Swedish human rights worker viciously attacked by Jewish extremists in Hebron

ISM Hebron
21 November 2006

UPDATE, November 21: Tove is still in hospital where she
will remain for the next few days before returning to
Sweden to receive ongoing treatment there. As well as a
broken cheekbone Tove has a fractured skull and damage to
her eye muscles. A complaint was filed with the police in
Kiryat Arba where eye-witness statements and photo
evidence was submitted. However, according to a report by
Israeli human rights group Yesh Din 90% of complaints
filed against Israelis to the "Samaria and Judea District"
police were closed without indictments being issued.

November 18 - A 19-year old Swedish human rights worker
had her cheekbone broken by a Jewish extremist in Hebron
today. Earlier the same day at least five Palestinians,
including a 3-year-old child, were injured by the
settler-supporting extremists, who rampaged through Tel
Rumeida hurling stones and bottles at local residents.
Palestinian schoolchildren on their way home were also
attacked. The Israeli army, which was intensively deployed
in the area, did not intervene to stop the attacks.

Tove Johansson from Stockholm walked through the Tel
Rumeida checkpoint with a small group of human rights
workers (HRWs) to accompany Palestinian schoolchildren to
their homes. They were confronted by about 100 Jewish
extremists in small groups. They started chanting in
Hebrew "We killed Jesus, we'll kill you too!" - a refrain
the settlers had been repeating to internationals in Tel
Rumeida all day.

After about thirty seconds of waiting, a small group of
very aggressive male Jewish extremists surrounded the
international volunteers and began spitting at them, so
much so that the internationals described it as "like
rain." Then men from the back of the crowd began jumping
up and spitting, while others from the back and side of
the crowd kicked the volunteers.


The soldiers, who were standing at the checkpoint just a
few feet behind the HRWs, looked on as they were being
attacked.

One settler then hit Tove on the left side of her face
with an empty bottle, breaking it on her face and leaving
her with a broken cheekbone. She immediately fell to the
ground and the group of Jewish extremists who were
watching began to clap, cheer, and chant. The soldiers,
who had only watched until this point, then came forward
and motioned at the settlers, in a manner which the
internationals described as "ok, that's enough guys."

The extremists, however, were allowed to stay in the area
and continued watching and clapping as the HRWs tried to
stop the flow of blood from the young woman's face. Some,
who were coming down the hill even tried to take photos of
themselves next to her bleeding face, giving the camera a
"thumbs-up" sign.

At this point, a HRW was taken into a police van and asked
to identify who had attacked the group. The HRW did this,
pointing out three Jewish extremists who the police took
into their police vehicles. However, the extremists were
all driven to different areas of the neighborhood and
released nearly immediately. When one of the three was
released on Shuhada Street, the crowd that was still
celebrating the woman's injuries applauded and cheered.

A settler medic came to the scene about 15 minutes after
the attack and immediately began interrogating the
internationals who had been attacked about why they were
in Hebron. He refused to help the bleeding woman lying on
the street in any way.


Five minutes after the settler medic arrived, the army
medic arrived and began treating the injured woman. When
she was later put on a stretcher, the crowd again clapped
and cheered.

Police officers at the scene then began threatening to
arrest the remaining HRWs if they did not immediately
leave the area, even though they had just been attacked.

The injured woman was taken to Kiryat Arba settlement and
then to Hadassah Ein Keren hospital in Jerusalem.

HRWs were later told by the police that they had not even
taken the names of those who were identified as having
attacked the HRWs and that one of the main assailants had
simply told the police that he was due at the airport in
two hours to fly back to France.

The incident was the latest attack by extremist Jews in
Hebron. The small group of Khannist settlers in Tel
Rumeida regularly attack and harass Palestinians in the
area. The violence sometimes spills over to the
international human rights workers who accompany
Palestinians in an attempt to protect them from settler
attack.

The settlers in Tel Rumeida encourage Jewish tourists to
come to support them, as a way of making up for their
small numbers. Today, hundreds had come from tours in
Israel for a special event u many from overseas: France,
England and the United States.