Open Shuhada St. demo at AL-Khalil (Hebron), Palestine

On Thursday, February 27, some 200 Palestinians and 20-30 Israelis and internationals protesters marched towards Shuhada St. demanding it to be opened.

Shuhada Street, the main street in the West Bank City of Hebron, has been closed to Palestinians since February 25th, 1994, when an Israeli settler massacred Palestinians in Hebron's mosque. Shuhada Street used to be the principal street for Palestinians residents, businesses and a very active market place in the Palestinian city of Hebron/ al Khaleel. Today, because Shuhada Street runs through the Jewish settlement of Hebron, the street is closed to Palestinians and looks like a virtual ghost street which only Israelis and tourists are allowed to access. Hate graffiti has been sprayed across the closed Palestinian shops and Palestinians living on the street have to enter and exit their houses through their back doors or, even sometimes by climbing over neighbor's roofs.

Mohamed Hafez writes: "Yesterday in Hebron, the third largest city in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the group I've been working with for the last couple months, Youth Against Settlements, organized a protest in which about 200 Palestinians and 20-30 Israelis attempted to walk down the main street of the Hebron, in peace.....As we approached Shuhada Street, the Israeli soldiers guarding the entrance to the street responded to the 100% non-violent action with a barrage of tear gas and stun grenades, which unfortunately drove many of the protesters back. Myself and the remaining Palestinians and Israelis linked arms, and continued to proceed towards the street despite the choking, nauseating gas, at which point the soldiers began to aggressively push us back, drag us by our shirt collars, and knock people over on several occasions. Eventually we made our way to a point where the road narrowed, and the soldiers, along with their reinforcements, were able to completely block our passage. They then claimed the area was a 'closed military zone', and that we would be arrested if we did not leave. Under Israeli occupation law, we are allowed to request to see an order in writing before being obligated to comply, so we refused to move while they claimed they were retrieving the written order. Neither I nor the organizers of the protest were ever shown the order, and no announcement of its arrival was made. The next thing we knew a truckload of Israeli riot police arrived and rushed into the crowd of protesters to arrest people. I was one of the people targeted, and six riot policemen managed to surround me and take me off. I was taken to a police van, handcuffed, driven off to the police station for fingerprinting, light questioning, and surprisingly pleasant conversation, held for a couple hours, and then released and told that I am no longer allowed in the city of Hebron, and will be arrested on sight and fined heavily if I do not leave the city immediately. Ironically, in following the directions they gave to get to my house to retrieve my belongings before I left, I walked down the very street whose closure to Palestinians I had been arrested for protesting."
read more: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/02/26/18638876.php