Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical initiative to support violence reduction efforts around the world. To learn
more about CPT's peacemaking work, you can visit their website at: http://www.cpt.org.
I support the Christian Peacemaker Terms through the Mennonite Church of Canada,
600 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg MB R3P 0M4
My first cousin, Bob Holmes, is a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team currently stationed in Hebron. He has been in Iraq too. Here is a communication from him.
Saturday 8 November
On morning school patrol 3 Palestinian schoolboys came running around the corner chased by 8 Israeli settler kids who were
throwing stones at them. Mary and I intervened and the settler kids stopped the chase but not the throwing, at which point
the Palestinian kids stopped too and began throwing rocks back. Mary and I herded the Palestinian boys towards their
school and soon Israeli soldiers arrived and disarmed the settler kids. The soldiers didn't make the settler kids leave, so for
about 15 minutes many small Palestinian girls and boys were afraid to pass the crowd of soldiers and settler kids. Mary and I
were able to shepherd most through.
In the afternoon we traveled to Jerusalem where we joined 7 busloads of Israelis and Internationals going to Palestinian East Jerusalem. There we met several hundred Palestinians and together demonstrated our opposition to the Wall being built to separate East Jerusalem from the West Bank. East Jerusalem (considered the capital of Palestine) will be in Israel and inaccessible from the Palestinian areas of the West Bank
We could see bulldozers and Israeli soldiers on a hill where the wall is to be built and below a long row of concrete wall segments, each 8 metres high, awaiting placement. As we approached the wall segments onions were handed to us (in case of tear-gas). However the Israeli soldiers kept their distance. Next, spray cans were handed out and the soon-to-be wall was liberally painted with graffiti in Hebrew, Arabic, English, French, Swedish, etc. demanding "No New Berlin Wall," "Stop the Prison/Ghetto Wall," "End the Apartheid Wall." The witness against the wall ended with speeches. There was excellent media coverage and pictures in the Israeli and Arabic press the next day. The CPT team stayed overnight in Jerusalem and attended Church on Sunday morning before returning to Hebron. http://www.stopthewall.org/
Monday 10 November
After school patrol Chris, Gary and I joined the Sharaboti family harvesting olives on Tel Rumeida. Tel Tumeida is the
archeological site of the Hebron of Abraham's day. There is an Israeli settlement there. It began as a group of trailers on a
small piece of land, but they have built a 4 story apartment building on the site (defying the orders of the Israeli Courts
which wants the site preserved). Picking olives close to any settlement is dangerous because the settlers frequently attack the
Palestinian farmers claiming the area for themselves. There was no harassment this day, but uphill from us we noticed 2
Israeli settlers harvesting the olives from a tree that belongs to another Palestinian family.
Tuesday 11 November
Seventeen folk from the UK arrived in Hebron for a CPT tour. Traveling from Bethlehem required 3 taxis and a bus to
cover a distance of 20 km - such is the cantonization of the Palestinian homeland. It is good for people to see first hand what
life is like under severe occupation. We have many groups come to Hebron for a look-see - over 100 this month already.
Wednesday 12 November
The team has been working with university students for some time planning a public conference on the new "Separation
Wall" Israel is constructing in the West Bank. A one hour powerpoint presentation on the wall in the north (about 1/3 built)
preceded a discussion of the expected route and effects of the wall in the Hebron district in the south.
Basically the wall is expected to enclose the heavily populated Palestinian areas thereby annexing the land to Israel but not the people. After the wall is completed 60% of the agricultural land of the Hebron district will outside the wall and therefore lost, including 80% of the livestock and 36% of the olive orchards. Palestinians living outside the wall will be pushed inside creating landless, homeless, poverty stricken internal refugees. This is already happening in the north of the West Bank. The West Bank water is already under total Israeli control - 50% is redirected to Israel, 32% goes to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and only 18% is available for Palestinian needs. It is also clear that a finger of the wall will reach right into downtown Hebron annexing the Old City, including the Ibrihimi Mosque and the Israeli settlements within it, to Israel. The goal of the Israeli government seems to be to create non-viable overpopulated ghettos for the Palestinians with the hope that they will choose to leave of their own accord. The conference was an educational success. Now it remains to see if the students, and the Palestinian people in general, can get mobilized.