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Greetings to you all!

Here is my first message from Hebron.

I arrived on Friday night in Jersusalem, and was greeted by Chris Brown, a CPTer who was there. He told me about his meetings with members of the Internatiojnal Solidarity Movement (ISM) who were still trying to process the the recent attacks on three of their members. One woman was bulldozed to death and two men have been shot in the head. One man is "brain dead"'` but in Israel there are reservations about releasing such people from life support systems, so he continues to be artificially kept alive.

While I was in Jerusalem I also met with Jeff Halper, the Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). There is some expectation and even more scepticism about the US Roadmap to peace in the Middle East which will be officially released when the new Palestiinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen and his new cabinet are installed.(expected within a week).

Jeff thinks that an effort must be made to work on this project. Learning from the failure of the Oslo Peace accord, he thinks that careful monitoring of the implemention by Israeli and Palestinian groups needs to done. If at any time it is seen that the implementation is not in accord with the written agreement, an alarm would be raised. Crucial to this is the formation of an international network that could influence their governments to pressure the parties involved to implement the roadmap fairly. The Roadmap after all was written up by an international body (the Quartet of the US, UN, EU and Russia). For this reason an Israeli Palestinian Working Group (IPWG) has been set up in Ottawa to work with the Canadian government.

Jeff has streessed that only if this accord is seen as a win-win situation will it have a chance of suceeding. Israel must be persuaded that it can bring lasting peace and security for them, the US must see it as necessary to reduce potential terrorist threats and Palestinian must see it as a way of finally giving protection for their citizens, stability and economic growth. Only a fair, balaced implementation of this roadmap peace plan could guarantee that the above objectives are achieved.

Here in Hebron we live in a divided city. Away from media attention, daily life goes on here in its own strange pattern. The CPT office is in the area called H2, which is controlled by the Isareli military because of the presence of four Jewish settlements in the midst of an Palestinian population. Slowly these settlemenst are expanding their influence and the Palestinian population is being harrased and are leaving. Today we met with directors of the local boys school whose enrolment has dropped from 630 to 360 in the last few yaers and the girls school enrolment has dropped from 560 to 450 within the last year. Every year more Palestinian shops close upand families move out Much of the old central town is beginning to look like a deserted ghost town.

How does the above phenomena happen? When I came here I was told that things are relatively quiet now in Hebron. However, a recent review of the local Arabic press reveals the following news: a young 9-year old boy who went outside to buy a candy during curfew last an eye when he was shot; a Palestinan is thrown from an Israeri jeep and is left to die; Palestians are regularly interrogated and beaten. There have also been attacks by Palestinians. Last year 12 settlers and police were killed in an ambush just outside of Hebron. There is a spiral of violence here that is based on the Israeli occupation of lands that contain huge Palestinain populations.

One of the issues that is concerning us is the threatened demolition of two houses (possibly more) that are not connected to any terrorist or violent groups, but they are built near a large settlement on the outskirts of Hebron (Kiryat Arba). The Isareli army wants these houses demolished for "security reasons", and the issue is presently before the Israeli courts. French volunteers are living with the threatened families. When and if any demolition actions begin, CPT and other groups will be called to be present.

This morning as is usual , we acompanied Palestinain children as they went to school. We were called to observe an incident at a military checkpoint. A young boy (8-9 yrs old) was stopped and he was having his school knapscak searched. After he was let go her went a wall and picked up a large rock and was ready to throw it at the armed soldier who was standing in front of him. Had he done so the results could have been disastrous. Forunately adults were present and persuded him to drop the stone. The very fact that the young boy even contemplated throwing the stone directly at the armed soldier shows the level of rage that existes here.

In the meantime we keep hoping. If ever a place needed peaceful resolution of conflict it is here.

Warm wishes to you all, Eric