“Chayei Sarah” weekend in Hebron: Israeli settlers attack Palestinians and loot property in front of soldiers

On 18 and 19 Nov. 2022, Israeli settlers marked the reading of the Chayei Sarah [Life of Sarah] Torah portion in the Hebron city center. That weekend, dozens of settlers attacked Palestinian homes with stones, vandalized cars and market stalls, raided a clothing store and assaulted residents, at least one of whom was taken to hospital by ambulance. Israeli soldiers were present throughout yet arrested none of the settlers, and occasionally fired tear gas canisters and threw stun grenades at Palestinians trying to defend their property.

B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari collected testimonies about the incidents:

On the evening of 18 November 2022, dozens of settlers attacked the al-Ja’bari family home in the al-Muhawel neighborhood as the family was preparing a festive meal for a wedding party. The settlers threw stones at the house and vandalized three cars belonging to family members and guests. Throughout that evening and the following day, settlers smashed windows in two mosques and dozens of houses in the al-Ja’bari and Tel Rumeidah neighborhoods, as well as on a-Shalala Street.

Ayat al-Ja’bari, (38), who was busy preparing the festive meal that evening, said in a testimony she gave on 20 November 2022,:

On Friday evening, 18 November 2022, at around 7:00 P.M., we were having a festive meal to celebrate my niece’s marriage. About 20 settlers passed by the house, some of them masked, and started vandalizing our guests’ cars, which were parked out front, with stones. They shattered the windshield of the groom’s car, punctured all its tires and destroyed the side view mirrors. They also slashed the tires of my brother’s car and of a taxi that had just dropped off guests. Then they threw stones at the house for 10 minutes and left.

While the attack was going on, we called the Israeli police, but no one came. A few soldiers came after the settlers left. They came upstairs to check our security cameras, and then they left too. At around 9:00 P.M., some settlers showed up again and started throwing stones at the house. Within about 10 minutes, dozens more joined them, but soldiers who arrived with them kept them away. Our guests left and we canceled the meal. The settlers kept stayed in the area and wandered around. We heard them singing and shouting until late at night.

The next morning, 19 November 2022, we saw settlers walking along the roads that leading to the settlement of Kiryat Arba and Wadi a-Nasara. There were lots of soldiers there, too. The Civil Administration warned us and the rest of the neighborhood not to leave home or walk along the street. No one from my family left home or went to work. During the day, we saw on WhatsApp groups that settlers were attacking Palestinians in the Old City, in Tel Rumeidah and in the Jaber neighborhood. Calls also went out through mosque loudspeakers to go and fend off the settler attacks.

On 19 November 2022, at around 8:30 A.M., soldiers ordered all Palestinian businesses on a-Shalala Street closed by 4:00 P.M. and prohibited Palestinian movement in the area. Some of the shopkeepers and vendors stayed to protect their property. At around 11:00 A.M., settlers arrived at the market in a procession, chanting racist slogans. They vandalized at least five stalls, destroyed goods and threw stones at residents. They broke into a clothing store in front of soldiers, stole merchandise and scattered some of it on the floor and in the street. Soldiers threw stun grenades and even fired live rounds at Palestinians who tried to keep the settlers away.

Ahmad ‘Awawdeh (54), a resident of Deir Samit who owns a clothing store on Bab a-Zawiya Street, related on 23 November:

On 19 November 2022, my wife Najlaa and I went to our store, as we do every morning. When we go to Bab a-Zawiya, we saw a lot of soldiers walking around and ordering everyone to close up shop. The soldiers also started putting up metal barriers to block Palestinians from using the street. We kept on walking to our store in the Bab a-Zawiya area, opened up and displayed clothes on stands out front, as usual.

At around 10:00 A.M., a Civil Administration officer called out on a loudspeaker, ordering shopkeepers to close up and vacate the street by 4:00 P.M.. Najlaa and I ignored him. At around 11:00 A.M., I saw hundreds of settlers arrive at a-Shalala Street along with about eight soldiers. The settlers threw stones at houses and vegetable stalls, threw goods on the ground and destroyed stalls. My wife and I tried to bring in the clothes from our stands outside, but we only managed to clear one before the settlers got to us. Two other stands remained full.

When the settlers got to the doorway, Najlaa and I went inside but couldn’t lock the door because it doesn’t have a lock on the inside. The soldiers watched while dozens of settlers raided the store and stole clothes from the stands outside. They stole sacks full of clothes right in front of our eyes, and there was nothing we could do. We were afraid they would attack or even kill us.

In the meantime, some area residents and stall owners gathered by the store and threw vegetables at the settlers which they’d thrown on the street earlier, to try and to protect us. Then the soldiers threw stun grenades at them and fired live shots in the air. The settlers moved on from the store. My wife and I tried to collect the clothes that were left on the street, but the soldiers shouted at us and ordered us back inside. We were trapped inside for about three hours, until the settlers and soldiers left. Then some young men helped us gather the clothes and close the shop. We got home to the village of Deir Samit, west of Hebron, having lost about NIS 7,000 (USD 2,000), including clothes that were stolen or ruined during the attack.

On 23 November, Hamzah a-Shaloudi (40), who owns a greengrocery on a-Shalala Street, said:

I have a small fruit and vegetable shop on the old a-Shalala Street. My nephew, Ramadan a-Shaloudi, has a vegetable stand on the same street. On 19 November 2022, at around 8:30 A.M., the Israeli military started shutting down the area of Bab a-Zawiya and putting up metal barriers. They refused to let Palestinian residents through, even to get home, saying that settlers were going to visit the Tomb of Othniel on Beersheba Street in the city.

The soldiers came to my shop and told me to close up by 4:00 P.M. I ignored them and stayed open. I saw them go to vendors along the street and tell them to leave their stalls. Some of the vendors refused, because they were afraid the settlers would steal or destroy their goods. At around 11:00 A.M., dozens of settlers came out of the Beit Romano settlement, with several soldiers escorting them. They spread out along on a-Shalala Street and started attacking Palestinian homes with stones and empty bottles. They overturned vegetable stands and threw the goods on the ground, shouting “Death to Arabs.” They threw some of my goods on the floor and destroyed my nephew’s stall. We saw them raid Ahmad ‘Awawdeh’s clothing store and steal some of the merchandise. The soldiers did nothing.

I tried, together with some other young men and merchants, to drive the settlers away from the shops and stalls. We threw vegetables that were lying on the ground at them, but couldn’t fend them off. The attack on the market lasted until about 3:00 P.M. Then the settlers went to the area of a-Shuhada Street, and we got reports they were attacking homes there and in the Tel Rumeidah area. I closed the shop and went home.

The attack caused me and other merchants severe losses. I lost about NIS 2,000 (USD 570) in goods they scattered and vegetables that went bad since I couldn’t sell them that day. More than five stalls on our street were destroyed. The next morning, I opened my shop and found out my neighbor had a heart attack after his goods were vandalized. His brother brought what remained to my store, so I could help him sell it. He’s a poor man and has children with special needs, and the shop is his only income.

That Saturday, settlers attacked at least nine Palestinians throughout the city center. One of them, Bilal a-Sa’id (19), was hit in the eye with a stone and taken to hospital by ambulance. The settlers tried to prevent his evacuation.

On 21 November, Bilal a-Sa'id (19) from the neighborhood of Tel Rumeidah recounted:

On Saturday, 19 November 2022, there was military and settler activity in our area from the morning and we knew they were celebrating what they call “Life of Sarah.” I didn’t set up my vegetable stall that day. At around 1:00 P.M., I decided to go to the Bab a-Zawiya area to check what was happening, because I heard settlers had vandalized stalls there. When I got to the Bab a-Zawiya checkpoint, it was closed and the military wasn’t letting Palestinians through, so I went back home. When I got to the Gilbert checkpoint in Tel Rumeidah, I saw about eight settlers walking towards me, and four of them came closer. Suddenly, a stone hit me in the eye. I didn’t see who threw it. The settlers ran away and I stayed there, with my eye bleeding, screaming and writhing in pain. Within a minute, a soldier arrived and started talking on the two-way radio. Dozens of settlers gathered around me, and two Israel Police jeeps arrived. My neighbors also came, as well as a doctor called Taysir Zahdeh who wiped the blood from my face, cleaned the wound and dressed it. My neighbors asked the soldiers to safeguard us so they could take me in a wheelchair to the Bab a-Zawiya area, but the soldiers refused and said it was dangerous for us to go there.

After 40 minutes, two Israeli paramedics came and dressed the wound. They said we needed to call a Palestinian ambulance to come get me, but the driver was too afraid to come there because of the settlers. In the end, my neighbors wheeled me in a wheelchair to the Bab a-Zawiya checkpoint, guarded by about 20 soldiers who separated us from the settlers. On the way, the settlers tried to attack us and spat and swore at us. One of the settlers broke a camera belonging to my neighbor, ‘Imad Abu Shamsiyeh (52). I was taken to the Princess ‘Aliya Governmental Hospital, where they ran x-rays and tests. They didn’t find any fractures. I had bruises and a wound under my left eye. I was treated and discharged at around 5:00 A.M. There were still settlers out on the street, but fewer of them.

On 21 November, ‘Imad Abu Shamsiyeh (52) from the neighborhood of Tel Rumeidah said:

At round 2:00 P.M., I heard shouting outside, so I grabbed my camera and left the house. Two of my neighbors, Yasser Abu Markhiyah and Ziad al-Hadad, followed me. When we were close to the Tel Rumeidah checkpoint, I saw Bilal a-Sa’id (19). His face was bleeding and he had his hand over his eye. There was a soldier next to him, and a large group of settlers. I went over to Bilal and asked what happened. He said settlers had come towards him and suddenly, a stone had hit his eye.

Just then, two police [Special Patrol Unit] jeeps arrived and the officers ordered us to move to the side of the street. One of the officers went over to Bilal and checked his wound. A few minutes later, a doctor called Taysir Zahdeh arrived. He stopped the bleeding and bandaged the wound. We tried to take Bilal away in a wheelchair, but the soldiers wouldn’t let us and said it was too dangerous. After about 40 minutes, two Israeli paramedics examined Bilal and asked us to get the Red Crescent to take him to hospital. We called the Red Crescent and they told us to bring Bilal to the Bab a-Zawiya checkpoint, because they couldn’t enter the area for fear the settlers would attack them. We wheeled Bilal there in the wheelchair, escorted by soldiers. When we got to the checkpoint, settlers who were there spat and swore at us, and one of them snatched my camera from me and broke the screen. After a few minutes, the soldiers managed to move the settlers away, and only then were we able to bring Bilal to the ambulance that was waiting for us about 100 meters from the checkpoint.

That evening, when we wanted to head back to the Tel Rumeidah checkpoint, the soldiers told us we couldn’t cross so we waited for about an hour – me, Yasser and Ziad. Eventually, we went back via a dirt road that leads to my back gate of my house. Before I could open the gate, dozens of settlers suddenly arrived, one of whom I know as a guy who causes us a lot of trouble. They surrounded the house from every direction and tried to break in. My wife, Ziad and I shouted “Allah Akbar” and called for help on WhatsApp. The settlers attacked the house with stones and empty bottles for about 10 minutes, and some of them tried to climb the fence. Then, suddenly, I saw four soldiers standing on the roof. They threw two stun grenades at us. Two of them went down into our yard and ordered us inside. We didn’t go in, but tried to hide under the tin shelters in the yard while the settlers continued to throw stones. One of the stones hit me in the right knee. It took an hour until they left and went towards the Ramat Yishai settlement. Later, I heard they’d also attacked the homes of the al-’Azzah and Abu ‘Eishah families. After they left, my wife and I went inside and closed the doors. We heard the settlers shouting on the streets until late at night.