Hebron settlers decry "Activities of Leftist Organizations"

The extremist settlers whose occupation of Hebron's Old City has been growing and strengthening for decades have recently convinced the Israeli military to exclude not only most Palestinians, but also members of Israeli Peace groups and International Christian Peace groups from what they term "the Sterile Zone." In the process, the settlers have put out literature labeling groups from Peace Churches (CPT) and the World Council of Churches (EAPPI) as "antisemitic Christians [who] encourage terrorism and endanger the lives of soldiers and civilians alike" and who "engage in constant provocations and incitement."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

11 July 2008

Recently, settlers in Hebron have increasingly demanded that the Israeli police remove Israeli and international peace and human rights organizations from the H-2 area of the city. Soldiers and settlers have succeeded in preventing two Israeli Breaking the Silence tours from entering Hebron, and police have informed CPTers they may not be in any of the areas where they might have contact with settlers—areas in which settlers attack and harass their Palestinian neighbors. Below is a section from the brochure that the settlers have been handing out to tour groups, entitled, "Inequality & Discrimination in Hebron. In contrast to the false anti-Jewish, and anti-Israeli propaganda, here are the real facts: FACTS." A photo accompanying the "Activities of Leftist Organizations" section in the brochure (quoted below) shows TIPH observers standing in front of a person who is hiding his/her face. Its caption reads, "TIPH observers cooperating with left-wing anarchists." Information on the various organizations cited has been added in brackets.

"Various international and anti-national organizations have targeted Hebron for hostile activities.

"Most of these organizations are funded by anti-Israel foundations, enemy states and European governments. They disseminate falsehoods and conduct propagandistic field trips, media shows, tendentious visits with VIPs, and sundry provocations in order to substantiate what they call "discrimination against Arabs.

"For example, the international Solidarity Movement (ISM) [http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/ ],a blatantly pro-Palestinian-Arab organization, floods Hebron with "anarchists"from all over the world to harass the security forces that are charged with protecting the Jews in the tiny Israeli zone. Organizations such as Ecumenical Escorters [Meaning members of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel. http://www.eappi.org/], Christian Peacekeeping Team [http://www.cpt.org], among others engage in constant provocations and incitement. Groups of antisemitic Christians encourage terrorism and endanger the lives of soldiers and civilians alike. Israeli leftist organizations such as B'tselem [The premier Israeli human rights organization, see http://www.btselem.org/English/], Machsom Watch [an Israeli women's organization that monitors the treatment of civilians at military checkpoints. http://www.machsomwatch.org/en], Sons of Avraham [http://groups.google.com/group/bnei-avraham/web/cover-page—english], and Breaking the Silence [http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/index_e.asp] love to tour the city with groups of Israelis, non-Israelis, and diplomats, inciting against the Jews of Hebron by giving false, warped presentations.

"Especially grave is the fact that these organizations act in full cooperation with the observers of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), even though TIPH is supposed to be objective and to refrain from provocations. Furthermore, these organizations act with the cooperation of Palestinian disrupters of order and marauders to undermine the operations of the Israeli Defence Forces.

"The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) [http://www.acri.org.il/eng/] recently joined the activities of the Left in Hebron, acting continually by legal means to breach and trample the Jewish citizens' rights to life and safety."

The full text of the brochure is available {here}

In reality, the presence of volunteers from these peace groups reduce violence in downtown Hebron. EAPPI's activities include:

- Participate in the daily life and work of Palestinian and Israeli civil society, Churches and Christian communities.
- Be visibly present in vulnerable communities, locations or events, e.g. near Israeli settlements and the wall/fence, schools and homes, fields & orchards.
- Actively listen to local people's experiences and give voice to peoples' daily suffering under occupation and write or speak about these experiences in their reports and public speaking engagements.
- Monitor the conduct of Israeli soldiers (e.g. at checkpoints and other barriers and during demonstrations and other military actions) and contact relevant organizations and authorities to request intervention.
- Engage in non-violent ways with perpetrators of human rights abuses.
- Produce high quality, first-hand written materials, testimonies and analysis.
- Report on violations of human rights and international humanitarian law that EAs witness and document and use these reports to inform governments and intergovernmental bodies and press them to take action.
- Engage with the media locally, nationally and internationally.
- Be part of international advocacy and networking activities that highlight the human rights situation in Palestine.

CPT's activities include:

- Monitors treatment of Palestinians at Israeli military checkpoints and roadblocks.
- Intervenes during Israeli military invasions of Palestinian homes.
- Continues regular visits, along with Israeli peace activists, to Palestinian families facing harassment from Israeli settlers
- Provides daily accompaniment for Palestinian children walking to and from school
- Accompanies Palestinian shepherds and farmers to fields where they are exposed to assault by extremist settlers
- Joins Israeli peace groups to replant olive groves destroyed by settlers
- Joins Palestinians and Israeli peace activists in acts of public nonviolent resistance to Israel's construction of a "security wall" which cuts through Palestinian territory.

Unfortunately, without access to the "Sterile Zone," peace groups will not be able to monitor and, in some cases, prevent the daily abuses of human rights that are inflicted there. The settlers have already succeeded in driving out most Palestinians from "the Sterile Zone:" over 200 shops have been shut down and only four Palestinian families still have access to their homes in the district. If the settlers have their way, Hebron's "Sterile Zone" soon may be entirely ethnically cleansed of Palestinians.

Report from Christian Peacemaker Teams Reprinted with Permission

Cross-posted at Booman Tribune

Hebron's "Sterile Zone": Martial Law Tightening

The Israeli Military has recently taken further measures to reduce the safety and access of Palestinians to the Old City in Hebron by forbidding members of Christian Peacemaker Teams and Israeli peace groups from accessing what the military terms, "The Sterile Zone." The military presence in much of Hebron (H1) is similar to that of other Palestinian cities, but the Old City (H2) is quite different because of the presence of Israeli settlers, some of the most right-wing of all settlers. Because of the settlements, the IDF troops severely restrict the access of Palestinians to the Old City. According to B'Tselem and the Association of Civil Rights in Israel, "violence, arbitrary house searches, seizure of houses, harassment, detaining passers-by, and humiliating treatment have become part of daily reality for Palestinians and have led many of them to move to safer places".

After a 13-year-old process of closures and segregation which began – ironically – with the Goldstein attack on Palestinians in the mosque, and continued through the intifada, there are now 304 closed shops and warehouses – 218 of them shut down by military order. The whole of the "sterile zone" protecting the settlements is closed to Palestinian vehicles. And the central section of Shuhada Street is closed to Palestinian pedestrians, except for four families who still live on this once densely populated but now desolate artery. The term used by B'Tselem and ACRI for the steady Palestinian depopulation of the area is "enforced eviction". Jan Kristiansen, a former head of the (already decade-old) Temporary International Presence in Hebron, described it as "ethnic cleansing".
...
In December 2006, ACRI challenged the ban on pedestrians using much of Shuhada Street, pointing out that it had not been sanctioned by a written military order. The Army agreed it was indeed a mistake and issued a directive cancelling the prohibition. Some prominent local Palestinians were allowed to walk along the street after detention and body searches, and with a substantial military escort. Within a week the Palestinians were again told they were not allowed to use the route.

A few days ago, members of CPT were told that they could no longer give tours in the Old City's "Sterile Zone" around Shuhada Street because they do not have an Israeli guide license. A few months ago, British journalist, Donald MacIntyre took such a tour with Yehuda Shaul, a member of the Israeli peace group, Breaking the Silence. Then he compared what he had seen and heard on that tour with the Israeli military's account:

A tour round the inner city with a senior Israeli military official gives a very different take on Hebron from Shaul's. The official, who insists on anonymity, argues that while Palestinians are restricted in only three per cent of the city, Israelis are either barred or heavily restricted in the other 97 per cent. While ACRI and B'Tselem pointed out that a resident of the Old City wanting to cross one side of Shuhada Street to the other needs to go round the entire city centre and pass through a number of checkpoints, the Army insists that the restrictions on pedestrian movement in the city are "minimal". As for vehicles, the Army says that those carrying supplies like construction materials are allowed through with prior authorisation and that the required detours add only 10 minutes to the journey for Palestinians. The official stresses that the closures are needed for security reasons and insists, "I am responsible for the lives of Palestinians and Israelis. I am not just in charge of the Israelis."

This, of course, goes to the heart of the question of who bears the real burden of keeping the settlers safe. In the words of the ACRI/B'Tselem report, "Israeli law-enforcement authorities and security forces have made the entire Palestinian population pay the price for protecting Israeli settlement in the city." In doing so, it caused "the economic collapse of the centre of Hebron and drove many Palestinians out of the area."

Unfortunately, limiting CPT's access to "the Sterile Zone" has even greater consequences than that visiting internationals might only hear the distorted narrative that the IDF will approve for tours:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Israeli martial law imposes further restrictions on Palestinians, CPTers, Israeli peace groups, regardless of Israeli court decision

5 July 2008

On Tuesday, 1 July 2008, CPTer Kathleen Kern was leading a delegation of Presbyterians up Shuhada Street, when a police jeep pulled up beside her. Kern noted that the delegation was composed of Americans, whose tax dollars had paid for improvements on Shuhada Street, undertaken with the stipulation that everyone Israelis and Palestinians--could use it. The officer said the group could continue, but Kern could not because "CPT and Bnei Avraham" (Sons of Abraham-a group committed to Palestinian and Israeli reconciliation in Hebron) were not licensed tour guides.

On 4 July, when Kern went to meet an Israeli friend, Q., who came on an Israeli bus that stops in the Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of Machpelah area, the police stopped both her and Q. They again reminded Kern that she could not go near the settlements, for her own safety, because "the local citizens" (meaning settlers) did not want her around. They then entered Q.'s Israeli ID into a computer aboard the police jeep. Kern told him that she and Q had no intention of going to the settlements. As she and Q. began walking toward the team's apartment, Border Police stopped them and said that Q., since he was Jewish, could not enter the market, the only remaining route to the team's apartment, since numerous entrances have been closed to Palestinians and internationals' use. He decided to catch the bus back to Jerusalem that was arriving in ten minutes, because if he and she tried to enter the market a roundabout way and failed, he would have to wait for four hours to catch the next bus.

As Kern waited for the bus with Q., the police officer who had stopped her on 1 July approached and told her she was not allowed in the area. She noted that he had just mentioned Shuhada Street, not the entire mosque area, and he told her Shuhada Street, the park in front of the mosque, and Tel Rumeida were off limits to CPT. What if we need to go to the police?" she asked, pointing to the station in front of the Mosque. "You can come to the police station," he said. He assured her that Q. would be safe and made a point of telling him that TIPH—a monitoring group authorized by the Israeli government--was allowed to be in the area, just not CPT.

The areas that the police indicated were off-limits include areas where CPTers are present to ensure that Palestinian children get safely to school during the school year, and areas where settlers frequently attack their Palestinian neighbors. The restrictions the police are enforcing on Israeli peace groups also mean that Palestinians in the area will never meet Israelis who support their human rights; they will have connections only with Israelis who harass and abuse them.

In December 2006, the Israeli High Court ruled that Palestinians must have free access to Shuhada Street, but the Israeli military and police continue to maintain the area for settler use only, referring to it as a "sterile" zone.

Report Reprinted with Permission by Christian Peacemaker Teams

Cross-Posted at Booman Tribune and Street Prophets

Sunday, 30 March Day of Prayer for Hebron orphans

Reprinted with Permission by Christian Peacemaker Teams

Hebron prayer concern
29 March 2008

Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron is calling for Christians around the world to make Sunday, 30 March a day of prayer for the orphans of Hebron. On 25 February 2008 the Israeli army raided all of the buildings and institutions funded by Islamic Charities and gave orphanages and boarding schools until April 1 to evacuate students. On 6 March 2008 the Israeli army again stormed storage buildings of Islamic Charities, confiscating food, children's clothing and kitchen appliances used to prepare meals for the orphans. 6000 children in Hebron are housed, fed, and educated in these centers.

Christian Peacemaker Teams will visit the orphanages and will resist the forced expulsion of children if the Israeli army carries out the order.

Pray for the children of Hebron and for all of those affected by the actions of the Israeli army. Pray that the Israeli civil administration will rescind the order.

CPT's prayer request comes after several updates in the past few weeks about the IDF's actions against several organizations and properties in Hebron connected to Islamic Charities, including orphanages and schools:

Hebron Special Update
February 25, midnight – Invasion and confiscation in Hebron

At midnight 25 February Israeli Special Forces in ten jeeps and two armed personnel carriers (APC) invaded the Palestinian-controlled area of Hebron (H1) and confiscated properties of the Islamic Charitable Society as well as adjacent properties. 3000 children attending schools funded by the society will be forced out of school The Hebron district Israeli military commander, Yehuda Fuchs, handed confiscation orders issued by General Gadi Shammi, the Israeli military commander of the West Bank, authorizing the Israeli military to confiscate several properties, including those of Abdel Khader Al Kasey, a Hebron resident who lives with his two sons and their families over four shops that the Israeli military plans to confiscate.

Al Kasey’s son, Issa, and Tarik Sharif, whose five year- old son received an eviction notice from his nursery school as part of the same military operation, visited the CPT apartment March 1, showed CPT the orders, and explained their situations.

The military order said the property confiscation was against the Islamic Charitable Society. The commander told Al Kasey they knew he was not with Hamas but they had orders to confiscate his shops. Commander Fuchs also told Al Kasey that none of the peace agreements applied because under emergency law the military can do whatever they want.

Al Kasey has until March 4 (one week after the order was issued) to appeal the confiscation. After March 4 the Israeli army can demolish or seal the shops. After April 1, anyone who enters the shops could face a five-year prison sentence.

Al Kasey showed CPT a copy of the lease. On February 1 he rented three of his shops to a merchant who needed a warehouse to store rice he was importing from Spain and Italy. The merchant, who has an Israeli ID, is appealing the confiscation.

While Al Kasey and his family have no connection with Islamic Charities, the nursery school that Sharif’s son Omar attends is funded by The Islamic Charitable Society. “Why are they targeting a nursery school?” asked Sharif. “Islamic Charities help children and old people. The army closed all of the offices and confiscated all of the equipment, even the buses that take the children to school. What will poor people do now?”

CPT has already seen some of the consequences of the attack on Islamic Charities. Last week we visited a woman in Hebron’s Old City who had no food for her baby. Our interpreter explained, “She used to receive food from the Islamic Charitable Society. Now they are closed.”

These events have been covered in the regionial press as well. According to the Beirut Daily Star:

In late February and again early this month, Israeli soldiers descended upon this Palestinian city, welding shut the gates of a private school now under construction, closing two bakeries and handing eviction notices to an array of offices and retail outlets – all the property of a 46-year-old charitable organization that runs schools, clinics, and orphanages for more than 5,000 needy or imperilled youngsters in and around Hebron.

The Israelis gave ... tenants at the Al-Huda Mall a little more than 30 days to clear out.

Then, on March 5 just before midnight, the IDF raided a warehouse in the Al-Harayek area of southern Hebron, a facility the charity uses to store food and other goods needed for the children in its care.

During the following nine hours, according to Abd Al-Kareem Farah, legal representative of the Islamic charity, the Israeli soldiers gutted the warehouse, removing banks of industrial refrigerators and freezers, along with clothing, books, shoes, and cleaning supplies.

As the Daily Star notes, the IDF claims legitimation for these actions by claiming a connection of these charities to Hamas:

"All of the foundation's resources are devoted to funding Hamas and Hamas' grip on the region ... and to strengthening the terrorist network in order to target Israel," according to the Israel Defense Forces press office. "The Islamic Charity (Society) has, among other things, delivered money to Hamas terrorist operatives and their families, trained youths based on jihad principles, supported the families of suicide bombers and incarcerated terrorists, and spread Hamas principles amongst the Palestinian population."

As has been mentioned in Ha'aretz's coverage of the IDF's actions, although GOI claims that the Hebron charities are connected to Hamas, the charities' directors assert that not only is there no connection, but that the charities have been established in Hebron long before the formation of Hamas, even before the 67 war (when Hebron was still under Jordanian sovereignty).

The Islamic Charity Movement in Hebron was established in 1962, long before the birth of Hamas, shortly before the beginning of the Israeli occupation. Since then the organization has established a ramified network of educational and welfare institutions, and has acquired a great deal of real estate all over the city, with the declared aim of providing assistance to the needy - mainly to local orphans and the children of the poor. The legal adviser of the movement, attorney Abd al-Karim Farah, young and energetic in an elegant suit and a well-kempt beard, who does not hesitate to shake women's hands and is now studying Hebrew at a local ulpan, says that in the early days of the occupation the Military Administration helped and encouraged the activity of the charitable movement. He himself is a product of its institutions.

Today the Islamic Charity Movement cares for 7,000 orphans and children in distress from Hebron and surrounding villages. There are 350 youngsters at its boarding schools and 1,200 pupils attending its three city schools; another six are in outlying towns. The children have lost one or both parents, or come from severely distressed homes. Only a small percentage are children of the fallen. The movement's institutions employ 550 people, assisted by hundreds of volunteers. Their monthly budget is 400,000 Jordanian dinars, over NIS 2 million. Attorney Farah says everything is supervised by accountants and the Palestinian Authority's welfare and education ministries. Also, the curricula in the movement's educational institutions are identical to those of the PA, according to Farah, who emphasizes that "everything is legal."

Most of its budget comes from donations from abroad - from Arab countries, and European and American agencies - but the charitable organization also has quite a number of independent sources of income: from buildings and modern commercial centers all over Hebron that it owns and leases to private tenants and businessmen, two bakeries, a sewing workshop and a dairy, whose products are used by the children in the institutions and are also for sale in the open market. The movement has a board of directors that is elected biannually and was headed by Dr. Adnan Maswadi, an ear, nose and throat specialist, who was recently released from detention in Israel and was forced to resign. About 30 additional employees are presently under arrest for belonging to the organization.

"I would like to emphasize," says Farah, "that our movement has no official connection with Hamas. Perhaps some of our workers belong to Hamas, just as in other institutions such as the municipalities, but there is no formal connection. Nor are there transfers of money to Hamas, as Israel claims. Our financial reports are open and transparent. We are in no way the infrastructure of Hamas."

Please keep all of the needy in Hebron who have benefitted from these charitable works for decades in your prayers.

Snow Blankets Hebron

Reprinted from Christian Peacemaker Teams with Permission

By Mary Wendeln

February 1,2008



For days as I walked through the market, the Palestinians commented on the weather –

snow is coming. Now Beautiful snow covers the hills, homes and the streets of Hebron.

Palestinians, Israeli settlers, and CPTers are snow bound in their homes. Normal snow activities abounded

such as:, cancelled events, stranded travelers, snow shoveling and the delightful sounds of children playing in the snow.

For a while even the Israeli Occupation seemed to be at a stand still. Everything seemed normal. Israeli Occupation has no control over Mother Nature.



She did not discriminate over which homes and streets the snow fell. Israeli soldiers (IDF) issued no snow stoppage. Israeli government made no proclamations on the quantity of fallen snow nor was there interference by the other key promoters of the Israeli Occupation. Snow covered all the religious sites in Jerusalem.



Is this how it can really be in Palestine? Is Mother Nature telling us something?



As Palestinian and Settler boys participated in a typical snow ball fight when the falling snow [ceased], the Israeli soldiers removed and held two twelve year Palestinians as if they were criminals. Normal activity returned to that of the Israeli Occupation as settler boys pelted snow while the IDF looked on in approval.



For a brief 24 hours, things seemed real and normal.

Israeli Army ... Lays Siege to Hebron Hospital

Reprinted from Christian Peacemaker Teams with permission

RELEASE

Hebron: Israeli army, in search of injured gunmen, lays siege to Hebron hospital

30 December, 2007



In a shooting incident near Hebron on the afternoon of Friday 28 December, two Palestinian gunmen and two armed off-duty Israeli soldiers were killed in a gun battle. The shooting took place in an area under Palestinian control, near the village of Beit Kahil. The two Israelis soldiers lived in Kiryat Arba, the Israeli settlement on the outskirts of Hebron. Local media outlets reported that one or two injured Palestinians escaped.

At around 7:00 p.m. that evening Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron received a telephone call informing them that the Israeli military, searching for the injured Palestinians, were occupying the al-Ahli hospital in the H1 area of Hebron – the area officially under the control of the Palestinian Authority. The caller, a senior nurse at the hospital, told CPT that the military was searching the hospital and preventing patients or visitors from entering or leaving the hospital.

When CPTers arrived in the area at around 8:00 p.m., the Israeli military prevented them from reaching the hospital. Shortly after 8:15 p.m. the CPTers witnessed a large military convoy leaving the hospital grounds. They counted at least six armoured personnel carriers and 10 military jeeps, leaving the hospital grounds.

The CPTers then made their way to the hospital. Hospital personnel told them that during the blockade the Israeli military refused entry to the hospital to a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance transporting a patient. Israeli soldiers also threatened human rights workers who tried to facilitate entry to the hospital for the patient. Hospital staff reported that no equipment had been damaged and that no-one had been injured, but that the hospitals ability to function had been severely impaired during the two hour siege. Patients and visitors reported that the Israeli military had taken their IDs and not returned them. The Israeli military did not find any wounded Palestinians at the hospital

Muslim Feast Day Marred by Israelli Military Restrictions

(Christian Peacemaker Teams has recently given me permission to repost some of their reports and reflections. So I will be sharing these occasionally here and cross-posted at related blogs)

HEBRON RELEASE

Muslim feast day marred by Israeli military restrictions
Thursday 20 December 2007



On Wednesday 19 December, the Israeli military obstructed the way to the Ibrahimi Mosque, in Hebron’s Old City, for over one hundred Muslim worshippers. Wednesday was the first day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, when Muslims around the world attend morning prayers at their local mosques.

At 6:30 a.m. CPTers Janet Benvie and Donna Hicks observed a small, but growing, crowd of people waiting to pass through the checkpoint that leads to and from the Old City, beside the Ibrahimi Mosque. The Israeli border police on duty were allowing only two or three people through the turnstile checkpoint at a time, causing the backlog.

While Hicks stayed to monitor the checkpoint, Benvie walked back through the Old City where a patrol of Israeli soldiers were stopping and searching Palestinians on their way to the mosque. The soldiers stopped and searched young men and boys, some as young as 14 years of age.

By 6:45 a.m. the streets of Hebron’s Old City were filled with families trying to make their way to the mosque. The crowd waiting to go through the checkpoint swelled at times to thirty or more people waiting at any one time, amongst them young children and elderly worshippers. Those waiting became increasingly restive and angry, but there were no incidents of violence.

CPTers Delycia Feustel and Kathie Uhler monitored the other entrance to the Old City, Bab ib Baledeyya, where the Israeli army, armed with light machine guns, were also stopping young Palestinian men and detaining them for a short time at the Beit Romano checkpoint.

Around 7:00 a.m. the Israeli border police allowed the waiting crowd to pass freely through the checkpoint, enabling people to finally make their way to prayers in the mosque. The soldiers at the Bab ib Baledeyya left the area and Palestinians were able to freely enter the Old City.

However, the delays and movement restrictions continued when the morning prayer ended. Israeli border police detained around 50 Palestinian men outside the Ibrahimi Mosque for over 20 minutes after prayers. The Israeli army prevented worshippers from returning to their parked vehicles in the area above the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee office. CPTer Lorne Friesen attempted to go the area but was stopped by an Israeli soldier who told him that there was “a suspicious object “. At around 7:45 a.m. there was a controlled explosion and the Israeli army left the area, allowing the Palestinians to make their way home.



For photos