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Al Khalil

AL-KHALIL (HEBRON) REFLECTION: Preparing children for peace

Dec 3rd, 2010
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CPTnet Volume 36, Issue 3
A newsletter written by members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams

This autumn, a local businessman alerted three CPTers to the presence of a group of soldiers outside the Ibrahimi School, located in the heart of the Old City.

Upon arrival, the school principal informed CPT that a settler boy, around seven years old, had accused two Palestinian boys from the Ibrahimi School of throwing a rock at him.  Soldiers wanted to enter the school with the settler child to identify and arrest the Palestinian boys, and the school principal responded by saying they would first need to get
permission from the Palestinian Minister of Education.

Over a period of three hours, fifty Israeli soldiers, twenty settlers and Israeli police gathered outside the school. When the Palestinian Ministry of Education told the soldiers that they could not enter the school, the Israeli army disregarded his decision and entered the school with the settler boy in tow.

Two Palestinian boys under the age of eighteen were arrested in front of their peers and taken to the local police station. The Israeli army and police informed the Minister of Education that these arrests were necessary for “maintaining the peace,” because the group of settlers gathered outside the school had threatened to remain and harass the school
children if the police did not arrest the Palestinian boys.

Over the years, people on the Hebron team have witnessed settler children attack Palestinian children many times, and to the best of our knowledge, no police officer has ever taken a Palestinian child into an Israeli school to point out his/her attackers.  Indeed, when adult Palestinians and internationals provide documentation of settler children attacking Palestinian children and adults, police and soldiers usually dismiss them rudely.

The Ibrahimi School incident not only shows the lack of impartiality on the part of the police, but also that settler accusations supersede preserving the educational environment of Palestinian children.

The entry of soldiers into educational institutions signifies to children that schools are not safe places for them, thus creating further barriers to education.

The young settler boy that made the rock throwing accusation was prompted by his father and other adult settlers to demand entry into the Ibrahimi School during school hours. Settler adults brought a number of settler children with them to the school and refused to obey the soldiers instructions for children to leave the scene.

Children need safe environments where they can learn and grow. Unfortunately, what CPT observes here in Al-Khalil is that children, both Palestinian and Israeli, are not being brought up in a spirit of love or respect for others.

The Israeli authorities in this area are not preparing children for a life of peace, tolerance, and equality — a life that all children deserve.

For footage of the Ibrahimi school incident, click here

Waiting to Pray

Aug 29th, 2010
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People go to their respective places of worship everyday.  They go up the steps and walk in the door, maybe to the sound of birds chirping, buses whirring past or a choir beginning to sing.  Here in the West Bank, the Call to Prayer is a beautiful sound of celebratory prayer, especially the evening prayer immediately before Muslims break their fast during Ramadan.  Each time I hear it, I think about those waiting in line to pray at the mosque in Hebron.

This is what it sounds like when Muslims try to enter the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron to pray, guarded by Israeli soldiers with machine guns and two turnstiles.

Israeli military assaults activists in street-opening action

Jul 30th, 2010
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CPTnet Digest, Volume 31 Issue 20
A newsletter written by members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams
 30 July 2010

The Israeli military seized local and international nonviolent activists trying to regain Palestinian access to a local street in Al Khalil (Hebron) on 24 July 2010.  About 100 Palestinians, Israelis and internationals had gathered for the weekly “Open Shuhada Street” demonstration in a plaza near the Beit Romano settlement and checkpoint. Two dozen Israeli soldiers had blocked three of the streets leading into the plaza; Border police were also present.

As the activists began to walk down the remaining street, Israeli soldiers and police followed.  Several soldiers dashed into the crowd to seize demonstrators.  CPTers observed soldiers grabbing activists around the neck and violently pushing observers.  One participant reported that soldiers pulled an international by her hair as she covered the body of another woman to protect her on the ground. Another reported being struck in the head by a soldier who approached from behind.

After the Palestinian leadership announced the end of the demonstration and urged participants to go home, soldiers continued to follow the departing demonstrators down the street and fired a sound grenade.  By the end of the episode, Israeli Military and police had arrested six activists: three French
nationals, a Swede, an Israeli and a Palestinian.

Thirty activists proceeded to Kiryat Arba police station, where the police were holding those arrested. The activists remained there three hours, trying to offer evidence on behalf of the arrested men and to file complaints against violent treatment from soldiers. The police refused to admit any
activists. At 11:00 p.m. they released the Swede. The Israeli and the three Frenchmen were released later. One Frenchman was deported; the other two were banned from the West Bank. Their fines totaled 20,000 shekels. The Palestinian was held and released after two days.

The “Open Shuhada Street” campaign kicked off on 22 February 2010, with demonstrations in Hebron and other cities around the world. Since then, Palestinians, Israelis and internationals have held weekly demonstrations in Hebron’s Old City every Saturday at 4:00 p.m. with chanting, drumming,
speeches and dancing. The campaign aims to reopen Shuhada Street to Hebron’s Palestinian residents.

Shuhada Street was a central, thriving marketplace of Hebron until 2000. Three Jewish settlements have grown along the street since 1979, interspersed with what were Palestinian shops.

In 2000 the street was closed to Palestinians, and even though the U.S. Agency for International Development renovated it for both Palestinian and Israeli use in 2004, it was subsequently declared a settler-only street. Israeli settlers and authorities have not only confiscated Palestinian buildings or welded shut the entrances, they now also control all the market and parking spaces connected to Shuhada Street. These lots once provided Hebron?s Palestinian community with meat and vegetable markets and accessibility to the Old City. Their closure to Palestinians has hurt the
local economy.

The Shuhada St. demonstrations bring together diverse groups nonviolently resisting the Occupation. During an evaluation session, a lead organizer summing up their resolve following the day’s events, said, This campaign must succeed.

Photos: http://cpt.org/index.php?q=gallery&g2_itemId=20991

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CPT’s MISSION: What would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war? Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) seeks to enlist the whole church in organized, nonviolent alternatives to war and places teams of trained peacemakers in regions of lethal conflict.

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