many wrongs and no rights
"CPTnet
7 February 2008
BEIT UMMAR: Tragedy in Beit Ummar, Part I—a closer look
by Dianne Roe
I sat in the Jerusalem Hotel restaurant on Sunday, 27 January 2007 and read the headline in the Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz, "Yeshiva counselor who killed terrorists lives to tell the tale." In that article Elyakim Kovatch, the counselor who shot two intruders, used the word "terrorist" twelve times to refer to the young men he killed.
I boarded the bus for Hebron, and got off at Beit Ummar to meet the grieving families of the men whom Kovatch had shot. Cousins Mahmoud (21) and Muhammed (21) Sabarnah had entered the library of a Yeshiva (school) at Gush Etzion settlement—adjacent to Beit Ummar—late on 24 January, wielding a knife and a handgun, according to Kovatch, and ordered those in the library to stand in a line. The Sabarnah cousins wrestled with Rafael Singer, who had pulled out a gun, and stabbed him. Kovatch then shot and killed the cousins.
I recognized Mahmoud Sabarnah’s mother when she rose to greet me, eyes filled with tears. The last time I saw her she was dancing at the wedding of one of Mahmoud’s cousins. I thought of how I first met members of the extended Sabarnah family in the summer of 1997 when the Israeli military issued demolition orders on their homes.
I remember that in 2000 and 2001, the early months of the Intifada, Israeli soldiers killed many from Beit Ummar along road #60 for the crime of living and walking near the road.
I remember going with members of the Sabarnah family and other Beit Ummar farmers a few years ago when the Israeli military announced they were placing a security zone around Karme Tzur settlement, in effect more than doubling the size of Karme Tzur, and confiscating the plums, grapes and olives of Beit Ummar farmers.
I visited Mahmoud Sabarnah’s sister in 2002 after the Israeli military threatened her husband with home demolition if anyone threw stones from near their home or from the almond grove north of their home on road #60. I remember that shortly afterwards their six-year-old child cried when the Israeli army uprooted the almond trees.
In 2004, I stayed overnight with one of the Sabarnah families when Israeli soldiers entered their neighbor’s home, forcing the family out at gunpoint, and abducting their son.
Christian Peacemaker Teams opposes all weapons--carried by soldiers or civilians. But why do newspapers refer to Palestinians as terrorists when they threaten armed settlers, and not use that term when armed soldiers enter homes and terrorize unarmed families?
Suppose the occupier and the occupied changed places. The headline of the event might be "Head of Israeli terror group kills two Beit Ummar soldiers as they infiltrate terrorist cell." Or suppose instead of changing places they become equal neighbors, sharing the land with no wall between them and no weapons in their hands?
What is ahead for future Sabarnah cousins? There is a non-violence movement in Beit Ummar. Can Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals help sustain it?
CPTnet
7 February 2008
BEIT UMMAR: Tragedy in Beit Ummar, Part II--rest in peace?
by Doug Pritchard
On 1 Feb. 2008, Israeli authorities released the bodies of Mahmoud and Muhammed Sabarnah to the Palestine Red Crescent Society for burial in their home community of Beit Ummar in the Hebron District. Israelis from the nearby settlement of Gush Etzion had killed the two young cousins when they invaded a school (7 February 2008 release, " BEIT UMMAR: Tragedy in Beit Ummar, Part I—a closer look.") Residents of Beit Ummar now worried that the Israeli military would disrupt the men’s funeral, just as it had repeatedly harassed and attacked members of the community in recent months.
After noon prayers at the mosque in memory of the two men—now called “martyrs”—a funeral procession of 3,000 mourners began carrying the bodies towards the cemetery. Six internationals, including CPTers Tarek Abuata and Doug Pritchard and four members of the International Solidarity Movement, positioned themselves almost at the front of the procession. As the procession came within sight of road #60 and the final approach to the cemetery, the IDF had closed a gate across the street. Before anyone reached the gate, and without any provocation or warning, the IDF began firing on the procession, first with live ammunition, and then with plastic bullets, tear gas, and concussion grenades. Three Palestinians were immediately injured near the internationals and taken away by ambulance as the outraged procession retreated.
Some mourners hurriedly carried the bodies of the Sabarnah men along a back route to the cemetery, while others threw stones at the cement IDF watchtower from which the firing had emerged. Another Palestinian fell and friends carried him away. In the cemetery, IDF soldiers arrived and ordered the mourners to leave immediately. After a hasty burial prayer, the family and remaining mourners returned to the street. IDF jeeps then began moving up the street, firing as they came. Palestinians fled into side streets. For the next three hours, IDF patrols spread through the town, continuing to fire on small groups of retreating Palestinians, some of whom threw stones in return.
By the end of the afternoon, the violence had left fourteen Palestinians injured."
7 February 2008
BEIT UMMAR: Tragedy in Beit Ummar, Part I—a closer look
by Dianne Roe
I sat in the Jerusalem Hotel restaurant on Sunday, 27 January 2007 and read the headline in the Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz, "Yeshiva counselor who killed terrorists lives to tell the tale." In that article Elyakim Kovatch, the counselor who shot two intruders, used the word "terrorist" twelve times to refer to the young men he killed.
I boarded the bus for Hebron, and got off at Beit Ummar to meet the grieving families of the men whom Kovatch had shot. Cousins Mahmoud (21) and Muhammed (21) Sabarnah had entered the library of a Yeshiva (school) at Gush Etzion settlement—adjacent to Beit Ummar—late on 24 January, wielding a knife and a handgun, according to Kovatch, and ordered those in the library to stand in a line. The Sabarnah cousins wrestled with Rafael Singer, who had pulled out a gun, and stabbed him. Kovatch then shot and killed the cousins.
I recognized Mahmoud Sabarnah’s mother when she rose to greet me, eyes filled with tears. The last time I saw her she was dancing at the wedding of one of Mahmoud’s cousins. I thought of how I first met members of the extended Sabarnah family in the summer of 1997 when the Israeli military issued demolition orders on their homes.
I remember that in 2000 and 2001, the early months of the Intifada, Israeli soldiers killed many from Beit Ummar along road #60 for the crime of living and walking near the road.
I remember going with members of the Sabarnah family and other Beit Ummar farmers a few years ago when the Israeli military announced they were placing a security zone around Karme Tzur settlement, in effect more than doubling the size of Karme Tzur, and confiscating the plums, grapes and olives of Beit Ummar farmers.
I visited Mahmoud Sabarnah’s sister in 2002 after the Israeli military threatened her husband with home demolition if anyone threw stones from near their home or from the almond grove north of their home on road #60. I remember that shortly afterwards their six-year-old child cried when the Israeli army uprooted the almond trees.
In 2004, I stayed overnight with one of the Sabarnah families when Israeli soldiers entered their neighbor’s home, forcing the family out at gunpoint, and abducting their son.
Christian Peacemaker Teams opposes all weapons--carried by soldiers or civilians. But why do newspapers refer to Palestinians as terrorists when they threaten armed settlers, and not use that term when armed soldiers enter homes and terrorize unarmed families?
Suppose the occupier and the occupied changed places. The headline of the event might be "Head of Israeli terror group kills two Beit Ummar soldiers as they infiltrate terrorist cell." Or suppose instead of changing places they become equal neighbors, sharing the land with no wall between them and no weapons in their hands?
What is ahead for future Sabarnah cousins? There is a non-violence movement in Beit Ummar. Can Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals help sustain it?
CPTnet
7 February 2008
BEIT UMMAR: Tragedy in Beit Ummar, Part II--rest in peace?
by Doug Pritchard
On 1 Feb. 2008, Israeli authorities released the bodies of Mahmoud and Muhammed Sabarnah to the Palestine Red Crescent Society for burial in their home community of Beit Ummar in the Hebron District. Israelis from the nearby settlement of Gush Etzion had killed the two young cousins when they invaded a school (7 February 2008 release, " BEIT UMMAR: Tragedy in Beit Ummar, Part I—a closer look.") Residents of Beit Ummar now worried that the Israeli military would disrupt the men’s funeral, just as it had repeatedly harassed and attacked members of the community in recent months.
After noon prayers at the mosque in memory of the two men—now called “martyrs”—a funeral procession of 3,000 mourners began carrying the bodies towards the cemetery. Six internationals, including CPTers Tarek Abuata and Doug Pritchard and four members of the International Solidarity Movement, positioned themselves almost at the front of the procession. As the procession came within sight of road #60 and the final approach to the cemetery, the IDF had closed a gate across the street. Before anyone reached the gate, and without any provocation or warning, the IDF began firing on the procession, first with live ammunition, and then with plastic bullets, tear gas, and concussion grenades. Three Palestinians were immediately injured near the internationals and taken away by ambulance as the outraged procession retreated.
Some mourners hurriedly carried the bodies of the Sabarnah men along a back route to the cemetery, while others threw stones at the cement IDF watchtower from which the firing had emerged. Another Palestinian fell and friends carried him away. In the cemetery, IDF soldiers arrived and ordered the mourners to leave immediately. After a hasty burial prayer, the family and remaining mourners returned to the street. IDF jeeps then began moving up the street, firing as they came. Palestinians fled into side streets. For the next three hours, IDF patrols spread through the town, continuing to fire on small groups of retreating Palestinians, some of whom threw stones in return.
By the end of the afternoon, the violence had left fourteen Palestinians injured."
posted by dm at 10:07 AM
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