Hebron, Beit Omar, Halhul

> > Hebron ,Beit Omar and Halhul- January 15, 2004 8-12 AM > >Observers: Vivi S and Nina M> >Beit Omar 8-8:50AM: The village of 17000 people has just one entrance with Pill box controling the place. The other entrance near a cemetery was recently blocked with earth. CPT (Christian Peacemaker Team whom we met in Hebron) told us that just few days before elections a few Hammas members of the local council were detained by Israeli security forces. We were told that the army harasses the children that come from El Arub to school in Beit Omar and sometimes detains them for a couple of hours on their way to school.> >Hebron: 9-12 AM: Upon our inquiry at the entrance to Kiryat Arba if we are allowed to drive in, the guard told us very reassuringly: “ of course yes it is a democratic country”. > >We left our car at the Western gate and started to walk towards Abraham's Tomb. Just opposite this gate there was a settlers demonstration protesting Sharon's disengagement plan guarded by a single female soldier. We found it outrageous that this and all other soldiers whom we met every 50 meters are endangered so obviously for such an evil purpose. Along this rather long road leading to the Tomb, there are Palestinian houses with all shops closed. Terrible disgusting graffiti written in Hebrew appear together with Star of David on closed doors of Palestinian houses. Those houses are occupied by people, they are not abundant houses like in the Casba. When you see this graffiti you cannot fight with all difficult associations and in fact one should not repress those associations-you are in a Nazi land. Palestinians with whom we spoke told us that during Jewish holidays many houses along this road are occupied by the army. The whole family is squeezed in one room and soldiers use a whole house to secure a passage of Jewish worshipers on their way to Tomb. Palestinians suggested that we will stay till 4 pm. This is a time when Jewish young girls come to persecute Palestinian citizens. Settlers send their girls for this purpose because male soldiers are not allowed to deal with settler women. Palestinians showed us one of the houses (a new one, not in the Casba, near the second main road leading to Tomb ), which is in a process of being taken over by settlers- an Israeli flag and posters are placed on this house and those who inhabited this house cannot live there anymore. > >Soldiers are everywhere. Soldiers followed us with their jeep and were very happy to speak with us. One of them said that he would come to live in the Casba with great pleasure, because it is such a beautiful place. He said it is pity it is so dirty and Palestinian leadership does not improve infrastructure. “ Palestinians are jealous about high living standards in Kiryat Arba and therefore frustration is translated into violent terror.” We asked him if he is not afraid and he said that yes he is but somebody has to protect Jewish houses. A CPT member who met us and took us around showed us a lot of renovated houses in the Casba. These houses are renovated by German and other foreign foundations. Renovated houses are very nice but living conditions for Palestinians are just impossible because of constant harassment by settlers and the army and many houses are empty and just a few shops are open. A CPT member said that it is quite probable that eventually these houses will be taken over by settlers. > > >Halhul checkpoint:12:15 Hebron city (H-1 area) has 130000 inhabitants. They have just two entrances: one through Halhul bridge (Northern entrance) and another through Dura (Western entrance). Halhul checkpoint was completely empty and there were no soldiers around. > >