On the night between May 10 and 11 – Israeli Independence Day Eve, when youths danced in the streets of Israeli cities – soldiers descended upon the small village of Afkikis, near the settlement of Negohot. There, soldiers rampaged in the streets for several hours, smashed windows and doors, broke in houses and wantonly destroyed furniture and belongings. Thus Gush Shalom was informed by its contacts in the Hebron area.

After the village inhabitants approached the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian liaison Bureau made an official complaint to the Israeli military. The commanders on the ground seemed to take Palestinian complaints seriously, and even invited a Palestinian representative to visit the village with them and asses the damage.

On the morning of May 18, the Palestinian liaison bureau was informed that the soldiers who had broken into the village had acted wrongly and would be prosecuted.

However, about an hour after this message was delivered to the Palestinian liaison bureau, located in the town of Dura, military forces arrived Dura, broke into its community center where a teachers' conference, organized by the Palestinian Ministry of Education, was taking place. The soldiers violently dispersed hundreds of teachers by wild hurling of tear gas grenades – without any visible reason, since the teachers were in the middle of a lecture on educational matters.

When the Palestinian Liaison Bureau lodged a new complaint, their Israeli counterparts told them that the attack on the teachers' conference in Dura was “completely unknown" and that “the subject will be checked".

Contact: Adam Keller adam@gush-shalom.org