ISRAEL. Bequa'a Valley near Hebron. West Bank. January 2000. Residents Arabs talk to Israeli soldiers in front of the home of Omar Sultan in the Bequa'a valley near Hebron in the first days of the millenium. As settlers were attempting to forcibly take control of a Palestinian field and home in the Bequa'a Valley, a delegation of Palestinian politicians accompanied by the Jewish Gush Shalom Peace Group composed, in part, of Holocaust survivors, attempt to cross military blocks to show support for the physically vulnerable Omar Sultan family. In the end, a handful of Palestinian politicians were allowed to pass and visit the family. In the second week of January, the Israeli army stated their support fo the Sultan family against the invasion of Jewish settlers. Locals reported that this marked the first occassion where the Israeli Army backed a Palestinian against settlers in the Hebron area.