Jewish, Christian and secular activists call for an end to Hebron violence
-26/04/06
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Jewish, Christian and secular activists call for an end to Hebron violence
-26/04/06
A broad coalition of secular, Christian and Jewish activists and advocacy groups has called on the Israeli authorities to uphold the law and arrest settlers perpetrating violence against Palestinians and international volunteers in Hebron.
At a press conference held in Jerusalem today [26 April 2006], the human rights workers said that recent attacks against Palestinian citizens in Tel Rumeida have increased in both degree and frequency. They were backed by a rabbi and a nun.
The workers claimed that Israeli settlers are now frequently executing planned, violent attacks. In the past month alone, two international workers have required stitches to their heads after being stoned, and another has suffered concussion.
On 22 April 2006, a group of adults and teenagers attacked a Palestinian shop using sharpened metal poles. They assaulted children and international volunteers in the process.
Speakers from Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), the Tel Rumeida Project and the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) told the press conference about their first-hand experiences of settler violence.
Anne Montgomery, a 79-year-old nun from Christian Peacemaker Teams, who was attacked on 20 April, described what happened to her and others. Meanwhile Luna Ruiz, from the Tel Rumeida Project warned that “our lives are in danger”.
Arik Asherman from Rabbis for Human Rights, and Ruth Kedar from Yesh Din, were among the speakers from Israeli organisations who have supported the work of international human rights workers in Hebron.
“These attacks are part of an attempt by the colonisers to prevent documentation of their activities,” said Eran Zax from Sons of Abraham, another Israeli organisation.
An open letter detailing the dangerous situation in Tel Rumeida has been sent to outgoing and incoming Israeli Defence Ministers Shaul Mofaz and Amir Peretz, as well as the Chief of the General Staff and several other high-level Israeli.
The letter stresses that the situation in Tel Rumeida has reached a critical point. It says: “Though there have been hundreds of colonisers attacks since August 2005 when we first moved into Tel Rumeida, most of those were random and involved coloniser children and/or teenagers”.
“Israeli military and police often do not deploy sufficient personnel to areas where they know attacks regularly occur and often do not respond to calls to prevent attacks even when they are warned of imminent danger. In addition Israeli military and Police often do not act to stop colonisers attacks, rather they often stand and videotape the crime in progress,” the open letter adds.
Including various other requests for appropriate behaviour and training, the document demands that the Israeli soldiers and police should be given explicit instructions that they must act to protect all people and property while in Tel Rumeida.
It has been signed by representatives of the Tel Rumeida Project, the International Solidarity Movement, Yesh Din, Gush Shalom and by Rabbi Arik Ascherman, executive director of the group Rabbis For Human Rights.
Tom Fox, the Christian Peacemaker Teams volunteer who was killed by militants in Iraq nearly four months after being kidnapped in November 2005, had previously worked with CPT in Israel-Palestine.
Jewish, Christian and secular activists call for an end to Hebron violence
-26/04/06
A broad coalition of secular, Christian and Jewish activists and advocacy groups has called on the Israeli authorities to uphold the law and arrest settlers perpetrating violence against Palestinians and international volunteers in Hebron.
At a press conference held in Jerusalem today [26 April 2006], the human rights workers said that recent attacks against Palestinian citizens in Tel Rumeida have increased in both degree and frequency. They were backed by a rabbi and a nun.
The workers claimed that Israeli settlers are now frequently executing planned, violent attacks. In the past month alone, two international workers have required stitches to their heads after being stoned, and another has suffered concussion.
On 22 April 2006, a group of adults and teenagers attacked a Palestinian shop using sharpened metal poles. They assaulted children and international volunteers in the process.
Speakers from Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), the Tel Rumeida Project and the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) told the press conference about their first-hand experiences of settler violence.
Anne Montgomery, a 79-year-old nun from Christian Peacemaker Teams, who was attacked on 20 April, described what happened to her and others. Meanwhile Luna Ruiz, from the Tel Rumeida Project warned that “our lives are in danger”.
Arik Asherman from Rabbis for Human Rights, and Ruth Kedar from Yesh Din, were among the speakers from Israeli organisations who have supported the work of international human rights workers in Hebron.
“These attacks are part of an attempt by the colonisers to prevent documentation of their activities,” said Eran Zax from Sons of Abraham, another Israeli organisation.
An open letter detailing the dangerous situation in Tel Rumeida has been sent to outgoing and incoming Israeli Defence Ministers Shaul Mofaz and Amir Peretz, as well as the Chief of the General Staff and several other high-level Israeli.
The letter stresses that the situation in Tel Rumeida has reached a critical point. It says: “Though there have been hundreds of colonisers attacks since August 2005 when we first moved into Tel Rumeida, most of those were random and involved coloniser children and/or teenagers”.
“Israeli military and police often do not deploy sufficient personnel to areas where they know attacks regularly occur and often do not respond to calls to prevent attacks even when they are warned of imminent danger. In addition Israeli military and Police often do not act to stop colonisers attacks, rather they often stand and videotape the crime in progress,” the open letter adds.
Including various other requests for appropriate behaviour and training, the document demands that the Israeli soldiers and police should be given explicit instructions that they must act to protect all people and property while in Tel Rumeida.
It has been signed by representatives of the Tel Rumeida Project, the International Solidarity Movement, Yesh Din, Gush Shalom and by Rabbi Arik Ascherman, executive director of the group Rabbis For Human Rights.
Tom Fox, the Christian Peacemaker Teams volunteer who was killed by militants in Iraq nearly four months after being kidnapped in November 2005, had previously worked with CPT in Israel-Palestine.