Tel Rumeida – Stones &
Struggle
By Joe Carr
3 September, 2005
The Tel Rumeida
neighborhood of Hebron is a major flashpoint of tension
between Palestinians and Israeli colonial settlers. Around
forty Israeli soldiers protect over sixty of the most racist
and violent of Israeli settlers, forcing over one thousand
Palestinians (whose families have lived in Tel Rumeida for
hundreds of years) to live in a virtual prison. Fences,
walls, and checkpoints block every entrance to Tel Rumeida,
and there are Israeli soldier posts throughout the
neighborhood. The closures make commerce virtually
impossible, and it is difficult for any non-residents to
visit their Tel Rumeida friends and family. Many families
have moved out for this reason alone.
Even more troublesome
than the constant prison-camp conditions are the fanatical
settlers who regularly harass and attack their Palestinian
neighbors. Palestinians live in a constant state of terror
from being beaten, stoned, robbed, and threatened with guns
but they refuse to be forced out of their homes or let it
interfere with their daily life.
Several international
activists from the Tel Rumeida Project (www.telrumeidaproject.org)
live fulltime in Tel Rumeida. They work with volunteers from
the International Solidarity Movement (www.palsolidarity.org),
Ecumenical Accompaniment Program for Palestine & Israel (www.eappi.org),
the Christian Peacemaker Teams (www.cpt.org),
and a variety of Israeli groups to accompany, document, and
physically intervene to deter Israeli attacks and pressure
authorities to better protect Palestinians and prosecute
criminal settlers. Israeli soldiers and settlers regularly
harass, threaten, intimidate, and stone the international
and Israeli activists, but Palestinian children say they now
feel safer playing outside their homes.
Even more encouraging,
is the potential for a progressive change in the climate.
Unlike other accompaniment groups, the goal of the Tel
Rumeida Project is to support and empower Palestinians as
they stand up against this colonial oppression.
For instance, last
Saturday we got a call that settler children were throwing
rocks at Palestinian passers-by. When we arrived, we found
five 9-13 year-old settler boys hanging out in the Israeli
military post. Palestinians immediately came out of their
houses to tell us how the settler boys had just stoned them
while the soldiers watched. The settler boys started
throwing more rocks, some from inside the military post, and
we began arguing with the soldiers that they should protect
the Palestinians (supposedly a part of their job). The
soldiers argued with each other about what to do while we
supported the Palestinians, including a mother and daughter,
as they confronted the settler boys. Palestinians yelled at
the settlers and soldiers for putting them through all this,
and the Israelis were visibly intimidated. More settler
children came out and began throwing stones, so we stood in
front of the Palestinians. I got hit pretty hard in the leg,
but the soldiers started trying to stop the settler boys,
which made the soldiers a target for their stones. The
situation escalated, but our presence supported the
Palestinians’ expression of their outrage and prevented
Israeli soldiers from repressing this Palestinian
resistance.
Cordova School is a
Palestinian girls’ school located directly across from
Israeli settlement apartments and a settler school. Settler
children often harass Palestinian students and teachers as
they pass by. Yesterday was the first day of school for
Palestinians, so we brought a team of internationals and
media to accompany the children. Two Israeli military jeeps
and a police jeep arrived shortly after us. All in all,
there were 25 internationals, 12 soldiers, and four police
officers to get around 100 Palestinian girls to school.
There were fewer
internationals and soldiers for the girls’ afternoon walk
home, and the settlers escalated their attacks. They threw
stones and eggs from their apartment windows, while others
hollered insults and threatened us. The Israeli police
(who’s job it is to arrest settler law-breakers) also became
a target of the settler violence, but they did nothing to
stop it. We continued patrolling the area for the rest of
the day, trying to have a presence in all the areas where
settlers and Palestinians interact. “We’re like human
security cameras,” one activist commented, “we never let the
settlers out of our sight until we know another
international can see them”.
A little before 2pm,
several internationals had to leave and we went out to meet
their replacements. On our way back in, we got stopped at
the recently upgraded Tel Rumeida checkpoint. What used to
be a green tower with concrete blockades is now a fortified
trailer with metal detectors and electronic sliding doors.
They’ve even tried to make it prettier by painting it to
look like the white stone of the surrounding ancient
buildings. An Israeli soldier at the checkpoint said that
they would no longer allow in any internationals that are
part of organizations, “Only tourists and residents” he
said. We tried to explain that we are residents and have a
house in Tel Rumeida, but because he had seen us doing
accompaniment and documentation work he refused us entry. To
go around the checkpoint, we had to wind through back
allies, scale a wall, and crawl under grapevines.
During this time, a
group of settlers took advantage of our absence and attacked
several Palestinians. We found a 13-year-old Palestinian boy
with cuts and bruises on his arms and stomach. He said a
group of around 20 settlers in their late teens had
surrounded him and beat him with sticks for around ten
minutes. Other settler youths threw large stones a group of
Palestinians, injuring an older Palestinian woman’s leg. We
accompanied the Palestinians to file reports with the
police, and then became more diligent with our patrols.
Things came to a head
around 5pm, when a large group of settler children, some in
masks, (observed from the hill by their parents and other
settler adults), began throwing large stones and other
debris at Palestinians, internationals, and Israeli soldiers
in the area. One international was injured on her hand when
she blocked a sharp rock from hitting her head. When the
police arrived, the settlers briefly dispersed but then
quickly regrouped. They began intensely stoning the police,
who did nothing but videotape and stay in the protection of
their armored jeeps. More police arrived and drove into the
settlement area, and eventually an officer grabbed a settler
boy. A small riot ensued, and settlers attacked the police
officers.
Later in the evening,
Palestinians reported that settler boys intensely stoned two
Palestinian homes. Saturday, the Jewish holy day Shabbat, is
a busy day for settler religious fanatics.
All in all, we hope
that the settlers now know that their days of terrorizing
Palestinians with impunity are over. Though the Israeli
violence continues, Palestinians are now armed with
international and Israeli activists, cameras, video-cameras,
potential lawsuits, and contacts with the international
community. I feel privileged to be able to stand with
Palestinians in their struggle, it’s an honor to be stoned
along side them.
Read this report with
pictures at
www.lovinrevolution.org
