On Friday I traveled back to Hebron from Tiberias with one other team member. Hebron is now relatively open since about 10 days ago, when they captured the Hebron head of Hamas. In order to humiliate the man completely, they put him on television in his underwear. It reminded me of what US soldiers were doing to detainees in Iraq. It would humiliate anyone, but in Muslim culture, it is especially degrading.
Anyway, the main road to town is open now, which makes things much easier. But on Friday, our service van went up an access road to get across the main bridge into Hebron, and it was blocked with a barrel. The army commander said he didn't want Palestinian cars blocking the road because then his soldiers couldn't get through. I wanted to ask him, "but isn't it you that is blocking the road?"
A little later we were walking to our apartment in the Old City. We came across a group of eight soldiers, one of whom was breaking down the door of a merchant with a sledge hammer. It was Friday, Muslim holy day, so all shops were closed. So we asked the soldiers why they were doing this. The young Israeli soldier who spoke to us was from the U.S. and spoke English. He said some kids threw rocks at them from the roof. In this part of the Old City, the passageways are covered with tin or with netting, so that anything thrown from the roof would not hit anyone. I asked the soldier, "Did the rocks hurt you?" Immediately he demanded to search our bags. After the search, I asked him again, "Did the stones hurt you?" He hurled an insult at me and walked away. They continued their work with the sledge hammer.
Later, some other members of out team went out, passing through the army checkpoint nearest to our apartment, called Beit Romano. Beit Romano is named after the Jewish settlement that the army is there to protect. There they found a large group of detained Palestinian children. We do not know this for sure, but we guess that they randomly rounded up children in the Old City after the stone incident. The soldiers threatened the CPTers with arrest if they stayed. There was also a group of settlers there, watching the whole thing. Once the CPTers moved out of view of the settlers, the soldiers stopped threatening. A little while later, the children were released. We do not know if it was because we were there.
Yesterday we went out to the checkpoint again because we learned that among a large group of Palestinian detainees was Atta, a longtime friend of the team. The soldiers routinely stop and search any man who looks under 35. The search often includes making them raise their shirts to expose themselves in some way. Atta had refused to submit to this, so they detained him. In the entire time I have been in Palestine, only one weapon has been found on someone going through Beit Romano, and it was a knife, probably not going to be used as a weapon at all.
Also yesterday, the police went to Tuwani and threatened my teammates there with arrest for helping to work on building a medical clinic. The villagers had repeatedly applied for a permit to build, but Israeli civil authorities refused to accept their application. Then, about 10 days ago, the civil authorities granted verbal permission for them to build, but would not put it in writing. Now yesterday the police came and took everyone's IDs and threatened them with arrest. Only the settlers from Ma'on could have called the police. So the police are this responsive to settlers calling, but have done nothing about the settler attacks on us. Eventually the civil authority was called, and he again told the police that Tuwani could build the clinic. The police let everyone go, but told them they could not work on the clinic or they would be arrested.
So, who is in charge? Israeli civil authorities, or settlers? We think it is the settlers, who in fact act like armed paramilitary groups making their own rules. The army and police are afraid of them. Obviously, so are the Palestinians. Settlers control about half of the land inside the green line, meaning inside the borders of the occupied territories, and continue to illegally grab more. We read in the newspaper this morning that Sharon's government is negotiating with the US over dismantlement of illegal settlement outposts, like the one that my attackers came from, and they have agreed to leave large settlement areas alone for the time being. Meaing they will not dismantle them. So you can see how much influence the US government has over this situation. Our government pretty much controls it.
I have been wondering lately how many Israeli citizens vote in our elections. I have come across soldiers and settlers who are American. The Haaretz reporter who interviewed me was from Florida, and she talked openly about voting. The last time I was at the consulate there were several groups of Israeli citizens applying for US social security benefits, because they are also US citizens.
With respect to my case, if we want to call it that, I believe that the US Consulate is pressuring the police to act, but is not getting anywhere. I spoke to the consular official yesterday, and he told me he met with the police on Friday, and the police told him that they do not have the time to pursue this investigation. Notice that they had the time to threaten CPTers and Palestinians with arrest for building a medical clinic. An important fact is that these police officers are based at a station located inside another settlement, Kiryat Arba, on the outskirts of Hebron. Kiryat Arba is the oldest Jewish settlement inside the occupied territories. They tell us now that the investigation has been shifted to Shin Bet, Israeli intelligence. We do not yet know what they will do. I think that pressure has to be placed on the Israelis at a much higher level before anyone will act, and we are working with some members of Congress to get that to happen.
I do not know if it will do any good, because it seems that too many people are too invested in keeping the truth about the settlements from getting out. I think that if most Americans knew the extent of the violence and human rights abuses against Palestinians perpetrated by the settlements, then they would be outraged and would not want their tax dollars used to fund it. Tomorrow I go back to Tuwani for the first time since the attack. I will only go for the day, for a team meeting. I cannot yet stay there, because I cannot use what we call the squatty potties and I cannot yet sleep on the floor, because of my knee. But I am walking pretty well, so I can now do most of the things I was doing before. Not ready for a bike ride yet, but I hope to be sometime soon.
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