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Hi again to you all!
I have just spent a night with a family whose
house is threatened with demolition. Their main fault seems to be
to live next to one of the largest and most extremist settlements
in the West bank, called Kiryat Arba near Hebron. It was from this
settlement that a settler, Baruch Goldstein, entered the famous
Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron in 1994 and killed 29 Palestinians,
and wounded many more, as they were praying. For security reasons
these houses are slated to be leveled to give the settlers there
a clear security zone. If past patterns are followed this security
zone will later be part of the settlement's expansion plans.
As I spent time with the family I heard an incredible
stories about the trials of living up close to this Jewish settlelement.
What made this so moving was that these peolple were telling stories
that had happened to them personally, and in many cases they had
the scars to prove it! A sampling of what I heard: One house was
set on fire while 20 people were sleeping in it. the house was gutted
and needed to be redone. One man has been attacked three times by
settlers with stones - once while he was driving his car (soldiers
had to take him to the hospital as he was unconscious), and another
time he was sitting with his wife taking tea. Attacks of innnocents
seems to be common. One young man was captured and driven to Nablus
in a jeep with a soldiers boot on his neck all the way, and cigarettes
were put out on his skin. After 15 days in Nablus the charges against
him (taking part in a demonstration) were found to be false. It
seems that he was considered guilty until proven innocent.
Perhaps the most touching stories are those that
affects the children. One house was attacked by gunfire. While this
was happening one of the young girls (3 1/2 yrs old) cried incessantly.The
next day when she saw a soldier she stated to scream again. She
is a beautiful little girl with lovely dark eyes. Unfortunately
she will carry a deep fear within her for a long time to come.
The amazing thing is that during the late supper
meal with four French volunteers and I, we were treated to a warm
communal meal and a loving family atmosphere that it seems to me
is becoming rarer in our Western societies.
As light ray of hope is that these families cases
which are now before the high court has been delayed indefinitely,
so thay have been given some respite on the demolition orders for
now.
The next day we went ot a fertile valley near Hebron
which is on the other side of the Kiryat Arba settlement. This is
an agricultural zone that has seen slow encroachment on Palestinian
vineyards. Groups of settlers have taken to walking among the vineyards
to intimidate the Palestinian workers. (All settlers can legally
be armed, but for Palestinians being armed would be illegal). Vast
tracts of land have been confiscated around Palestinain homes, so
that heir houses are now surrounded by Israeli controlled land.
A paved Israeli highway runs right through the middle of all this
and Palestinian vehicles are not allowed on this highway. They need
to be content with dirt roads often running parallel to the highway.
Huge mounds of dirt, called mashoms have been erected to prevent
Palestinian access to these highways. We saw one instance where
the Palestinians had removed the mashom and their trucks were entering
the highway. Earlier an Isareli military jeep had come and shot
out the tires of the Palestinian trucks.
One of the Palestinians had a comment about the
proposed US Raodmap to peace. "If the roadmap does not change
all these oppresive conditions on the ground, then it will be nothing
more that bullshit!"
After all this, a bit of happy news! Neta had
her baby on Apr. 6 - a little girl named Nawal. The extended family
in Nablus is delighted and are all pluging in to help her with the
new arrival. George, who was with her during her Canada tour is
getting married at the end of May in Jerusalem. Many of us are hoping
to get to the wedding. Despite lots of legitimate scepticism, I
still hope that the roadmap to peace might be made to work. However
as the Palestinian farmer said, if the oppression and low level
warfare against the Palestinian people does not stop, there will
be little grassroots support here for the US roadmap process. We
will not cease hoping or labouring for peace, Eric
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