The Daily Life of Kawther Salam

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the last Tuesday during a meeting with foreign correspondents, “pulling out of Gaza will heighten our hang-on to the West Bank cities, the settlements which are occupied by Jewish settlers in the West Bank will be part of the Jewish State in the future”.

The Israeli occupation continues expanding the settlements and planting new Jewish facts on the ground in the middle of the old Palestinian city of Hebron, where 40,000 Palestinian inhabitants live.

Two days ago, I asked the Managing Director of the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee about the situation in old city of Hebron, after an Israeli “the driver of a military bulldozer” shot to death the Palestinian boy Sabri Alrojob, 15 years old, near the Abraham Cave in the old city in Hebron.




Sabri Alrojoub, 15 years old. Murdered in Hebron by the IDF.
Where is the knife the soldier used as an excuse for this murder ?
(Image source: Al Hayat Al-Jadeeda)



The Israeli soldier claimed that he realized a knife was carried by the boy who was walking in the street with other three boys. The soldier shot three bullets at boy in his chest, and one bullet in his leg. The boy bled to death while the soldiers prevented the transfer of the boy to the hospital. There was no knife found with the boy after he died, according to Palestinian eyewitnesses from Hebron.


About the situation in Hebron the Managing Director of H.R.C, Mr. Hamdan said, “the Israeli occupation continues raping the Palestinians lands in the city, destroying their agriculture lands and demolishing their houses for the service of the Jewish settlement in the city."

On the 11th of February 2005 an Israeli military decree with number (t/17/05) was issued by the Israeli general commander Yaeer Nafeh commanding confiscating Palestinian lands in Tel Rumaida area in Hebron Old City in order to create a new road for Israeli settlers connecting the Tel Rumaida settlement with the settlements of Beit Romano and Abraham Avenue. We will open a court case against the planned Jewish settlement road in the Tel Rumaida area in Hebron.

The planned road is supposed to start from the middle of Al Shuhada Street between Beit Romano and Abraham Avenue and continue up to the Ramat Yashai settlement in the Tel Rumaida area west of the old Hebron City.

Creating this road will include demolishing parts of historical houses, Muslims’ graves, uprooting long-lived olive trees, and destroying ancient monuments in the area. The Tel Rumaida area has been known as one of famous archaeological sites through centuries. It has been subject to many Israeli settlers attacks. (For more details about Tel Rumaida please see the appendix below).

The Hebron Rehabilitation Committee has empowered the Israeli lawyer Mr. Shlomo Lecker to follow up this issue with the Israeli legal institutions. He will start with filing an objection against the mentioned decree of the Military Objection Committee in Beat Eal as a procedure before opening a court case at the Israeli High Court.

The land which they plan to expropriate is owned by several Palestinian families the HRC knows, among them are the Abu Sakour, Abu Munshar, Iqneiby, AlSaheb, Abu Ghalyoon families. Additionally, a Muslim Cemetery, the Alsaqawati Muslim Shrine, and the Al Ain Aljadeda “Water Spring” which all belong to the Islamic Waqf in Hebron, would be expropriated.

Creating the planned road will enlarge the Israeli colonial area and will increase the Israeli control, which will lead into more tension in the City of Hebron. Meanwhile, it will add more pressure on Palestinian residents over there to force them out.

Implementing this decree violates the Hebron Protocol which had been signed between Palestinians and Israelis in 1997.

The Hebron Rehabilitation Committee calls upon you to help stopping the implementing of this aggression and politely asks for your urgent intervention with Israeli institutions at all levels to the effect that they think once more before implementing their dangerous Decree. If possible, please call the Israeli embassy or consulate next to your location, or call the foreign ministry of Israel or the IDF spokesperson directly. Some phone numbers are:

Brigadier General Ruth Yaron
Office of the IDF Spokesperson
Phone: +972-(0)2-530-5477 or 530-5356 (Central Command)
Phone: +972-(0)2-624-5789 or 624-5268 (Beit Agaron)
Fax: +972-(0)3-608-0343 (Tel Aviv)
Email: info [at] mail.idf.il
Military Post 01025, IDF
Israel

Israeli Ministry of Defense
Phone: +972-3-6975274
Fax: +972-3-6976151

Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Website)

Foreign Minister's office - sar [at] mfa.gov.il
Director General's office - mankal [at] mfa.gov.il
Spokesman's office - dover [at] mfa.gov.il
Public Relations - pniot [at] mfa.gov.il

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
9 Yitzhak Rabin Blvd.
Kiryat Ben-Gurion
Jerusalem 91035
Tel. 972-2-5303111
Fax 972-2-5303367