from the diary I am given to read in Hebron, that I found so sickening.
Today in Tel Rumeda, a focal point for Settler aggression to Palestinian citizens, Isreali Defence Forces were giving tours of the Security facilities to armed Settlers.
This occurred only one day after the IDF had to defend members of the Knesset on a visit to Tel Rumeda from these same Settlers. The first party of Settlers were filmed entering the cabin of the Checkpoint at the bottom of Shuhadda street. They were allowed inside the cabin to observe Palestinians pass through metal detectors. Many of the Palestinians had to remove their trouser belts and expose their abdomen while these Settlers were allowed observe. The Settlers were then shown the internal workings of the checkpoint metal detector and communications equipment by an IDF soldier. The Settlers themselves do not have to use this checkpoint having free access to Tel Rumeida elsewhere in Hebron. When asked to comment, the Hebron Army branch of the IDF said they ‘would look into the matter’. Only two hours after this incident, another group of Orthodox Jews were brought to the same checkpoint, again brought inside the checkpoint cabin and again observed Palestinians dressing and undressing. The presence of both parties was not hidden. Palestinians leaving the checkpoint merely had to look through the cabin window to see the Settlers or Orthodox Jews behind the counter. This humiliating and intimidating experience again typifies the local IDF’s attitude of Settler Accomadation at any cost and their total incapacity to deal with the Palestinian community in Tel Rumeida with any understanding.
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1230
Two ISMers walking down Shuhhadah street observed five very small children throwing
Settler children. Several army personnell were nearby but did not intervene until
they observed ISMers approach. They were then shooed away by the army but were not remprimaded.
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1235
A party of isrealis passed through palestinian land at the back of the community centre accompanied by the police.
The local residents were quite upset at this uninvited intrusion, they had not been informed. I rang the police desk and was told that they should go to the police station and make a complaint. The residents declined saying that the all of their previous complaints were ignored.
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Four to five soldiers found sleeping in stairwell of palestinian house. This house lies right next to the checkpoint at the bottom of the hill of shuhaddah street. It is entered by the stairwell next to the checkpoint. The soldiers were occupying the first floor lobby. a family still live in this building. i approached the CO and asked him what right the military had to possess this house and to show me documentation such as a military order to show that this house had been possessed by the military and he was unable. He spoke to his commander who told him to call the police. The police man took my passport and accused me of making trouble for the soldiers. i told him i was merely asking them questions. he asked me if i had entered the house and i said i had as i had not been shown any documentation to say this was a military area. he said he would arrest me if he saw me again. i told him i understood his threat and said i would happily submit to his arrest if i had broken any Israeli law. however if i had not broken any law i would fight his arrest and he would again be laughed out of court as had happened recently. he then said he would detain me and again i told him i would happily be detained if i had commited a crime otherwise i would sue him. he then twice told me he was not my friend. This upset me greatly.
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A new army battalion is being trained in. they are roaming freely into and behind many of the houses behind shuhaddah street. They are having difficulty operating the sliding doors of the checkpoint. they are searching the bags of most people that pass through the CP however they do not hold anybody up for longer than a couple of seconds.
Four ISM acrivists arrested illegaly in Tel Rumeda
8/11/05
Circumstances
21:26
An ISM volunteer from Great Britian went meet two volunteers of the Hebron project and were asked by approximatly eight IDF sodliers to show passports at a mobile patrol near the shop at the top of Shaddah street. The entire party of volunteers willing showed passports and informed the IDF that passports could be read but that they were not entitled to confiscate the passports.
Whilest being shown the passports were snatched from the hands of two of the volunteers. While these passports were taken, the ISM volunteer informed the Israeli police to ask for a police presence and inform them that passports had been taken. The passports were kept for a number of minutes and then returned seperatly.
While the ISM volunteer held his passports, it was snatched from his hand a second time, checked again for several minutes and returned.
At this time, it was agin pointed out the illegality of passport confiscation after which was snatched a third time. The ISM volunteer had his arms twisted behind his back and was bound with plastic tape and forcibly placed into a military jeep. The ISM volunteer was not informed of why he was detained.
By this time a six other ISM volunteer. A volunteer from Canada, questioned why the first volunteer had been detained and was not given any explanation from the soldiers or the company commander.
Whilest objecting to the unlawful detention, this activist was detained by the army and again not informed of why he was being detained.
The police then arrived. They were asked to adress the issue of the first ISMer’s detention and were given an incomplete story by the army in which it was said that he did not provide his passport. The volunteer from canada was then asked to show his passport by the police officer and it was snatched from his grip. He was then arrested and dragged forcibly into the police vehicle. the army then instructed the police to arrest him and he was informed that he was under arrest for obstructing a military operation.
A third ISMer from scandinavia who was filming the proceeding was dragged to the back of one of the military vehicle. He asked why he why he was being detained. he was asked to produce his passport by the police and did so informing the police officer that it could not be confiscated. The police informed him that he wished to check the passport and was told that there was no need for confiscation of the passort to check. the police then said that he must either surrender his passport at that time or go to the police station and have it done there. He informed the officer that both of these options were illegal. The police then informed him that he was being arrested for interrupting a military operation and he was placed in a police vehicle.
The police officers were then informed that although the ISMer from Great Britian was arrested on the grounds that he had not given his passport, it was pointed out to the police officer that the passport was in possesion of the IDF. He was asked if he was arresting this volunteer on these grounds, the police officer said he was bringing the volunteer to the station ‘for a chat’. When informed that this was obviously unecessary, he was informed that he was now under arrest. No charge was made.
A fourth ISMer who had taken over filming was then informed that she too was under arrest. She was not informed of why. She was instructed to enter a military vehicle and informed them that she could only be tranferred to the police station in a police vehicle as she was concerned for her safety in an IDF vehicle. After a period of arguement she was manhandled into the military vehicle and was accompanied by a police officer.
The event ended at approximatly 22:00
9/ 11/05
Update
Morning patrol. No problems reported.
Border police and Police officer waiting for ISMers outside their accomadation and requested to produce passports. Did so without incident.
Afternoon school patrol. No settler volience reported. Numersous settlers walking along Shhadda street some carrying automatic weapons.
Afternoon.
14:00 Young palestinian citzen was detained at the Tel Rumeda checkpoint by IDF and was touched in face by soldier in Armoured car. He was detained for over fifteen minutes without any obvious reason.
15:05 Young palestinian boy detained by border police. He was seperated from his fellow detainees and questioned by two border policemen one of whom identified himself as ‘Shimon’, the leader of the patrol. The ISMer intervened and asked the Border police why it was necessary to question a palestinian citzen in such an intimidatory manner and was told that this is what they were trained to do. The Palestinian was quickly released.
16:15 Two ISMers observing the Tel Rumeda checkpoint were verbally abused by Border Police. The Border Police leader named Shimon made lewd comments to one of the ISMers such as
‘You are virgin?’ and ‘You want to met for night with Predator.’
He also told the ISMers that ‘you should have been here at the Intifada, we could do anything,’
10 Noveber 2005 Thursday
Morning school patrol
Two ISMer’s standing at the school steps were asked to move away by a police officer who claimed they were congregating and obstructing traffic. These steps lead up to path across to the Palestinian school. It is at the bottom of these steps that the palestinian children are most at risk from settlers throwing stones. In moving away the ISMers, the policeman was deliberatly leaving them exposed to settler’s aggression. The ISMers argued this point. The police officer insisted that they move to higher up the path and further up the road. TIPH arrived and were permitted to stand at the foot of the steps.
Afternoon shcool patrol
No problems observed
Afternoon Patrols
Multiple settler walk throughs (meaning walks from Tel Rumeda to Bayt Hadassa) all carrying automatic weapons. Settler children also walked through and verbally abused all palestinians they met on the road and all internationals.
13 nov 05
sabbath
no major problems
14 nov 05
one incident of settler children preparing to throw stone at palestinian girls at quertaba school. Dropped when approached by ISMer and soldier. Of note this occured at seven in the morning, before either TIPH or EAPPI had arrived.
16/11/20005
12:00 hrs
SETTLERS MARCH TO PALESTINIAN SCHOOL
A radical settler group let by Nadia Matter performed a march down Shuhaddah street this afternoon with the deliberate intention of intimidating palestinian children and any Palestinian adults they met along the way. This street has been a focal point of Settler violence toward Palestinians. It runs through the Palestinian area and joins two of Hebron’s more notorious settlements, Tel Rumeda and Beit Hadasa. Settlers wish to possess it. Every business on this once prosperous street has been closed and only eleven of the fifty two families remain. Most of the shop fronts have been daubed with stars of David and racist graffti such as the statement ‘Arabs for the gas chambers’. These marchers timed their protest to arrive at Quertaba school when Palestinian children were due to leave. They surrounded the bottom of the stone steps which is the only way for the children to leave their school which does not put them in direct confrontation with local settlers. Fortunatly, teachers in the school were informed and held the children back. The children had to remain in the school for a twenty minutes until the local army arrived. The children were obviously quite terrified when saw this mob at the bottom of the steps and many were reluctant to leave. They had to be escorted through the mob by Human Rights Observers. The marchers carried Isreali flags and orange antidisengagement flags and yelled and screamed at both Human Rights Observers and Palestinian children. The Tel Rumeda Police observed the scene from an armoured van and did not intervene in any way to ensure the safe passage of the Palestinian children.
When it was explained that the Human Rights Observers that they were there to escort the children to school, they were told that they were escorting terrorists to school. The following are a number of comments made by these marchers to Human Rights Observers;
‘Wait unitil the Intifada begins in France and Switzerland.’
‘All these children are terrorists.’
‘You are the collaberating with the Palestinian Authority.’
‘Kill all Arabs,’ yelled repeatedly by one particular person seen in the below photo wearing a green pullover.
‘These children learn arithmitic, english and terrorism in school.’
‘This is our land.’
‘There is no Palestine.’
‘They should all f-off to Saudi Arabia.’
‘There is a place for all Arabs and it is called Hell. There is a place for you there.’
‘You have the blood of the Jews on your hands.’
When the children and the teachers passed down the steps, comments were addressed to the Palestinian children in a similarly aggressive manner with marchers reaching past Human Rights Observers to scream at the children. Each of the forty or so children or teachers had to pass through this gauntlet of abuse before escaping to Shuhaddah The marchers dispersed into the Beit Hadassa settlement when there were no more children left to abuse.
otherwise nothing else to report
19/11/05
Sabbath
Large No’s of Settlers and Orthodox Jews about some groups containing up to thrity people. They walked up to Tel Ruimeda in the early afternoon and back an hour or two later.
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14:50
Small fight broke out between three settler girls and two palestinian girls. Broken up quickly by nearby IDF soldier.
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15:30
Orthodox Jews surround ISMer and scream profanities. Multiple incidents also occured when orthodox jews who seemed to have been incited by settler lectures/ tour leaders to abuse ISMers. They gathered in large numbers around ISMer for over quarter an hour and abused them and three to four Palestinians who walked passed. They made machine gun noises at an old man and walked quickly and in a provocative manner toward an elderly woman with the aim of fightening her.
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16:45
ISMer stoned by settler children. IDF did not intervene until persuaded by ISMer.
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Palestinian Girl held for carrying Palestinian Flag
A thirteen year old school girl was today prevented from passing through a checkpoint because she had a key chain with a ring attached that showed a small Palestinian flag, (see photo below). She is the daughter of a local schoolteacher and passes through this checkpoint twice per day to get from school from home. This checkpoint was at the bottom of Shuhaddah street in Hebron, a checkpoint designed primarily to inconvenience the palestinian population in the H1 area of Hebron because their houses are coveted by the notorious Settler population of Tel Ruimeda and Beit Hadassa. The girl was held at the checkpoint for over three quarters of an hour becasue she refused to hand over the key chain to a soldier who wished to confiscate it. She later fled the checkpoint rather than go through and hand it over. This same soldier, because a Human Rights Observer (HRO) questioned the legality and propriety of his decision told the HRO that he would punish her by making all the Palestinians in the checkpoint queue wait longer, a threat which he carried out. The army DCO were informed and stated that they would look into the matter. When a Palestinian lawyer asked him why he was making such ridiculas decisions about the Palestine key chain, the soldier screamed at him, telling him ‘that there is no Palestine, that such flags were illegal in Israel, that Israel is the home of the Jews’.
this chap will definetly be trouble in the future, he is small slender, wears the little hat and has a long jewish looking face. he is an NCO/CO of some sort judging from the flashes on his shoulder. he is spiteful and vindictive.
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Regular army soldier points lazer sight at ISMer and runs it from his forehead down his neck, chest and between his legs. he had no reason to do this as the ISMer was in plain sight and had only a few minutes earlier given his passport to the police. The ISMer plans to make a complaint to the Army about the incident
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Settler Children break Windows while IDF looks on.
20 Nov 05
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14:30
Today on Shuhaddah street, an IDF soldier looked on while settler children took several minutes taking careful aim at one of the last remining glass panes on this street.
Initially Human Rights Observers (HROs) did not intervene in the hope that this soldier from the current new battalion might act but he did not. When HRO’s did intervene, the soldier came up the street to intimidate the HRO’s while these children continued to break windows. Indeed the children took the oppertunity to throw rocks at the HRO’s over the soldiers head. He continued to refuse to move the children and after yelling at HRO’s to shut up, he returned to his post. The HRO’s called the police who arrived as the children fled. They chastised the soldier but did not attempt to question any Settlers or their children.
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21st November
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14:40
Border Police setting off fireworks near the checkpoint on two occasions even when accompanied by a police officer. Set off fireworks near two Palestinian women. Set off by CO, a fair haired well built young guy of about twenty five. this guy speaks good english and probably reasonable arabic and appears to be reasonably intelligent. He is however an unpredictable sadist who torments palestinians when bored.
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