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Greetings to you all from Hebron in the West Bank,

I am very sad to report that hope for the implementation of the Roadmap to Peace in this part of the world is fading with each day!

Based on (1) what we have seen, (2) what our Israeli friends have been telling us and (3) what is being reported in the Israeli Haaretz newspaper, it is clear that SETTLER EXPANSION IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES IS NOW INCREASING.

All international parties related to the roadmap peace process should be alerted about the contradiction about public pronouncements on the "peace process" and the increased oppression towards the Palestinian people on the ground.

Yesterday we visited Mohammed whose house is near an expanding settlement. There have been violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers nearby. Mohammed's house is now under threat of demolition even though all sides admit that he is in no way connected to the violence. He is being constantly harrassed by soldiers. One day they entered his house three times to do complete searches of his house. They are especially targeting him at night so he finds it hard enough to get enough sleep. He was very exhausted as we spoke with him. As we talked together there was a constant roar of tanks and military jeeps as they tried to impose a curfew on the Muslim holiday in which the Prophet Mohammed's birthday was celebrated. In one convoy that went by there were 9 military jeeps guarding 4 settler cars. As we talked, Mohammed said "My home is my life. My children are here. Let them kill me if they want, but give me my home"!

Today we watched for 15-20 minutes as Israeli soldiers "searched" the knapsack of a little 8 year old schoolboy. The soldiers very slowly looked through all of his school books.The little boy stood there quite helpless during it all.

The pattern is so clear! We see it every day! Harrass, harrass, harrass the Palestinians until they give up and leave. If by chance they make any act of resistance to all of this, a military "security" zone is declared and the army moves in to take over the area.

Our own position as members of the Christian Peacemaker Team is also quite weak and fragile. For example we do not have the Arabic or Hebrew language skills that we should have. A few days ago a Palestinian grandmother came out of her house and tried to to tell us something. Finally today with the help of a translator we learned that during a house demolition in front of her house, her rainwater catchment cistern was broken. She will soon run out of water from the broken cistern. However, with all of her difficulties she could still invite us into her house and offer us coffee and hospitality.

We are here to report what we see. What we see is this: There is no evidence of any action by the Israeli government to promote the roadmap to peace. Instead all kinds of actions are being done to subvert the roadmap peace process. The roadmap process has become a fraud and a smokescreen to cover up what is really happening all over the the Occupied Territories. The whole world should know this!

Continuing to search for peace,

Eric