Deacon Dave in Hebron, Palestine

Two men were detained by soldiers at the crossing in Tel Rumeida at around 6.15. they were Marwan Jamjun and Imad Jamjun, brothers visiting relatives in Tel Rumeida. One had
recently had surgery and they were in a hurry. They argued with the soldiers
who tried to detain them. For this reason they were both blindfolded and
handcuffed and had their heads beaten against the wall of an appartment
building. They were held for an hour until I arrived and
called the police, who arrived and took them both away.

Two other men were taken away by soldiers in the direction of the army camp in

Report by ISM
for video go to:
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/10/06/settlers-attack-human-right...

The final day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot descended into violence in Tel Rumeida, Hebron on Thursday, as a group of settlers attacked local Palestinians and two international Human Rights Workers (HRWs). At approximately 1:45pm a large group of settlers, many heavily intoxicated, marched their way up through the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood shouting abuse at the Palestinian residents. Two international HRWs were at the scene documenting the harassment when the settler leading the march shouted to the crowd that the internationals were, “worse than the Arabs”. A stone was then thrown at one of the HRW’s as the settler crowd became increasingly aggressive.

Report by ISM
for video go to:
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/10/08/boy-is-physically-harassed-...

A local boy has been detained and later arrested by the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) on this day in Tel Rumeida, Hebron, for carrying a bag containing a drawn swastika as well as drawings of weapons and Hamas; pictures of weapons were also supposedly found in the boy’s backpack. The incident began at approximately 1:30 p.m. when two soldiers, at the checkpoint below the illegal settlement of Tel Rumeida, found a swastika drawn on the boy’s backpack. After questioning him and taking his backpack, the boy was told by the soldiers to come back with his parents.

Two days before Yom Kippur police rounded up all the internationals on the streets and told us there was a new military order restricting us from being on the streets in all of H2 (the Israeli controlled zone) and some of the Old City. My friend Inspector Ilan Malke produced the relevant document with a blurry map showing the area covered. He was very nervous and refused to negotiate anything. He agreed that since we live he we had the right to be here but refused to specify exactly where we could and could not go. We figured we were only really being restricted from Shuhada St and Tel Rumeida; the streets the settlers use. Sure enough we had no trouble anywhere else. The reason given for the restriction was that we provoke settlers with our cameras !

One of the first things that struck me coming back is that the policing seems to have improved. Reem Sharif, the principal of Qurdoba School confirmed this. There are police on duty every morning near the school and she has the private number of Inspector Ilan Malke if she has any concerns.

I met Inspector Malke the last time I was here. He is from Montreal Canada and was new to Kiryat Arba Police. He assured me that he was implementing changes and that policing would improve and be much fairer to Palestinians. I have to say I did not believe him as I had been told similar stories by police officers before and have hardly ever seen a settler arrested no matter what crimes they commit.

I am extremely happy to announce my engagement to be married to Arwa Abu Haikal. I had to organise a delegation of men to visit her father at his house last night. There we were met by all the men of the extended family. Refreshments were served, there were brief formalities and much conversation. When we recited al Fatiha together the engagement became official. My good friend Sheikh Abdul-Aziz came from Jerusalem and stayed for supper with the men of the immediate family afterwards. Arwa and I never actually got to see each other at all. I was extremely nervous but as it turned out there was no reason to be.

Every day in Tel Rumeida is crazy. Palestinians experience constant harassment
from soldiers, police and settlers. Saturday was Hebron Day for the Israelis.
12,000 came to visit the settlements. It was a REALLY crazy day. A Swedish
woman is in hospital with a broken cheekbone. She was hit by a settler with a
bottle in the face. A Palestinian child of 3 years was bleeding heavily from a
stone in the head by a settler woman. I filmed a settler who was trespassing on
Palestinian land and trying to climb a wall into a Palestinian family house. He
attacked me and pushed me over a wall. I have 2 stitches in my head, a cut on

I arrived this afternoon in Tel Rumeida, Hebron. It is near to the Tomb of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives) There is a small illegal Jewish settlement of 500 people in the middle of a Palestinian neighbourhood. We had to pass through a check point to get to this street. Palestinian children get stoned and abused regularly on their way to school. Here is a recent film taken by members of ISM living here.

Israeli children atack Palestinians
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPXpL-Nydx4

Ramallah was very peaceful. We were in a mainly Christian quarter. I got to know quite a lot of muslims at the local mosque and met Father James at the Greek Orthodox Church. Every one agreed that relations between Muslims and Christians have always been good. Father James said that with the recent rise of Islamic fundamentalism he has often been abused by children who are now being taught intolerance.