Fwd: HEBRON UPDATE: MARCH 11- 17, 2003

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> HEBRON UPDATE - MARCH 11- 17, 2003
>  
>
> Tuesday, March 11 -Day 117 of curfew
>
> Wednesday, March 12 - Day 118 of curfew
>
> Thursday, March 13 - Day 119 of curfew 
>
> The curfew was lifted from 8:00 am until 2:00 pm.
>
> At 9:30 pm Kristin Anderson and Greg Rollins were called out to escort a 
> Palestinian woman to an ambulance because she was having a heart attack. On 
> their way to the woman's house with paramedics, they were stopped by a patrol 
> of Israeli soldiers. The soldiers allowed the CPTers and paramedics to continue 
> when they heard about the sick woman.
>
> Thursday, March 14 - Day 120 of curfew
>
> Friday, March 15 - Day 121 of curfew
>
> The curfew was lifted from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm.
>
> The team attended a Palestinian woman's march against the war in Iraq. The 
> march drew approximately 200 women who carried signs against the war and 
> chanted for an end to the violence. 
>
> Sunday, March 16 - Day 122 of curfew
>
> William Payne and Rollins watched Palestinian school children climb down a 
> ladder from a house at the edge of the old city. Because all the entrances in 
> and out of the old city are blocked during curfew, the children are forced to 
> go through people's homes to find a way to their schools outside the old city. 
> The two CPTers intervened when Israeli border police yelled at the children to 
> return home. When one of the police pulled the ladder away from the house 
> Rollins pulled it out of the policeman's hands and put it back against the 
> wall. The police left when Payne began to videotape their actions. 
>
> At the Ibrahimi boys school a block away, Israeli soldiers told the principal 
> there was a curfew and the school had to be closed. CPTer Art Arbour told the 
> soldier that it was against the Geneva Convention to stop children from going 
> to school in a war zone. "This is not a war zone," the soldier replied. "Then 
> why are you here carrying a gun?" Arbour asked. "This is not a war zone and 
> neither is Tel Aviv," the soldier said. "But children are allowed to go to 
> school in Tel Aviv," Arbour said. "Plus, if the children here are in school, 
> they will not throw rocks at you." The soldier made a call on his radio, then 
> told the principal the school could remain open.
>
> In the evening, Le Anne Clausen joined a candlelight vigil in Bethlehem against 
> the 
> war in Iraq.  250-300 Palestinians and a dozen internationals from various 
> organizations processed through the streets of the old city from the 
> Lutheran church to the church of the Nativity.
>
> News of International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activist Rachel Corrie's being 
> killed by an Israeli bulldozer reached the internationals while taking part in 
> the vigil. (See CPT Release: U.S. Peace Activist Crushed to Death by Israeli 
> Military Bulldozer in Gaza). After returning to Jerusalem, Clausen gave a 
> number of interviews to the international press about the killing and its 
> impact on international peace workers in Israel and Palestine.
>
>
>
> Monday, March 17 - Day 123 of curfew
>
>
>
> Israeli settlers outside the settlement Beit Hadassah attacked two European 
> members of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) who were 
> escorting Palestinian children home from school. The settlers also attacked an 
> Israeli military officer who was talking to the two TIPHers. None of the men 
> were badly hurt.  
>
> Arbour, Payne, and two members of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical 
> Accompaniment (EA) Hallstein Laupsa and Tord Strom, visited Palestinian 
> families in the Beqa'a valley. One of the families told the CPTers and EAers 
> that settlers had come to their house at 1:00 am on the fifteenth of the March, 
> and smashed some of the windows in the house. The settlers also set fire to 
> both the family's cars. The family called the firefighters to put the flames 
> out, but the Israeli army would not allow the fire truck to come to the house. 
> The father of the family told identified the settlers who vandalized his 
> property, but Israeli police responded by saying, "What can we do?"
>
> Clausen represented several international human rights accompaniment 
> organizations with field workers in Palestine at a press conference in 
> Jerusalem.  She joined a panel of Israeli and Palestinian organizations who are 
> forming an emergency coalition to document and try to prevent an anticipated 
> mass 'transfer' of Palestinians from areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by 
> the Israeli military and settlers while the US pursues its war on Iraq.
>
> CPTers Chris Brown and Clausen traveled to Gaza to offer condolences and 
> provide trauma support to the ISM team in Rafah. While there, they took part in 
> a memorial walk to leave flowers at the place where Corrie was killed. An 
> Israeli tank approached the peaceful procession, which included about 80 
> Palestinians, and tear-gassed participants while they laid the flowers. The 
> dozen internationals stood between the tank and the Palestinians, then 
> processed towards the Egyptian border to lay flowers and an ISM banner along 
> the wall. The tank followed them and attempted to bulldoze the banner and 
> flowers. The ISM activists and several Palestinians responded by placing 
> flowers and pictures of Corrie on the tank while appealing to the tank to allow 
> them to mourn in peace. Two more tanks and the bulldozer that killed Corrie 
> also drove past the group, firing shots and tear-gassing as they passed. At one 
> point, several Palestinian boys entered the no-man's land near the Egyptian 
> border. Brown and an ISM coordinator tried to prevent the boys from getting 
> near the heavy machinery. A Palestinian doctor whose house was saved from 
> demolition when Corrie was killed gathered the boys and young men present to 
> sit together on the sand while the machinery passed. While sitting, the 
> Palestinians and internationals were tear-gassed again. Due to the rising 
> tension among the group, the Palestinians and internationals left the area.
>
>
>
>  
>
>
>
> 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.clubphoto.com.  Login as  
> cptheb@palnet.com  
> Use password:  hebpics  
>
>
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