Filmed and produced by Cat Rabenstine for the Christian Peacemaker Teams in Palestine.
Non-violent resistance
AL-KHALIL (HEBRON) REFLECTION: Preparing children for peace
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
BDS flashmobs at work
Philly grocery store flashdance
HP flashmob
Two Iraq Burin men arrested for attending peaceful demonstration
IRAQ BURIN —  On September 24, 2010 at 4:30pm, two villagers from Iraq Burin, a village near Nablus in the West Bank, were arrested by Israeli soldiers.  A checkpoint was erected at the entrance to the village in the morning of the same day.
In response to these arrests and the killing of two young men by Israeli soldiers in March 2010, Iraq Burin is launching a website:Â www.iraqburin.wordpress.com.
The soldiers identified the two men, Iman Qadous, 45, and Yousef Qadous, 50, both village council members, from a photo taken during one of the weekly peaceful demonstrations held in Iraq Burin since November 2009, protesting Israel’s confiscation of their land.
The soldiers said they were arresting the two men for having attended the demonstration.  Villagers do not know where the men were taken or for how long they will be gone.
In March 2010, two villagers, Mohammed Qadous, 16, and Usaid Qadous, 19, were killed with live ammunition when Israeli soldiers entered the village after the weekly demonstration.
Read the detailed report about the killings filed by the UNESCO Chair on Human Rights, Democracy and Peace at An-Najah University.
HEBRON: Open Shuhada St. movement changes tactics
CPTnet Digest, Volume 33, Issue 11
A newsletter written by members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams
20 September 2010
The regular Saturday movement, “Open Shuhada Street,” changed tactics on 21 August 2010. Since the police had threatened two of the organizers with large fines and a possible ten-year imprisonment if the demonstrations continued, the organizing group felt it better to use a new approach during the remainder of Ramadan.
The activists used the day to build relationships in the Old City by delivering certificates of appreciation to the shopkeepers for continuing to open their shops every day in the midst of this Occupation. Led by an energetic group of Israeli activist drummers and rhythm instruments, approximately seventy-five Israeli, Palestinian and international activists marched through the Old City, Hebron. Activists distributed the certificates and flyers to all the shopkeepers, encouraging them to continue their resistance to the Occupation.
The police had been trying to get the shopkeepers to close their stores, telling them that their shops were in danger of being welded shut like the three shops in Bab il Baledeyya at the entrance to the Old City.