Hebron: On Shabbat Kodesh, a commandment to go beating with the Palestinians
I was born here and I’ll die here, but meanwhile I live in prison.
Last Saturday clashes occurred between settlers and Palestinian residents of Tel Romeida that lasted for four hours. The settlers claimed that a boy was beaten in a fight that occurred between him and a Palestinian boy.
The Sabbath is supposed to be a holy day, but that did not deter the settlers from gathering from all over the old city and going up to Tel Romeida. The regulations against large gathering due to COVID-19 were useless. They were looking for revenge. They turned over garbage cans and shouted at Palestinians and blocked the road so that the police would not be able to come and help.
The few soldiers who were at the checkpoints did not succeed in protecting the Palestinians and were also beaten. It all began at about 15:00 in the afternoon and ended at 19:00 without any arrests taking place. The soldiers protected the settlers.
Today we cane to listen to the story and met Bassem A.A. at the grocery store. Bassem is the 60-year-old mayor [mukhtar] or the neighborhood. He showed me bruises on his chest that he received from the butts of the soldiers’ rifles who made him leave the area. The settlers attacked homes from the checkpoint near the Chabad cemetery up to homes near the policeman’s checkpoint.
Men, women, and children were all standing in the street.
Bassem explained, “I was born here and I’ll die here, but meanwhile I’m in prison here.”
Meanwhile Anat Cohn, the leader of the settlers in Hebron, arrived and continued to talk about how I was a traitor and Arab-lover.
Bassem explained that his family had been in contact with the Ezra family in Hebron since 1929, when they rescued them [from the riots] and they had been friendly with several other families. Pointing to Anat, he explains that this is no longer possible, and these people only want to evict them.
While we were talking Bassem’s 85-year-old father arrived and Bassem spoke about how difficult it was to get around in the neighborhood that is closed between checkpoints.
Bassam and his family were sheep merchants. This is now impossible because of the checkpoints.
I am broken-hearted, and all we can do is bear testimony and tell the story. The worst thing of all is that all this was done in my name…