Hebron: Not even an enlightened occupation
Most of our vigil was devoged to meeting the elder of Hebron's Tel Rumeida neighborhood, Basem Abu Aisha, who brought others with him.
The Covid-19 pandemic in Hebron is climbing and Hebron is considered a "red city". The closure
of last week has ended. Now curfew is declared every night from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., and the schools are out.
Last Friday a prayer was organized after 7 p.m. Their mosque is situated beyond the Tamar Checkpoint, and the residents walked together. Passage through the checkpoint to the H1 area (Palestinian Hebron) went unhampered. The return home was a different story. That week the soldiers in Hebron were replaced. Givati infantry brigade's Shaked battalion replaced the paratroopers. Generally, there are lists of Palestinians allowed to cross the checkpoints between H1 and H2, who do not need to pass a metal detector check because they are residents of the neighborhood. The paratroopers did not demand such checks, whereas the infantrymen did and would not let them through. The neighborhood residents opposed this demand, protested and were held at the Tamar checkpoint for 6 hours.
Even the DCO officer summoned there could not quench the protest and they were very offended by him. They said, "Tel Rumeida is one big prison and we even pay taxes to live in it".
Basem Abu Aisha repeated his story about his aunt who suckled a Jewish orphaned baby of the Ezra family. We heard his story, expressed out solidarity and spoke with the Civil Administration. They are aware of the problem, promised an apology visit, and assured us that there would be no more metal detectors checks 15 times a day for the neighborhood residents.
A pity that such things keep happening.
Just occupation, pure and simple, Not even "enlightened"…