Maryknoll Sisters

In Hebron, Sr. Jean Fallon (3rd from r.) talks with Atta Jaber after his brother's car was burned by Israeli settlers.

Well, the calm has ended and everything is back to “normal” here in Hebron.

This past week has been like a gathering storm which broke yesterday!  During the calm there were just three of us (on our team sponsored by Christian Peacemaker Teams), all women, so we were very happy to greet two men who came last week to join the team, not a minute too soon.

Among other things that are happening they have been targeted for harassment so they now go out on duty with one of us women!  The EAPPI, members of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine, were on retreat this week so we had to take over their duties at a school which is right in the middle of the Settlement up the street.

To complete the picture we now have a new brigade taking “possession” of the Old City. They are very mean and intent on showing everyone who is in charge.  Our new men had a demonstration of that when one of the Souk Shibab (young men) was dragged away because the leader of the patrol did not like the way he looked at them! 

It took the rest of the afternoon and a bigger CPT presence, camera and all, to see it end with his release. 

We have really been busy with all our patrols so have planned our time and steps carefully, but yesterday ended “‘planned.”  When the Bweireh outskirts patrol arrived they found that the outpost was being dismantled and all the settlers were gathered yelling and threatening.

So after we finished the school patrol, the rest of the team went out to Bweireh and I stayed to answer phones, etc.  We had planned to visit Atta Jaber and his brother, whose car was burned the other night!  It was  parked right outside his home but the settlers came at 1 a.m. and set it on fire, leaving the whole inside burned out and the family throwing water from their roof to stop the fire.

Atta’s brother was very upset since he uses the car to take his mother to the doctors and both families are now without transportation in an out-of-the-way area dangerous for Palestinians.  The two families have suffered serious losses because of the settlers and the army.  Two years ago their irrigation hoses had been confiscated, leaving them a loss of thousands of dollars.

Of course, nothing will be done about the car–impunity is the word when it comes to both settlers and the Israeli Occupation Forces.  Getting back to our day, two of the team were able to go out with our neighbor who knows both families. All were assembled, with children brightening up a sad scene.  We saw a new addition of the brother’s house and a terrace that the family had built with retaining walls of stone all hewn and fitted by their own work. “I am not going to lose my dream for the future,” which was declared to us and the world, including the settlers who destroyed his crops and car. 

I continually think, whatever happened to the Ten Commandments: Thou shalt now covet thy neighbor’s land or goods? After saying goodbye to the families we walked up to Bweireh where we met the rest of our team, frozen from standing on duty in the cold all afternoon.

We left two members, started home past the settlers who were now being escorted out of the area, started out of the valley when our neighbor received a call that a house was being attacked by the army near the Ibrahimi school.  So, our plans changed.

By the time we found a driver and got there the soldiers had gone but the distraught father was standing, looking up the street.  Members of the Temporary International Presence in Palestine (TIPP) arrived at the same time as we did and the story unfolded.  While the father was at the Mosque praying, the patrol came into the house, dragged out their 16-year-old son, beat the mother who tried to stop them and the son with a rifle, as they handcuffed him. The older brother had just returned from work and was taken off along with his brother.

We started phoning:  the International Committee of Red Cross and the Office of Civil Administration when the older son returned.  He is slightly retarded so was probably released because it would not “look good.”  He told us that his brother was taken to the police station and so our neighbor first interviewed the boy on camera.  His testimony was that he had to carry a gas container through the checkpoint on  his way home. The soldiers there closed the door and so he knocked to pass through.

They taunted him and pushed him to the ground, and when he got up brushed against one of the soldiers who then accused him of attacking them! We then continued our phoning campaign to learn that the younger brother was being accused of his older brother’s crime of attacking a soldier! After calling civic and NGO groups, a lawyer was contacted, the truth was out, so things began to change. The boy was released to his father. 

This morning two of the team went out to A Twani where the community is planning an action to remove a roadblock. Two of us will go the Mosque Patrol today as the hundreds gather from all over to pray at the Mosque of Abraham with the Gulani Patrol lurking about.  Two of us then will head out to Bweireh to see if quiet has been restored or if chaos and violent reprisals have started. The situation is causing tension everywhere.  Another aspect of the return of the Gulani Brigade is a general discouragement, almost like depression: “another year of this!”

Please do a little more than pray–do you know that thousands of U.S. soldiers are arriving this week for exercises with the Isreali Defense Forces and they will be deployed all over?  This is a terrible turn of events and needs loud opposition there in good ole’  US of A! 

How about a boycott or an information campaign?

Anyway, we are off to whatever the day brings and will get back to you tomorrow. 

Thanks for your love and concern and help.

Love,

Sister Jean Fallon, MM

In Hebron, Sr. Jean Fallon is part of a peace team that's responding to violence among Israelis and Palestinians.

For the past two weeks, things in Hebron’s Old City have been unnaturally quiet; no settler or IOF violence  (Israeli Occupation Forces), no crisis situations.  Our team (sponsored by a group called Christian Peacemaker Teams) was almost lulled into a complacent state.

There had been a few incidents that kept us aware of the potential return to “normal”: military maneuvers in Palestinian areas across the street from our apartment and a heavy military presence walking around the Souk. That quiet ended last night!     

We had just sat down to supper when a call came that the radical Israeli settlers were attacking a family home in al-Bowereh near to the Israeli outpost settlement.  The team was asked to go out to check on the situation and stay with the family if it was called for.  It seems two actions had taken place: the settlers had put up a roadblock and were throwing stones at the people from that vantage point.

The place we were called to had for an hour and a half endured stones being catapulted at them from the hilltop outpost  Fortunately they landed on their roof. One of their boys showed us the stones and in the morning we saw their hot water heating panels all covered with mesh wire to protect them from stoning.  The family also showed us a broken window from two weeks before.

Last evening’s incident happened around 6:30, which would mean after sunset and the beginning of the Sabbath.

The purpose of this behavior is to terrorize the three families who live under the same roof, into moving so the settlers can take over their property.

When we arrived the families had all rallied, and eager to share their latest encounter.  They were delighted that we would be willing to stay with them overnight.  Indeed, if nothing else, we did provide a big distraction for them.

As soon as we returned in the morning, the team sent out a twitter alert that was picked up almost immediately. Reports were written up and calls made to alert those with whom we work closely.  

 – Sister Jean Fallon, MM

A Kurdish family from Iraq

Greetings from Suli, Iraq. I arrived last Tuesday, after a long trip to Istanbul, one day’s stay in Istanbul and finally arriving here the next day. I was met by other members of our peace team. We are five at the moment, but one is leaving, so we will remain four: one from the Czech Republic, another from the UK, an American from Oklahoma, and me.

Immediately upon arriving, we had a short orientation updating me on the team’s activities these months. There was a long trip planned for Thursday, and the team agreed that I would go with another team member. I had not been there so I was happy for this chance. We were doing an accompaniment. Two men were presenting their paper to the United Nations in Hawler, Iraq, and wanted accompaniment from our group, which is called Christian Peacemaker Teams.

One of the men was a journalist who had already been in the three-month fasting demonstration, and more recently, he was one of the people involved in the Bloody Strike. Folks took their own blood, smeared it on their clothes and hands and walked through the town. They wanted to show that they were in solidarity with the martyrs who had already shed their blood seeking justice.

It was a very fine trip….the younger man was a sculptor and both were very happy that we would go with them. Both are activists and wanted to present their paper on their struggles as well as their requests to the UN for help.

The UN person was very polite, listened intently, seemed very involved with us, read the paper, etc. However, unfortunately, he explained that the UN here is a humanitarian aid group, invited by the government, and humanitarian aid is all that they can offer. The two men were disappointed once again. This trip took all day as we were so far away, but they once again told us how happy they were to have us accompany them.

On Saturday, a non-governmental organization invited us to be with them as they demonstrated. This was a lovely march….all carried bamboo plants and signs speaking about the importance of keeping our earth healthy.

Life goes on here….I was able to get to the Chaldean Church on Sunday evening. The Church is guarded by soldiers, but they are much friendlier than they were last year. I already visited the Sisters I had met last year; that was such a touching visit. Thank God, they are all well.

Today, we met with the sculptor, activist, once again. It is good to be back. We have a heavy schedule ahead. A delegation coming from the United States for ten days, a peace marathon-conference in Erbil next week. In addition, I have to take my turn preparing meals….I am with good cooks, makes it tough for me!

– Sister Rosemarie Milazzo, MM