United Methodists are responding to Kairos Palestine: A Moment of Truth ,a statement of faith and urgent call to action from Christians in Palestine. UMKR seeks, through nonviolent means and in partnership with Palestinian Christians, freedom, justice and equality for all Palestinians and Israelis.
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Shuhada Street, once a lively commercial center in Hebron, is now closed due to the settlers' presence
3 photos above: Checkpoints throughout the city of Hebron make a normal life impossible for Palestinian residents.
Read these sections of the
Winter-Spring 2019
newsletter:
TAKE ACTION:
• NO US $$$ for Abuse of Children - goes to our action alert eblast
• Rise Against Racism, Counter CUFI
• UNITED METHODISTS' NEWS:
Response to GC2019; 2019 Resolutions;
Oppose Anti-Free Speech Bill; MFSA Says "No"; UMC Board's Actions
• PARTNERS' NEWS
Two Steps Forward for Lutherans; AMP: 500 Strong on Capitol Hill; JVP: "Zionism, a false & failed answer"
IN THE NEWS: ISRAEL/PALESTINE
• SUMUD: The Great March Continues
• UN Report: Israeli War Crimes
• Removing Last Restraints in Hebron
• Palestinian Revenues, Economic Crisis
• Waging War on Prisoners
• Deporting and Denying Entry
• Israeli Elections: Game-changer or...?
IN THE NEWS: UNITED STATES
• Ilhan Omar and a New Frontier
• US, Israel Fight Int'l Criminal Court
• Airbnb Whirlwind Ends in Disgrace
• Occupied no longer? Golan Heights
• Deal of the Century...Not!
IN THE NEWS: SPOTLIGHT
• Black-Palestinian Solidarity
• SEIZE THE DAY
Coming Events, June-Dec 2019
• THE HOLY LAND BECKONS:
News on ethical tourism AND
Upcoming 2019 Trips
Israeli settlers in Palestinian city of Hebron in the West Bank angrily confront Palestinian human rights observers (in blue)
UMKR Newsletter - Winter-Spring 2019
Read the newsletter eblast in your browser
IN THE NEWS: ISRAEL/PALESTINE
Expelling Hebron's Observers, Last Restraint on Settlers' Violence
Hebron – Al Khalil to its Palestinian
residents – is a Palestinian city in the
West Bank with 200,000 indigenous
Palestinians who live under the boot
heel of about 800 extremist Israeli
settlers in their midst, and 1000
Israeli soldiers who enforce those
settlers' will and protect their
abusive behavior. This segregated
and oppressed city has often been
described as the "worst of the worst,"
the most vivid example of Israeli a
partheid, and a microcosm of the suffering all Palestinians endure under the Israeli occupation.
After an Israeli settler massacred 29 Palestinians in Hebron in 1994, Israel agreed to the presence of international observers. They reported on the abuse Palestinians suffer there and served as a potential restraint to the settlers' and soldiers' worst excesses. In January of this year, Israel announced those observers would no longer be allowed in Hebron, an alarming decision that bodes ill for the vulnerable Palestinians in that city. Due to security concerns, the World Council of Churches decided they should remove the Ecumenical Accompaniers who also served in Hebron.
There has been an increase in violence since observers have left, and local Palestinian residents have created their own observer team which are now coming under attack from Israeli settlers and soldiers. In February, the United States vetoed a UN Security Council statement on Israel expelling the Hebron monitors.
Photo, right: Segregated
street in Hebron separates
Palestinians from settlers
READ MORE
NEWS & COMMENTARY
Haaretz: Confidential Report Based on 20 Years of Monitoring Claims: Israel Regularly Breaks International Law in Hebron
[UMKR's note: reports say this is the article that caused Israel to expel the international observers from Hebron]
An international observatory task force established two decades ago to monitor the divided West Bank city of Hebron has produced its most exhaustive and damning internal report on Israel’s actions in the city, according to people with access to the report who spoke with Haaretz on condition of anonymity. This is the first time a report by the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) is revealed in the press.
US News & World Report: Israel's Netanyahu to Eject Foreign Observers in Flashpoint Hebron
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he would eject a foreign force set up to help safeguard Palestinians in a flashpoint city in the occupied West Bank, accusing the observers of anti-Israel activity.
Haaretz: Palestinians in Hebron Could Now Face Another Massacre
Last week, Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly terminated the mandate of the TIPH international monitoring forces in Hebron, in violation of the Oslo II Accord of 1995 and the UN Security Council resolution 904. That mission, now effectively expelled, staffed by civil observers from Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Italy and Turkey, was established following the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre - in which 29 Palestinians were killed by far-right Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein - to help ensure the security (and sense of security) of the Palestinian civilians of Hebron.
Mondoweiss: In wake of human
rights observers expulsion,
other rights groups in Hebron
fear escalation in violence
Without the presence of TIPH’s
more than 60 staffers in Hebron,
other rights groups operating in
the city now fear that not only
will their work will be subject to
further scrutiny by Israeli
authorities, but Israeli forces
and settlers in the city might
feel more emboldened in their
attacks on Palestinian residents.
Under the condition of anonymity
for themselves and the organization
they work with, for fear they could be
targeted by Israel, staff members of a human rights group operating in Hebron spoke to Mondoweiss about their fears and concerns in the wake of TIPH’s expulsion.
Middle East Monitor:Oxfam, Save the Children issue warning over withdrawal of Hebron monitors
Oxfam, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and Save the Children warned Thursday that “hundreds of civilians, including children, will see their safety put at risk by the withdrawal of international observers deployed in the city of Hebron”.
Palestine Chronicle: In Hebron, Israel Removes the Last Restraint on Its Settlers’ Reign of Terror
You might imagine that a report by a multinational observer force documenting a 20-year reign of terror by Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers against Palestinians, in a city under occupation, would provoke condemnation from European and US politicians. But you would be wrong. The leaking in December of the report on conditions in the city of Hebron, home to 200,000 Palestinians, barely caused a ripple. / About 40,000 separate cases of abuse had been quietly recorded since 1997 by dozens of monitors from Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Italy and Turkey. Some incidents constituted war crimes.
WRMEA:Not Welcome in Hebron:
Its Original Residents and
Breaking the Silence
Ido Even-Paz switched on his body
camera as his tour group decamped
from the bus in Hebron. The former
Israeli soldier wanted to document
any trouble we might encounter in
this, the largest Palestinian city in
the occupied West Bank. It was not
Hebron’s Palestinian residents who
concerned him, however. He was worried about fellow Israelis—Jewish religious extremists and the soldiers there to guard them—who have seized control of much of the city center.
Al-Shabaka: Israel’s Termination of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron
How did TIPH come about, what did it accomplish, and why did Netanyahu target it now? This policy memo by an Al-Shabaka analyst sheds light on Netanyahu’s move and suggests ways for the international community to better defend Palestinian rights.
Middle East Monitor:Norway: Israel removal of international
observers from Hebron may breach Oslo Accords
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to dismiss international
observers in theoccupied West Bank city of Hebron may breach the Oslo Accords,
a Norwegian minister has said.
Middle East Monitor: Erekat: Refusal to renew international
observers’ mission in Hebron kills peace process
Saeb Erekat, Secretary-General of the PLO Executive Committee,
said on Wednesday that Israel’s decision not to renew the
“Temporary International Observation Mission in the City of Hebron”
in the southern West Bank is like putting “the last nail in the coffin of
the peace process.”
Al Jazeera: US blocks UN Security Council statement on Hebron monitors
Draft statement expressed regret at Israel's decision to end UN mission
in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.
World Council of Churches: WCC pulls accompaniers from Hebron
due to security concerns
The World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment
Programme in Palestine and Israel has made the decision to remove
Ecumenical Accompaniers from the Hebron areadue to security concerns.
Rabbis for Human Rights: RHR joins EAPPI in Hebron to hear concerns
and tour the city
Last week the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment
Programme in Palestine and Israel made the decision to remove Ecumenical
Accompaniers from Hebron due to concerns about harassment by the Jewish
community of Hebron and the Israel Defense Forces protecting them….
The role of the WCC accompaniers is to serve as a peaceful protective presence
for residents in Hebron….Rabbis for Human Rights condemn harassment of any
kind in Hebron or elsewhere and seek to be a channel for conflict transformation….
We therefore joined the Ecumenical Accompaniers from EAPPI in Hebron on
Tuesday, February 5 2019 in order to understand the situation better.
AFTER HUMAN RIGHTS OBSERVERS ARE EXPELLED
Mondoweiss: Israeli Settlers Rampage Following Expulsion of
Human Rights Observers
Dozens of Israeli settlers launched an attack on Palestinians in the Old City
of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank on Tuesday night,
yelling “death to Arabs!” in the street and hurling rocks at Palestinian homes.
Mondoweiss: Children Die in Fire When Soldiers Delay Fire Trucks in Hebron
The mayor of Hebron held the Israeli army responsible for the death of two children (photo right), who died in a fire in their home, in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, after the military delayed Palestinian fire trucks and Red Crescent ambulances, at two roadblocks in the city. Spokesperson of the Palestinian Police in the occupied West Bank, Lieutenant Luay Zreiqat, said a child, identified as Wa‘el Rajabi, four years old, and his infant sister, Malak, 18 months of age, died in the fire. Lieutenant Zreiqat added that a third brother of the two deceased siblings suffered serious burns and remains in a critical condition [he has since died].
Mondoweiss: After Israel boots international observers, Palestinians create
local monitors in Hebron
Palestinian activists in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron have established
their own local observer group in the wake of Israel’s expulsion of the Temporary
International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) from the city. Issa Amro, the former director of the Youth Against Settlements (YAS) group in Hebron, announced on social media that he, along with other Palestinian human rights defenders in the city had formed their own group to document the human rights violations and form a protective presence for Palestinians in the city.
Mondoweiss: Video: Palestinian human rights observers in Hebron under attack
following TIPH expulsion
Following Israel’s expulsion of the TIPH observer group from Hebron last month,
a group of Palestinian activists from the city formed their own team of observers
to fill in the gaps. Issa Amro and his team of observers head out every morning
to the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in Hebron’s Old City and stand watch as
children make their way to school. The kids must pass through several checkpoints
monitored by armed soldiers, and streets that are patrolled by notoriously violent
settlers. In the month since they began their work, Amro’s team have been given
more than 10 military orders to stop work, and have been attacked by settlers
several times. Amro told Mondoweiss that since TIPH was expelled, the situation
in Hebron has gotten a lot worse. Mondoweiss followed the team around one
morning, and in the span of half an hour, the group, including our cameraman, were
attacked and harassed by Israeli settlers, while one international activist who was
filming the altercation was arrested by police.
+972 Magazine: The Palestinian activists protecting Hebron from settler violence
About a dozen Palestinian volunteers in blue vests identifying themselves as “human rights observers” made their way toward the Israeli army’s Checkpoint 56 on Shuhada Street in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron early last week. They were escorting children on their way to the Qurtuba school 100 meters away, enduring harassment and kicking by settlers as they let the schoolchildren pass.
Times of Israel: Launch of Palestinian civilian monitor group angers settlers in Hebron
Members of a new civilian monitor group launched by Palestinians in Hebron faced
verbal and physical harassment from settlers Sunday as they walked a group of children
to school in the flashpoint West Bank city.
LEARN MORE ABOUT HEBRON
+972 Magazine: Hundreds protest segregation in Hebron's Shuhada Street
While Palestinians continue paying the price for the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre,
carried out by a Jewish settler 25 years ago, those who share the attacker’s
racist ideology are now being offered ministerial positions in Israel’s Knesset.
B’Tselem: Ghost Town: Israel's Separation Policy and Forced Eviction
of Palestinians from the Center of Hebron
Over the years, Israel established a number of settlement points in and
around the Old City of Hebron, which had traditionally served as the
commercial center for the entire southern West Bank . Israeli
law-enforcement authorities and security forces have made the entire
Palestinian population pay the price for protecting Israeli settlement in
the city. To this end, the authorities impose a regime intentionally and
openly based on the "separation principle", as a result of which Israel
created legal and physical segregation between the Israeli settlers and the
Palestinian majority. / This policy led to the economic collapse of the center
of Hebron and drove many Palestinians out of the area.
B’Tselem: Israeli military isolates Palestinian neighborhoods in downtown Hebron, making daily life an ordeal
For over twenty years, Israel has been enacting a policy of separation based on discrimination, implemented primarily through the many permanent checkpoints the military placed in Hebron’s city center and around the Tomb of the Patriarchs (al-Haram al-Ibrahimi), an area no larger than 80 hectares. These checkpoints make daily life there a never-ending ordeal for Hebron’s Palestinian residents, both those who live in that area and those who live elsewhere in the city.
B’Tselem: Palestinians describe life in center of Hebron under impossible terms
imposed by military
Some 40,000 Palestinians and 800 settlers currently live in the Hebron city center (Area H2). Israeli authorities impose a regime there that is openly based on the “principle of separation”, resulting in legal and physical segregation between Israeli settlers and Palestinian residents. Palestinians who live in the city center are subjected to extreme restrictions on their movement by car or on foot – including the closure of main streets. Meanwhile, the settlers are free to go where they wish.
Breaking the Silence: Occupying Hebron: Soldiers Testimonies from Hebron, 2011-2017
This booklet of testimonies intends to offer the public a glimpse of the reality in Hebron from our perspective as soldiers deployed there. These testimonies were given by soldiers who served in the city from 2011-2017.
They reveal the violence and discrimination that have become an inextricable
part of life in Hebron, and their impact on the lives of Palestinian residents.
From this resource:"You’re asking me where I saw violence in Hebron?
That’s like asking where I saw Hebron in Hebron. It’s really at every corner.
You just leave your post and you’re already on the street that separates
people according to their ethnicity or nationality, or whatever whitewashed
language is used to justify what’s going on there."
Lieutenant • Nahal, 932nd Battalion • 2014
Haaretz: 25 Years After Hebron Massacre, Debate Sparked Over
Burial Site of Murderer Baruch Goldstein
Israeli left-wing party calls for legislation to change tombstone at
Meir Kahane Park thatglorifies Goldstein, who killed 29 Muslim worshipers
at the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
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News & Analysis UMKR News & Alerts
ABOUT OUR NEWS SOURCES
The articles we include in our lists to 'Read More' – in our newsletters and on our website – are provided as an informational service for our readers, and the views expressed may or may not be shared by UMKR.
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