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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