Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) work worldwide including the Middle East and the Palestinian territories. This diary provides the daily account of one team during a week on the West Bank, mostly in the region of Hebron. Their experiences relate what it means to live under a military occupation amidst armed soldiers and hostile settlers who are colonizing the land with the help and protection of the Israeli Occupation Forces.
On the CPT team during this period were: Art Arbour, Jerry Levin, John Lynes, Sarah McDonald, Sean O`Neill, Abigail Ozanne, Kathie Uhler, and Mary Wendeln. Their report was filed on Sunday March 25, 2007, about two weeks ago.
Sunday 25 March Around 6pm
Sean O`Neill saw two soldiers detaining two Palestinians, a father and son, near the entrance to Chicken Street. O`Neill approached and asked what the problem was. The soldiers explained that a small boy had yelled at them. They felt it was necessary to search the house, explaining that their commander had ordered them to do so. As a neighbor and O`Neill entered the house, the soldiers were just leaving. A few minutes later, Kathie Uhler and John Lynes arrived along with two passing members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The family explained that their 5-year-old nephew, who was visiting, had called to their daughter upon seeing the soldiers to tell her that they were coming. The soldiers called up to the family, asking why the child was yelling and asking what they were hiding. The soldiers then invaded the home and ordered the men and boys to leave, sending the father and his son down to the street where they were detained for between 30 and 45 minutes. The soldiers proceeded to thoroughly search the house, throwing blankets and mattresses around, throwing clothes out of the dresser, and stepping on the dough the mother was preparing for bread, ruining it. They found nothing. Lynes took photos and the woman with ISM took video of the damage. The family also showed the neighbor, the CPTers and the ISMers their back room, which had a wall of windows to let the sun in, facing Avraham Avinu settlement. Israeli settlers had previously broken all the windows with stones.
Monday 26 March
Mary Wendeln, Lynes, and O`Neill went to a demonstration at the Duboyya St. checkpoint organized by the Palestinian Popular Committees. About 50-60 people attended, all Palestinians, apart from the 3 CPTers and 2 or 3 other internationals who came later to observe. Afterwards, Wendeln, Lynes, and O`Neill went to the group`s office, located near Bab iZaweyya.
Tuesday 27 March
Art Arbour gave a tour of the Old City to an interfaith group of eight people, mostly Jewish and Unitarian.
The delegation left Hebron.
Wednesday 28 March
Jerry Levin and Lynes took part in a Palestinian demonstration at the newly occupied (20 March) house near the entrance to the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba. Levin made a short speech in support of the demonstration.
Settlers squirted water from an upstairs window of the Israeli settlement of Avraham Avinu onto passers-by in the souk below. The squirted water drenched Lynes, who was walking through the souk, and dampened a pastry display of a nearby bakery.
Arbour and O`Neill represented CPT at a conference/exhibition held by the French department at Hebron University. It was a wonderful opportunity to make CPT more known among people of Hebron not living in or around the Old City, especially the youth. Arbour and O`Neill handed out many brochures on CPT Hebron and copies of Signs of the Times and spoke with youth affiliated with several political factions, including Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Mary Wendeln represented CPT at the weekly soccer practice of the `Sports for Kids` initiative in Hebron Old City. Terre des hommes and CPT have supported this project from its inception this year.
Thursday 29 March
On noon street patrol, Arbour and Uhler visited the Gutnick Police Station to ask the police to protect the Palestinian shoppers and shop keepers from a settler teen-age girl who was spraying water on them from her window in Avraham Avinu (see 28 March). The officer on duty said he was unable to deal with the settlers but that CPT should take photographic evidence to the Kiryat Arba police station so that the soldiers might respond to the situation.
Earlier in the day, Arbour and Uhler did a follow up visit to a family in the nearby Souq. (See Sunday 25 March.) The mother said that soldiers had come at night the last three nights. In the evening, Lynes, Uhler and Wendeln visited again. Approaching the home, they saw the soldiers patrol leaving the area. The mother said that this night the soldiers had not come. She seemed relieved and buoyant.
Sunday 25 March Around 6pm
Sean O`Neill saw two soldiers detaining two Palestinians, a father and son, near the entrance to Chicken Street. O`Neill approached and asked what the problem was. The soldiers explained that a small boy had yelled at them. They felt it was necessary to search the house, explaining that their commander had ordered them to do so. As a neighbor and O`Neill entered the house, the soldiers were just leaving. A few minutes later, Kathie Uhler and John Lynes arrived along with two passing members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The family explained that their 5-year-old nephew, who was visiting, had called to their daughter upon seeing the soldiers to tell her that they were coming. The soldiers called up to the family, asking why the child was yelling and asking what they were hiding. The soldiers then invaded the home and ordered the men and boys to leave, sending the father and his son down to the street where they were detained for between 30 and 45 minutes. The soldiers proceeded to thoroughly search the house, throwing blankets and mattresses around, throwing clothes out of the dresser, and stepping on the dough the mother was preparing for bread, ruining it. They found nothing. Lynes took photos and the woman with ISM took video of the damage. The family also showed the neighbor, the CPTers and the ISMers their back room, which had a wall of windows to let the sun in, facing Avraham Avinu settlement. Israeli settlers had previously broken all the windows with stones.
Monday 26 March
Mary Wendeln, Lynes, and O`Neill went to a demonstration at the Duboyya St. checkpoint organized by the Palestinian Popular Committees. About 50-60 people attended, all Palestinians, apart from the 3 CPTers and 2 or 3 other internationals who came later to observe. Afterwards, Wendeln, Lynes, and O`Neill went to the group`s office, located near Bab iZaweyya.
Tuesday 27 March
Art Arbour gave a tour of the Old City to an interfaith group of eight people, mostly Jewish and Unitarian.
The delegation left Hebron.
Wednesday 28 March
Jerry Levin and Lynes took part in a Palestinian demonstration at the newly occupied (20 March) house near the entrance to the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba. Levin made a short speech in support of the demonstration.
Settlers squirted water from an upstairs window of the Israeli settlement of Avraham Avinu onto passers-by in the souk below. The squirted water drenched Lynes, who was walking through the souk, and dampened a pastry display of a nearby bakery.
Arbour and O`Neill represented CPT at a conference/exhibition held by the French department at Hebron University. It was a wonderful opportunity to make CPT more known among people of Hebron not living in or around the Old City, especially the youth. Arbour and O`Neill handed out many brochures on CPT Hebron and copies of Signs of the Times and spoke with youth affiliated with several political factions, including Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Mary Wendeln represented CPT at the weekly soccer practice of the `Sports for Kids` initiative in Hebron Old City. Terre des hommes and CPT have supported this project from its inception this year.
Thursday 29 March
On noon street patrol, Arbour and Uhler visited the Gutnick Police Station to ask the police to protect the Palestinian shoppers and shop keepers from a settler teen-age girl who was spraying water on them from her window in Avraham Avinu (see 28 March). The officer on duty said he was unable to deal with the settlers but that CPT should take photographic evidence to the Kiryat Arba police station so that the soldiers might respond to the situation.
Earlier in the day, Arbour and Uhler did a follow up visit to a family in the nearby Souq. (See Sunday 25 March.) The mother said that soldiers had come at night the last three nights. In the evening, Lynes, Uhler and Wendeln visited again. Approaching the home, they saw the soldiers patrol leaving the area. The mother said that this night the soldiers had not come. She seemed relieved and buoyant.
Friday 30 March
Bnei Avraham, an Israeli peace organization, invited CPT to participate in a solidarity visit with Palestinian families who live in the area of the home that was recently occupied by settlers. The scheduled protest in that area never materialized, because soldiers stopped the Bnei Avraham bus of Israeli supporters at a checkpoint on the way to Hebron and turned them away. Arbour, Wendeln and a translator walked to the Land Confiscation Protest. Lynes and O`Neill joined Arbour later. As Wendeln and the translator passed by a grocery shop, a New York-born settler who has lived for almost 37 years in Kiryat Arba settlement invited them to drink coffee, and they participated in a spirited conversation with them.
When Arbour, Lynes, O`Neill and Wendeln were on their way to the CPT apartment, the Israeli soldiers refused them entrance to gates 4 and 5 for no apparent reason other than “these are our orders.”
Saturday 31 March
Arbour, O`Neill, Uhler and Wendeln went to Salfit, in the northern West Bank, to join a demonstration. Once organizers left the action, the youth threw stones, and the Israeli soldiers retaliated with tear gas. The political leadership of Salfit invited the group for tea, at which they spoke of the increasing serious water shortage problem. Israelis, who consume 90% of the town`s water, have refused permission to Palestinians to deepen their well. Two poor villages nearby must depend entirely on the rainwater they collect in their cisterns.
John Lynes led a tour group from Yorkshire, England, along Worshippers’ Way (Haret Jaber) to the building recently occupied by Israeli settlers, then via Shuhada Street to Tel Rumeida.
The pictures above were taken by CPT members of recent house demolitions, destroyed olive orchards, bulldozed farmland, and soldiers confronting children, and filed in their gallery at: www.cpt.org/gallery. Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical initiative to support violence reduction efforts around the world. To learn more about CPT`s peacemaking work, visit the website at: www.cpt.org.
