Tel Rumeida Project

[idontwantaname]

i KNOW that 80% of the people on this board have never been to Hebron or the West Bank.
being said everyone should check out this website to learn more about this region. if you have any doubts about it, feel free to ask me, pelsar or eyl (whose jeep brokedown in hebron). while they may not have direct knowledge im sure they would agree with me that this accurately portrays the "situation" in Hebron today.

http://telrumeidaproject.org/

-------------------------------------

Tel Rumeida is a small Palestinian
neighborhood widely acknowledged as
housing the most violent and extremist faction
of the Israeli settler movement. Palestinian
families who live directly next to these settlers
are often virtual prisoners in their homes,
subject to the settlers’ violent attacks and
destruction of property.

After meeting many of these families,
documenting the circumstances in which they
are forced to live, and experiencing the
settlers’ violence and soldiers’ indifference
firsthand, we became committed to the
neighborhood and began to develop the
foundations to begin a permanent
international presence
in Tel Rumeida.

http://telrumeidaproject.org/

[tatertop]

1. Is the Tel Rumeida Project part of the good work done by the ISM?

Good to see people working for peace and justice

[xchrom]

2. my church supports a couple of schools in palestine.

we do hear about SOME of these stories.

we're also painfully aware there other stories like those we don't hear.

it's the same for some aids projects we support in uganda.

[Tom Joad]

3. Thanks so much for posting this

This is so important for people to know about.

[pelsar]

4. i have little to add...

my disgust meter with the settlers in hebron usually goes bezerk when i check it out.


Most of the soldiers however arent indifferent....they dont want to be sued by the settlers for fictional infractions, they're disgust is usually just below mine.

[Tom Joad]

5. Are you saying they fear being sued by the settlers?

and that is the reason for their indifference or inaction?

[pelsar]

6. it was in the papers back....

but its far more complicated than that...there are also orders (they are in the army...) and for some of the police, getting sued, spending your savings on lawyers, losing your job, etc is hardly a matter to be taken lightly. The inaction is not the same as indifference.

and before you write anything can come down from your "high horse" since i doubt you've ever been in a moral dilemma where if you follow a principle you'll lose something like your degrees, your house, your job, etc. Because if you had, your tone would be very different.

The settlers take advantage of the open democratic society which is based on everyone following some basic rules, they have money via donations and as such make life hell not just for the palestenains but for everyone around them as well.

[idontwantaname]

7. brookyln, USA

thanks for the info. the fact is that many of the hebron settlers speak english and are from the USA. there is a fiscal support group in NY which (rumor has it) raises aprox 6 million/year just for the hebron settlement blocks.

in addition, there have been instances of US peace activists coming across not only a hostile american born israeli settlers... but american born IDF soldiers. from there a debate will form... 3 americans debating policy halfway around the world.

[pelsar]

10. i met "one"....had some interesting conversations

he was transfered to my reserve unit...when we were in gaza (pre withdrawl) the commander wouldnt let him out of the base...for a month he patrolled the base.

like all "fanatics" they live in their own world with a very strange take on events. Also, i got the impression that instead of mountain climbing, river rafting, they go to Hebron for their andrenalin fix. This one guy in paticular struck me as precisly that kind of personality.

he had an interesting take on the Baruch, the "hero"...except halfway throught the explanation i suddenly had to go and "guard something" (i was afraid i might have to shoot him to take him out of his misery).......
________

i think it was last year a regular unit that was stationed in Hebron put on an exhibit in Tel Aviv from photographs that they had taken...for those who didnt know, it was pretty shocking to see and hear their stories

[Tom Joad]

8. I do understand why the soldiers do not act.

I wouldn't want to put my family's wealth and home at risk either.

My question is why the government does not act. It has no way to contain the lawlessness that is carried out by its own citizens? It is powerless?

Why not empower Palestinians power to control this lawlessness?

If not Israelis or the Palestinians... then just let the settlers do as they please?
The settlers are getting away with murder. Their has to be a response. Not just a shrug and saying there is nothing we can do about it (I mean, coming from the govt, not from any individuals).

I found it very telling that right after Baruch Goldstein committed his massacre, the Israeli government acted decisively. It placed a strict curfew on the Palestinian citizens of Hebron. Whatever happens, Palestinians are punished.

[pelsar]

11. your assuming a civil society.....

you can hardly "empower the palestenains"...since they too would conduct their own version of the "law"....just add an addtional armed group to the area?

the govt makes poor/no attempts to control them due to politics......

both sides have the same problem, the worst part is the education their kids are getting.....

[Tom Joad]

12. So you are saying the Israeli govt is powerless to control

Jewish settlers living near Hebron.

"the govt makes poor/no attempts to control them due to politics..."

That is a damning indictement of Israeli society.
I am not saying our society is any better. Look how long it took before we ended lynching here. God knows how long it will be before end racism in the United States.

You should then welcome internationals who come to Tel Rumeida to do what you concede Israeli soldiers do not do, protect civilian lives.

And do you think these people, the internationals, are not taking great risks? Do you know how many people from the Christian Peacemaker Teams who have been wounded there, beaten by settlers? Several hospitalized. Still, they come, and joined by other internationals. And for their trouble in doing this work, they will be labled "supporters of terror", even in many "mainstream" circles in Israel. Not unlike those young people who went to Mississippi and were called "communists".

what other solution is there? For Palestinian young woman to be caged up in her home for the rest of her life, for her to just turn the other cheek?

[pelsar]

13. powerless? ..no...weak...yes

politicians as a rule are a pretty weak bunch, thats why the strong ones, that make a stand are rare....
Israel in that respect is no differernt from other countries as well as the Palestenains (why do you think they have so much trouble with their own groups....same reason).

Removing the settlers is going to take a very strong PM (as in sharon).....


____________________________
I know the intls take risks, get beaten by the settlers and in many respects do get my respect. Especially those that walk the Palestenian kids to school. (And i've also been labled a "terrorist supporter"...)

the conflict with the internationals is that they are seen as being one sided. Whereas i would say the hebron problem is probably almost completely black and white, the other areas are not so....hence they're labeling. If for instance the Intls would declare they are going to have a presence in Sederot where the kassams land (granted the actual risk is very low, nor would they make an impression on the jihadnikim shooting), however it would affect israeli mainstream opinon....

If the intls would make loud press statements that despite their efforts palestenians kids keep joining the "resistance"....that too would have an affect on us israelis (though i know that would probably get them thrown out of the palestenian areas...)

Hence whereas they do good things.....if they want mainstream israelis to see them in a better light, they would have to acknowledge that us israelis who are the victims of palestenian terror deserve their presence as well. The IDF may be strong, and though we dont need them in practice, the principle remains the same.

[Tom Joad]

9. From 17 year old girl.

“The only people I meet are at home and at school. Outside these frameworks,
I have no social life. Our house is like a cage. It is completely fenced in,
including the entrance. My grandfather set it up that way in 1996 to protect us,
after settlers broke all of our windows. Our house looks like an island
surrounded by a sea of soldiers, settlers and a violent atmosphere. As long as
I can remember, I have been surrounded by the soldiers and the settlers. The
settlers have also attacked my school.”

17-year-old female Palestinian resident of Tel Rumeida
B’tselem interview
May 2005

[idontwantaname]

14. COASTIE & TOM

these folks will be in the bay area this week... speaking tour or something of this sort.
you both ought to check it out... pose some questions ect...