Harel on the arrest of Israeli peace activists in Hebron

[idontwantaname]

The isolation of the residents of Hebron - a tactic to break their spirit By Yehudith Harel
Occupation Magazine
22 May 2005

Translated by Mark Marshall

Hebrew original:
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=3323>http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=3323

translation also on Occupation Magazine:
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=3395>http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=3395

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Yesterday, Saturday 21 May 2005, there was a report in the media that
the attempt of Israeli peace activists to carry out a solidarity
visit to residents of the Old City of Hebron, at the invitation of
the latter, encountered energetic and violent opposition from the
army. In the face of the steadfast effort of the peace activists to
enter the city of Hebron and to visit the Palestinian residents and
to hear what they had to say, many activists were arrested and many
others were forced to slip away like thieves in the night. Needless
to say, if they had been settlers from Beit Hadassah or Tal Rumeida
or their friends and relatives, they would have gone in without any
trouble, and on the main road, and even maybe accompanied by an
(unreliable) honour guard from the army to defend them from any harm.
Only the indigenous residents of Hebron, those who have lived there
for generations, are forbidden to invite friends. Only they are
forbidden to live normal lives, to open their shops, to walk around
the market and to go in and out of the lanes of the Old City to their
hearts' content, without passing military checkpoints and inspection
stations and revolving iron "carousels" as the frightening barrels of
rifles are pointed at them through slits in military positions set up
at the entrances to the alleys.

<snip>

The question was asked, why was it so important for the military
authorities to prevent a visit of Israelis to the place? Why does the
army take such an active hand in isolating the Palestinian residents
of Hebron? Why does it bother the military authorities so much that a
group of Israeli peace activists carries out a visit to Palestinian
families who invited them to go there? It is not reasonable to assume
that the army hopes thereby to prevent information on what is being
done in Hebron from leaking out - after all, these days, thanks to
the Internet, it is impossible to keep the situation "secret." I
can't come up with any other explanation than that the authorities
are working together with the settlers to embitter the lives of the
Palestinian residents so that they will reach a state of such utter
despair that they will leave.

Thus I am of the view that the forbidding of a solidarity visit by
Israeli peace activists constitutes another imbecilic step in the
attempt to isolate the residents of Hebron and to abuse them with a
clear goal: to make them despair and cause them to leave their homes
and to clear the place out for the settlers who thirst for expansion.