Fighting Between Palestinians
3 Nov
There has been a lot of fighting between Palestinians in Hebron in the last few weeks. Most of it has been a feud between two large families, the al-Jabari family and…………. Every week a couple of people die. Last week a group attacked the Palestinian police and wounded three officers. All the men in that whole family were rounded up. I was standing at the Crossing near Tel Rumeida settlement when we heard gunfire very close by. It is not easy to tell the difference between gunfire and fireworks which go off all the time. Also there is often a lot of celebratory shooting of guns at weddings. This time the soldiers next to me started to run around in a panic so I was pretty sure it was gunfire. Six settlers mobilised very fast and appeared with guns in front of the settlement. They ran up the stairs to the military observation post on the Abu Haikal land. Soldiers ran up the stairs amongst the Palestinian houses. Obviously none of them knew the area at all as you can see nothing from there. I walked around the houses and up the hill to see what was going on. On the way I met a Palestinian I knew coming down. He told me to keep away as there was shooting just over the hill on the other side of the concrete blocks in the Palestinian controlled zone. I came back down and told the soldier that the fighting was between Palestinians and not in Tel Rumeida. He kept getting me to repeat the name of the area where the fighting was happening, Wad al Hariya and was trying to repeat it into his radio. Then he got a nearby Palestinian to repeat it for him. A few minutes later he called me over to repeat it again. I’m glad we are not depending on the Israeli army to protect us. They obviously don’t have a clue what is going on or where they are stationed ! The settlers were pretty clueless too, running in a tight bunch up to the most exposed spot, all in white shirts. After a while the settlers relaxed and went back to the settlement. A few militia vehicles drove around to check the area.
We have not seen any fighting at all in Tel Rumeida, thanks be to God. All the Palestinians here are very peaceful. There have not been any real threats to the settlements in years.
