 In downtown Hebron, abandoned stalls line a former Palestinian commercial street alongside an Israeli settlement. The wire above the street protects Palestinians from garbage, bricks, and other debris thrown from the settlers above.. Photo: Steve Weaver |
Hebron – A Microcosm of the Occupation
Hebron finds itself in a uniquely challenging situation. It is the only city in the West Bank with Jewish settlements in its center. The measures taken by Israeli security forces to protect the several hundred settlers have had a profound impact on the lives of thousands of Palestinians. Parts of the city have been closed to Palestinians by military order. According to the Israeli agency B’Tselem 1,014 Palesintian housing units have been vacated and 1,829 Palestinian businesses closed due to the situation since 2000. The heart of Hebron, long a center of Palestinian commerce in the southern West Bank, has been turned into a ghost town. Walking around this area I saw razor wire, soldiers, roof top military posts, vandalism, wire caging for personal and property protection from violence, and abandoned shops, homes and streets. As one person said when I told them I was going to Hebron, “It is a cliché, but it is true, Hebron is a microcosm of the occupation and its impact.”
 Palestinian girls ascending a stairway to reach their school in downtown Hebron. An Ecumenical Accompanier watches to help insure their safety. A building of settlers is behind her. Photo: Steve Weaver |
Another reality for Palestinians living in the shadow of the settlers in Hebron is violence and intimidation. One of the primary responsibilities of the Ecumenical Accompaniers in Hebron – the reason EAPPI was invited to go to Hebron in the first place – is to make sure the students of the all-girls Cordoba School make it to and from school safely. The difficulty for the girls results from the school being adjacent to the Jewish settlement of Beit Hadassah. To get to school the girls must pass through a checkpoint, walk along an abandoned Palestinian street that is now a military zone, pass a military kiosk of armed Israeli soldiers, and finally pass within a hundred feet of the settlers’ residence. It is here, nearly at the school, that the girls are most at risk of intimidation and violence from the settlers. EAs position themselves at just inside the first check point and by the settlers’ residence.
I was shown a video from 2005 taken by an EA of a confrontation by young settler girls and boys. It started with verbal harassment and blocking of pathways, but quickly escalated to stone throwing and Palestinian girls cowering together as they try to descend a treacherous stairway. The soldiers positioned at the bottom of the stairs, after watching for some minutes, eventually intervened, but not before some of the girls fell down the stairs and were injured.
The international presence in Hebron provides a valuable role not only for the Palestinians it tries to assist, but by providing a source of information for the international community as well – information of about the daily violence and humiliation Palestinians confront as a result of the occupation.
For more information about EAPPI go to www.eappi.org.
For more about B’Tselem’s work in Hebron go to www.btselem.org/english/hebron.
Here are two excellent short videos from B’Tselem about Hebron:
www.btselem.org/english/Video/200705_Hebron_Introduction.asp
www.btselem.org/english/Video/20070411_Barred_from_Home.asp
Here is an issue of EAPPI's publication "Chain Reaction." (PDF File) See page 8 for a story about Cordoba School.