RAMALLAH, West Bank, 1 May 2008 — Israeli authorities yesterday imposed a three-year closure of a sewing workshop operated by the Islamic Charitable Society in Hebron in the southern West Bank. Palestinian and international human rights activists said that approximately 40 Israeli soldiers raided the Hebron Girls’ Orphanage.
Acting on orders issued by commander of Israeli forces in the West Bank, Gadi Shemni, soldiers looted the workshop of all its sewing and processing machines, office equipment, rolls of cloth, finished clothing and supplies. The sources said that the estimated value of the physical material taken is $45,000.
International human rights workers with the organization Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) said “the cost in terms of the fear and terror instilled in the hearts of the little girls living above the workshop is much higher.”
Members of CPT and other internationals from Belgium, Britain, Canada, Germany, Holland, Scotland and the US have been sleeping in the orphanage. CPT said in a press statement “their concern is for the children who live in fear of the Israeli military forcing them out of the place they’ve come to call home. Their hope last night was that their presence would forestall the army’s raid on the workshop. They hoped in vain.”
CPT’s Art Arbour decried this latest effort by the Israeli military in its campaign to close the orphanages, “How can grown men do this to little children?”
The organization said that statements of support for the orphans have come in from former President Jimmy Carter, EU Vice President Luisa Morgentini and representatives of many international organizations worried about the fate of the orphans in Hebron.
The spokesman of Israeli forces said that the Islamic Charitable Society is affiliated with Hamas movement. The Israeli Army Radio quoted him as saying that the society “recruits activists and money for anti-Israel military activities.” The workshop was established in 1985 and it employs 15 female orphan workers. The workshop produces long Islamic outfits for orphans.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces operating in the West Bank cities of Nablus and Jenin yesterday arrested 28 citizens, Palestinian security sources said. The sources said that large number of Israeli troops raided Asker area on Nablus, conducted a search campaign into citizen’s houses and arrested twenty-seven youths, leading them into unknown locations for questioning.
In Jenin area, the troops stormed Zaboba village, searched houses and arrested 16-year-old Ahmed Amarneh and led him into unknown location.
In a related development, a working group comprising former commanders of the Israeli forces and senior Palestinian officials said in a report recently submitted to government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority that ten roadblocks that Israel set up in the West Bank have little security value and are needlessly disrupting trade in the Palestinian territories.
The project is facilitated jointly by the Peres Center for Peace and the Palestinian Center for Strategic Studies, and sponsored by the government of Denmark. “Alternative solutions (to the roadblocks) can easily be employed and reduce disruptions that hurt the trade (coming) from and within the West Bank,” the team argued. “No doubt, the long waits, bypasses and uncertainty regarding these points seriously sabotage effective passage of goods in the West Bank and to Israel and abroad.”
The report added that the removal of four dirt obstacles by the Israeli authorities is “too little too late.” The report is in line with the conclusions drawn up by the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Some 500 roadblocks affect the PA economy, trade and mobility, according to the report.
In addition, five official roadblocks regulating trade between Israel and the Palestinian Authority exist. Limits on travel have put a major strain on the Palestinian economy that is at an unprecedented low, the report said.
