Settlers celebrate, Palestinians imprisoned

Every year when the settlers in Hebron celebrate any of their feasts, Palestinian residents of the city are ‘automatically’ imprisoned in their homes, while the army occupies their rooftops in order to enable the settlers conduct their ceremonies, in a ‘clear area”.

Recently, the Israeli army closed the old city of Hebron, and completely sealed it and the surrounding neighborhoods in order to “secure the area for the settlers while celebrating the Pesah”.

As expected, settlers had a different plan; they celebrated the feast and celebrated their new illegal outpost in Tal Rmeida neighborhood in Hebron.   

“Soldiers broke into dozens of homes, they also used the home of Mohammad Abu Aisha as a monitoring tower since it is close to the new outpost the settlers erected, soldiers are protecting their new outpost, instead of evacuating them from our properties which they grabbed”, a resident said.

Abu Aisha family, in Tel Rmeida, was forced in one room; soldiers did not allow them to move around, or even use the phone, and totally occupied the second floor.

The whole neighborhood is surrounded; residents are imprisoned in their homes, not even allowed to look out of their windows, while the settlers celebrate the new outpost which contains 13 units.

 

A resident of Bab az-Zawiya neighborhood said that soldiers and settlers erected Israeli flags, while settlers groups wrote graffiti against the Palestinians along the road which leads to Tal Rmeida.   

Thousands of settlers are expected in this city this evening; thousands of residents will remain imprisoned in their own homes.

Mofeed Sharabati, who owns a home close to a settlement outpost called Beit Hadassah, said that soldiers informed the families in the area that they will not be allowed to leave their homes, not allowed to use their rooftop or even look out of their windows.

“We aren’t only imprisoned in our homes, we aren’t even allowed to use certain rooms of our homes, we are practically locked up in our homes”, Sharabati said.

In Qezon area, which is located north of Kharseena settlement, east of Hebron, soldiers occupied on Monday at night, rooftops of dozens of homes, barring the families from moving freely in their own homes, and used the rooftops as monitoring towers.

Resident Naji Skafy said that soldiers broke into his home, searched it and used it as a monitoring tower.

“They forced us out of the second floor, now we have to use the first floor since soldiers completely controlled the second floor and the roof, yet we aren’t even allowed to move freely in the first floor, or to have visitors”, Skafy added.

Stores, shops and streets are now closed, the area is not to be used by any Palestinian resident, only soldiers and settlers are there, yet more settlers are expected to arrive, and more Palestinians are expected to be imprisoned, while soldiers controlled their rooftops and closed the markets and the old neighborhoods of the city.  

 

Hebron remains closed, surrounded and isolated, yet the residents also have to remain surrounded and isolated in their own homes, not allowed to leave or even move freely.

Source WAFA