Al Khalil (Hebron)

June 23, 2007

It's hot today. 45 degrees celcius. But very dry.

We travel as a group with George (siraj center george) to Al Khalil. We see the settlements on the way. Once again huge fortresses that look just like new subdivisions in California. The settlements have created a new road that will eventually cut off Palestinians from getting to Al Khalil without going either some other way or opening a checkpoint. I'm not clear on which exactly. Either way, it makes life that much harder. We visit TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron) which was agreed upon by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority in 1997 (date?) and they report back to their countries (Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Italy and Turkey) on all breaches of international law but are not mandated to act. They do however try to help the community by bringing supplies to schools and subsidizing grain, etc. They try to make themselves known in the community. Nevertheless, after the Danish cartoons came out, (January 2006) about 200 school kids attacked the headquarters, breaking windows and causing other damage.

Al Khalil has a population of 170,000. About 400-600 (?) are Jewish settlers but this small population ends up taking over a great area of the city. The main road is almost entirely devoid of commercial activity and many of the people have moved out because of harassment. The TIPH has documented about 13,000 incidents since 1997 (about 4 per day). Most of the town is Hamas but they have a Fatah governor and major. Mostly family clans are more important here than political parties. Police are almost useless in comparison to the power the families wield. The police are unarmed (on orders from the Israeli government). The family leaders are armed. Mafia style all the way.

There was a small population of Jews living peacefully with Arabs in Al Khalil prior to a massacre in 1929 in which 69 Jewish inhabitants were killed (by outside perpetrators). Jewish settlers returned later in 1968... but they were not the same families.

On February 25, 1994, Baruch Goldstein (from New York) killed 29 worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque as they prayed. He was later killed by surviving worshippers. He (and the settlers in Hebron) subscribe to the Kach ideology which states that the whole of the land of Israel/Palestine/whateveryouwishtocallthisland must be devoid of Arabs (and other foreignors) and only populated by Jews for the messiah to come.

There are checkpoint to get into the Old City and to the Ibrahimi Mosque. Our guide forgot his ID so he does not come with us into the Old City. This area is labeled "H2" and is in the center of the city, where most economic activity was in the past. Now with the checkpoints and the driving away of the Arab population it is almost a ghost town with the exception of a few streets. Since the second Intifada in 2000, 1,829 Palestinian shops have been closed and 1,014 Palestinian housing units vacated. The Arabs live on the first level, with Israeli settlers in the upper levels. There is mesh drapings above the walkways (over the first floor) and we are told by the TIPH observers that the settlers often throw things down on the people and the mesh is to protect. Often the TIPH workers are doused with water from above. We are told to walk fast under these.