During night patrol, Doug Pritchard and Pierre Shantz came across a large group of girls coming out of Avraham Avinu settlement. They were wearing white sheets, singing loudly, carrying torches and holding a girl on a platform. The soldiers said it was part of the month-long Purim celebration. More soldiers and vehicles arrived to keep Palestinians away and to keep the girls confined to their own street and out of the Casbah.

Monday, 15 February: Atta Jabber reported that several more families in the Beqa'a Valley received stop work or demolition orders, bringing the total number of such orders to 21.

Tuesday, 16 February: Anne Montgomery rejoined the team.

Pritchard and Art Gish visited Hani Abu Heikel, who lives on Tel Rumeida where the Israeli government has approved $2 million US for making the seven-family settlement there permanent. Abu Heikel said that the preparations for making Tel Rumeida permanent have been stopped while Palestinian pursue a lawsuit in the Israeli high court protesting the possible damage to archaeological sites. Tel Rumeida is the site of ancient ruins going back to Abraham's time and is also considered the site of King David?s first city.

At 10:15 p.m., the Israeli bomb squad blocked off Shuhada Street from the chicken market just below CPT's apartment and set off eight blasts. Palestinian youths had found something in the market and alerted the military, which responded.

Abdel Hadi Hantash of the Palestinian Land Defense Committee (LDC) reported that the Israeli military confiscated 18 dunams (about 4.5 acres) of land near Halhul, a town north of Hebron. The military issued two orders to take over Palestinian rooftops in Hebron's old city by the Avraham Avinu settlement. Although the orders gave the families 10 days to protest, the orders were delivered just three days before the end of the protest period.

Hantash added that the military also gave an order to confiscate 1000 dunams (about 250 acres) of land for a new stone quarry between the settlements of Tina and Shama in southwest Hebron District. Much of the "Jerusalem stone" used to face buildings in Israeli towns and settlements comes from quarries in the West Bank. The confiscation order gave 60 days for the owners of the land to object.

Ash Wednesday, 17 February: CPTers set up a "Tent for Lent" opposite the Red Cross and maintained a presence all day. This is part of CPT's new Spark Under the Ashes campaign.

Dianne Roe, Jake Kaufman and Anne Montgomery met with ICAHD representatives and Palestinian families from Beit Ummar about the possibility of clearing rubble from the families' demolished homes. (See also 24 February CPTnet release, "CHICAGO/HEBRON: TENT FOR LENT "The Meeting.")

Thursday, 18 February: CPTers set up the "Tent for Lent" in downtown Hebron and talked with news media in an informal press conference under bright sunny skies. The Yussef Al-Atrash, Fayez Jabber and Atta Jabber families came. Children made posters in Arabic while their parents spoke with reporters.

Friday, 19 February: Gish, Pritchard and Roe visited two families, the Idrees brothers who are matched in the Campaign for Secure Dwellings (CSD). Both families live in crowded apartments in Hebron since their homes in the Beqa'a Valley were demolished in 1996. They told the CPTers that their faith is in God and that they have not given up on life. They said that they hope that someday they can rebuild.

Sunday, 21 February: Soldiers at the checkpoint by CPT's apartment stopped Gish, Goode and Pritchard to ask what CPT does. The soldiers said they are here to protect the lives of Jews in Hebron. When they referred to the violence of the Palestinians, Gish reminded the soldiers that, in the West Bank, 17 Palestinians are killed by Israelis for every Israeli killed by Palestinians. The soldiers replied that they are here to insure that that one Israeli is not killed. CPTers replied that they hope to help reduce the number killed on both sides to zero.