Visit to Hebron and At-Tuwani (Part 1)

This was turning out to be a really long post, so I decided to post it in 2 Parts. Here's Part 1. Last Wednesday I journeyed to the town of Hebron and the village of At-Tuwani. I went with a group from the college from which one of my co-volunteers at Sabeel graduated. Hebron and At-Tuwani are located in the West Bank. The West Bank, along with the Gaza strip, is part of the land given to the Palestinian people in the United Nations partition plan in 1947. Since 1967, this land has been occupied by the Israeli government. Since then, the control of this land has further increased. This trip was a very educational experience. On my journey, I was faced with two establishments of the Israeli Occupation which I had heard about, but not yet seen: the separation barrier, which I will discuss in Part 2 and settlements.
Hebron is the traditional site of the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel. Here is a picture of the cenotaph commemorating Abraham's tomb, which is now way under the ground. Hebron has been the place of these tombs at least since the time of Herod. Because of the great significance of this place, it is important to all 3 religions in this area: Christians, Muslims, and Jews, because all of the religions trace their roots back to Abraham. For this reason, it has been a place for much dispute over the years. That dispute continues to this day.
There has traditionally been a Jewish community in Hebron, because of its obvious significance to the establishment of Judaism. After the Muslim invasions, this community became largely Muslim. The citizens of Hebron, although of different religions, however, lived in peace with each other until the 20th century. Currently, Hebron is surrounded by a number of Jewish settlements. The idea behind these settlements is to drive out the Palestinian population and reclaim the land for the Jewish people. Many of the people living in the settlements are not members of the traditional Jewish population that resided here until the middle of the 20th century. Most of the settlers in Hebron are Jews that have migrated to Israel-Palestine, largely from America, within the last 10 years. Some settlers come because they receive economic incentives from the government of Israel. Other settlers are there for ideological reasons that promote driving Palestinians from their homes and shops. It is often these settlers that make life extremely difficult for Palestinians who live in Hebron.
This picture shows fencing placed above a road lined with Palestinian shops. In the apartments above the shop is an Israeli settlement. The fence has been placed here to protect the Palestinian people from rocks, trash, and other things that settlers try to throw on them as they are walking down the road.
This is a picture of the village of At-Tuwani. At-Tuwani is a small Palestinian village surrounded by other Palestinian villages as well as a recent Israeli settlement. While here we met with a couple representatives of the Christian Peacemakers Team (CPT). While here, we found out that the CPT is placed in At-Tuwani to protect the people from settler violence. Settlers, as well as some Israeli soldiers, have been known to put dead chickens in the well (the only water source of the people), demolish homes of the people, and to attack children on their way from other villages to the school at At-Tuwani. The presence of CPT reduces the amount of this harassment. CPT also chose to place an outpost in this town because the villagers already participated in a movement of non-violent resistance to this harrassment.
On a happier note, the village women served us a traditional Palestinian meal.Here is a picture of us eating as we sit on the floor.