-teachers he had not been paid for
3 months.

Thursday 25 May

At 8.15, the military detained one of the senior boys from the Tariq Ibn Said
Boys Secondary School at the checkpoint by the Gutnick Center. Gibb explained
to the soldiers that he had an exam, but they professed not to understand. He
was grateful to her for staying until the military released him, in time to take
the exam.

Friday 26 May

The Israeli military operated their checkpoint by the Gutnick Center at noon
more considerately than in previous weeks. They collected ID papers before noon
prayers at the Ibrahimi Mosque, and returned most of them straight after prayers
were over. Nevertheless there was a backlog of seventeen detainees for a short
time.

In the evening, Gibb and Lynes attended a party in the Tel Rumeida Community
Center, to mark the temporary departure of a veteran member of the International
Solidarity Movement in Hebron. She had clearly endeared herself to the whole
community

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Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical initiative to support violence
reduction efforts around the world. To learn more about CPT's peacemaking work,
please visit our website at http:\www.cpt.org. Photos of our projects may be
viewed at: http:\www.cpt.org/gallery


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