moqawama

Shuhada Street Chaos

Six hundred are teargassed and sound-bombed in Al-Khalil/Hebron

Editor Palestine Monitor

25 February 2011

 

Closed exactly 16 years ago when American-born Israeli Baruch Goldstein killed 29 worshipers and wounded 125 with a IMI Galil assault rifle in the burial place of Abraham, this effective clotting of the heart of The Old City of Hebron has devastated the local market economy in tandem with rapacious settler colonization.

“The people want an end to the occupation,” bellowed the protesters. “The people want Shuhada Street.”

After the Friday prayer, the mixed crowd of foreigners, Israeli activists and Palestinians marched down into the border line of H1 and H2, respectively Palestinian Authority and Israeli military zones of control. At H1, riot-geared green military and blue police forces covered the ground and dotted buildings.

An initial cordon of six blue policemen could not hold the tide, and the protesters broke through. All began to run and made their way east towards Bab Al Baladia, or the entrance to the Old City. Israeli forces reformed in front of the Shavei Hebron yeshiva. When the protesters arrived, police detonated sound bombs and launched teargas canisters at close range and level to the ground - both actions areillegal under Israeli law.

In the ensuing chaos, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi was dragged by his bodyguard after a confrontation with Israeli soldiers to the relative safety of the Old City’s souq. There, about forty Palestinians regrouped, wrecked by the gas. Palestinian Medical Relief Society health workers treated two suffering men as angry soldiers approached.

“They don’t want to arrest me,” Dr. Barghouthi said. “I told them I won’t move. They don’t want a scandal.”

After an Israeli officer tried in vain to escort Dr. Barghouthi away, the small group left the shadow of Al-Khalil’s trashnets and rejoined the protest’s other half. Soon, they chanted solidarity between Silwan and Hebron and “life to the revolution.”

The soldiers and police began advancing on the crowd and arrested two International Solidarity Movement activists and at least one Palestinian. They grabbed protest leaders and pulled them to the sides as once again chaos reigned in Al-Khalil.

“Why are you doing this?” Dr. Barghouthi said while being shoved. “We are non-violent.”

The crowd dispersed into the alleys and side streets of Al-Khalil as ISM and Israeli activists were apprehended. Young men and boys began throwing stones, and police and soldiers returned fire with teargas grenades. As the youth fell back into the narrow streets between stone Palestinian homes, fuming teargas canisters followed in pursuit.

After the shabab stopped throwing stones and soldiers retreated towards the settler enclaves in H2, the remnants of the protest massed on the west side of the Old City. Tired and worn from the day, they had little time to rest.

Two squads of Palestinian Authority riot-police marched towards the melange of international, Israeli and Palestinian activists, their batons swinging slightly to the left of their large plastic shields. Everyone left - according to Human Rights Watch, 95 percent of PA prisoners are tortured.

Photographers were told their work is mamnu3a - forbidden - by gruff plainclothes PA operators. The popular demand for the reopening of Shuhada Street began with Israeli overreaction and ended with PA police.