Children
06/02/2012 ,Morning
Hagit B., Michal Z. (reporting)
Translator: Charles K.
6:30-10:00
A lot has been happening recently in the village of a-Tuwwani. We decided to devote today’s shift to visiting the village. Despite our long acquaintance with the villagers, despite our joint struggle (like other peace groups and human rights organizations) over their right to remain there and live safely, we are shocked anew each time by the maliciousness and obtuseness of the behavior toward them by the state and its institutions.
Their only sin is that they live at the foot of the notorious settlements of Ma’on and Ma’on Farm, and that among their houses are archaeological remains from the Roman and Byzantine periods (what Israeli locality doesn’t sit on an archaeological site?).
A bit of history
After considerable struggles and the involvement of many parties, it was finally agreed to connect them to a water supply (they depend primarily on cisterns). But lo and behold, when excavations had just begun to lay the pipes, someone remembered that the location was in fact an archaeological site worth researching. What’s more important? Water for people (non-Jews) or the remains of a synagogue thousands of years old? You guessed right. So they stopped preparing the infrastructure for the water supply, and stuck a sign from the Antiquities Authority in the middle of someone’s yard, and dug. Now we have an important site. You can’t touch it; you can only make a pilgrimage.
Last Friday, 3.2.12, a group of tourists arrived on a tour run by In the Bible’s Pathways, from Sussia. They first went to Yata to see the pools from the time of Nabal HaCarmeli, and then came to see the remains of the ancient synagogue in a-Tuwwani. “Did anyone let you know, try to coordinate with you?,” we asked the people whose yard had become sanctified. “No,” they replied in surprise. The buses parked at the entrance to the village, the group entered on foot accompanied by police and soldiers. They prayed and sounded shofars. Yehoshofat Tor and his brother from Havvat Ma’on, and settlers from Ma’on, joined them; they never miss an opportunity to enter a-Tuwwani and harass its residents . After an hour and a half of uproar, they left.
“What about the water pipe? When will they connect you?”, we asked. “Who knows,” they reply.
Anyway, who really cares? Everything’s legal…
That Friday night about 25 more olive trees near their houses were mysteriously cut down, as well as another 15 located farther away. The people from Tuwwani complained to the police. Last night, at midnight, they heard noises and went to see what it was. “Police, army,” they were told, “Go back inside.”
Yes, they came. To guard? To arrest settlers? “Go home, go home,” yelled the law enforcement officials to the settlers; that’s what the residents heard. The security forces were there until 3 AM, chasing the rioters away. No one was arrested. That’s how it was day after day, night after night.
Again, a stupid question: Would they behave that way if Palestinians dared damage Jewish property?
A bit more history
Since 1981, when Ma’on was established, and then the adjoining farm, the residents of a-Tuwwani “benefit” from the blows of those “dear ones.” It began with polluting wells with chicken carcasses, then uprooting olive trees, and finally harassing and frightening children coming from nearby localities to attend school in the village.
Since 2004, thanks to the efforts by Hagit Beck, the residents and the Knesset children Committee at that time, a solution of genius was devised, to which the IDF agreed and was forced to carry out till now, namely – every morning an IDF jeep and soldiers accompany the children coming from Umm Tuba who have to pass by Ma’on on their way to school.
We welcomed the solution. It was better than nothing. But we thought: Our wise men of Chelm haven’t considered (they don’t dare) preventing the thugs from Havvat Ma’on from lashing out at the children. It’s simpler, fairer and cheaper to provide a military escort every morning for a group of school children.
Has one of us ever tried to apply that formula where we are?
That’s how things have been since then.
So what’s happened in the interim? Residents of Tuwwani say that recently the army hasn’t shown up at all, or arrived late, and the children, who were supposed to be escorted at 7:30 AM so they’ll reach school on time, are late or return home because they’re afraid to go unescorted.
A phone call to Col. Guy Hazut, the commander of the Judea brigade, to hear the IDF’s version. “We’re taking care of it,” he promises me. “I spoke with my soldiers, who are angry at the valuable time wasted. They’re the ones waiting, the children are late or don’t show up at all. Why doesn’t anyone complain about that?” And he also said that the activity comes at the expense of operations, and that the school bus of the Southern Hebron Hills Regional Council is also late sometimes because of security reasons. “It happens,” says Col. Hazut.
“It’s 7:45 AM,” I tell him, “there’s no jeep and no children. They’ll be late to school today also.”
We’re taking care of it, he says again.
It’s almost 8 AM; we hear the children merry in the distance. The longed-for military jeep is visible on the horizon. They’ll be late to school today as well. Men belonging to a peace organization also arrive; they’ve been accompanying the children and observing what’s happening. They also report on the army’s behavior. We asked them to give us daily reports, and photos, if possible. Let’s hope that, confronted by facts in real time, the army will carry out the agreement it made.
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The following is an update from the school patrol of yesterday morning, 05/02/2012. The escort was 50 minutes late. The children waited alone in a dangerous location where in the past they were attacked by the settlers. Where the army jeep should have been waiting, two settlers stood shouting and whistling to frighten the children. After this incident the children returned to the village of Tuba because the settlers stayed near the chicken barns. The escort didn't arrive at the end of barns to meet the students and didn't complete its entire route, but instead left when it was near Ma’on’s greenhouses. Ma'on’s security chief also followed the children at a distanceOperation dove team
Operation Dove - Nonviolent Peace Corps
Palestine/Israel
Ass. Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII
www.operationdove.org
25/01/2012 ,Morning
Chedva H., Nava R. (reporting)
Four trucks waited for inspection prior to entering the Seam Line zone. At 10:30 they entered the inspection area. At the Palestinian car park many drivers waited for passengers.
Workers and merchants from Barta'a have arrived, as usual with the required permits. They entered the terminal and went through all but one, a resident of Zebeida, in the West Bank, whose origins are from East Barta'a, in the Seam Line zone. He came with his six-year-old son. The man holds a valid work permit in the Seam Line zone and his son is registered on his I.D. He and his son wanted to visit his mother, the grandmother, who lives in East Barta'a. He was not allowed to cross with his son.
We were unable to get hold of Sharon the checkpoint manager, and instead we called the Salem DCO, where we were given a telephone number for public appeals at Beth-El. The answer given to us there was that the man has a work permit that does not include his son, and for a visit he needs to apply for a special permit.
There were talk about children's kidnapping etc. The man and his son returned home to Zbeida.
15/01/2012 ,Afternoon
Roni Hammermann and Tamar Fleishman (reporting); Guest: Orlika
Translation: Ruth Fleishman
We were last in line, waiting for the turnstiles to open so that we could pass into the inner inspection area. Neither we nor the people before us had noticed that the soldiers' post had been abandoned and the revolving mechanism was disconnected. Only one child who had passed through the gate before his mother had, stood on the other side, all alone, there was no going forward or backward. The child was entrapped.JPG)
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During the first moments the child smiled with embarrassment, and then the smile was replaced by a worried gaze. He brought his body closer to his mother who was standing on the other side of the metal bars, took her hand and grabbed it tightly like a life preserving anchor.
The Palestinians, who are used to the arbitrariness by which the place is run, moved to the parallel inspection lane with acceptance. We stayed with the mother, cetin that within a minute or two the problem would be resolved. After all everything that happens in the checkpoint is filmed and broadcasted live to the plasma screens of those who run the site.
We were wrong.
The tears that started streaming down the cheeks of the child caused us to hurry and make some calls. We thought that as soon as we inform the hot lines the child would be released.
We were wrong again.
They all gave us the same answer: "I'm making inquiries".
We called again: "I'm making inquiries".
After twenty minutes, after having promised the mother and her son that "any moment now…"- "they will just look at their camera and someone will come and press the button…", "But I've only now explained to them, they are making inquiries and it will all be alright…", we understood that there was no telling how long the child will remain entrapped and detached from his mother, and Roni went to the parallel lane to request the help of the soldier sitting there, while I stayed with the mother and kept trying to talk to the people at the hot lines who over and over again could understand and connected me with the officer in charge, who also didn't understand and we ended up having an incomprehensive dialog.
- The officer: "what is the name of his mother?"
- Me: "I don't know"
- The officer: "how will I identify him?"
- Me: "He has two legs… why do you need to identify him?- just let go!!"
- The officer: "wait, I don't understand, explain again, is he in the red zone?- where does he want to go to?"
Nearly thirty minutes later a solider from the offices was sent to press the releasing button. But before pressing he insisted on explaining that actually: "the child is to blame. He shouldn't have passed to the other side on his own". Not only was it the victims fault, but it was possible to prolong his suffering and put forth the occupier's narrative.
No one believes the Palestinians. That's why they are always equipped with a bundle of documents that prove their disabilities, their situation and their very existence.
Such was the 71 year old person from Jerusalem, a disabled and sick man who has difficulty walking and waiting in the cramped lines of Qalandiya only makes it harder for him.
The man presented before us his disability certificate, as proof of his bad health and told us how he is mistreated at the passage for residents of Jerusalem, where in spite regulations that allow the disabled elderly and pregnant women to remain seated in the bus, he is force to come down, walk to the pedestrians' checkpoint, stand in line, pass the turnstiles and be inspected (again) by the soldier.
"Write down what I'm telling you. Write it down"- he asked.
15/01/2012 ,Afternoon
Ruthi T., Yochi A., (Reporting)
Translation: Bracha B.A.
15:10 – Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
Two soldiers approached us and told us not to get any closer to the checkpoint. There is little traffic. A few people cross from the West Bank to the seamline zone: one with a bag of pita bread, a student with a book, and three men are carrying new chairs. A heavy military vehicle with a shovel crosses the checkpoint and returns with a shovel full of good black earth. When we looked for it later we saw that at the checkpoint they are preparing a garden. A tractor loaded with plastic strips crosses to the West Bank with almost no inspection. The driver goes through the inspection facility.
We left at 15:40.
15:50 – Reihan Barta'a Checkpoint
There is a new bucket hanging above the well at the entrance which is very decorative. 12 trucks are waiting to be checked.
We continued towards the Dotan Checkpoint. The charcoal factories in the area are not working and there is no smoke and no smell. (There was an order given to close the charcoal factories.) A soldier informs us that the charcoal factories were closed because of the carcinogenic materials they were exuding and because the trees being used were stolen. We remind him that many families had been earning their living for hundreds of years from the work in the charcoal factories and now have no jobs. We asked him how he felt about that and his reply was, "very good."
16:15 – Dotan Checkpoint – the checkpoint is manned and cars are undergoing a quick inspection. There is a brief exchange with the drivers and a quick peep inside each car. On back at the exit from the Barta'a checkpoint we are delayed for a long time. The clerk confers with someone on the phone. Finally she checks the trunk of the car and lets us through. At 16:20 an armed guard leaves the inspection facility, walks into the middle of the road, and looks at the workers coming back. Four cars leave the inspection facility. Two are driven by women.
There are a lot of people going into the sleeve. Workers are being dropped off by Israeli and Palestinian employers. Two windows are open in the terminal and people are going through quickly. A woman who speaks Hebrew with an Israeli passport crosses from the West Bank to her home in West Barta'a (on the Israeli side) with her three children. She is waiting for her husband who is still being checked. Everyone speaks Hebrew. She is a little nervous and explains that this is the first time she has going through the checkpoint. There is one detainee sitting on the bench.
We left at 17:00.
09/01/2012 ,Morning
Leah R., Anna N.S
Translator: Charles K.
06:20 A’anin agricultural checkpoint
An especially cold day, few people going to work – only a few dozen. The procedures are conducted in the front portion of the checkpoint. A youth isn’t allowed through; he returns from whence he came. A minute later he shows up holding some document which doesn’t satisfy the soldiers who send him back again. A man coming through said they didn’t let him cross because his birth certificate wasn’t enough for the soldiers; they wanted him to bring a parent (he was 12-16 years old).
The children of the Bedouin family living at the foot of the checkpoint are excited. There’s an English test today; the girls examine us, whether we can read English and perhaps even some Arabic.
07:00 Tura (Shaked) checkpoint
The soldiers arrive now at the checkpoint, which opens ten minutes later to people coming from the West Bank to the seam zone. Most of those crossing to the West Bank are vehicles, pupils and students, functionaries and other workers. The pupils come running, open their school bags, soldiers check and they go across. Nothing special is happening. The occupation routine! Both the horse and its rider know what they have to do; everyone plays the game perfectly.
07:40 - 08:20 New Barta’a checkpoint
The lower parking lot is completely filled with Palestinian vehicles. People coming from the West Bank enter the terminal without delay. Everything seems to proceed peacefully. The scanner doesn’t expose what people are feeling as they enter and leave. We get hints from their comments when we say “Shalom” as they pass us: “What peace? Peace with whom?”
Trucks loaded with food wait on the road for their turn to be inspected.
A rainbow arcs across the sky but immediately changes its mind. Heavy gray rain clouds cover the sky. We hurry to pick up a father and his two small children to bring them to Rambam Hospital. Another slight delay while the father’s identity is verified, and why didn’t he coordinate his trip ahead of time, and other questions that are asked very politely – but aren’t able to conceal the fact that the negotiation is being conducted between the ruler and the ruled. And at the same time Israeli vehicles cross in both directions with a wave of the hand, and then disappear.
08/01/2012 ,Morning
Zipi and Yael (reporting)
Translated by Jenny L.
Meitar Crossing
the parking lot on the Israeli side is full of cars and workers who have not yet set out on their journey. The Palestinian side is empty - as each person arrives they are quickly checked and pass through the checkpoint.
Route 60
All checkpoints are open and there is a good flow of people. There is a heavy presence of IDF vehicles along the Route.
Hebron
It's cold and clear in the city. Children are walking to school bundled up in coats. International volunteers are in place at the checkpoints, counting the number of people going through the crossings. Golani soldiers appear to be at loose ends, supervising but scarcely interfering with the flow. The city is quiet and clean, with an element of tension in the air because of the military jeeps circulating between checkpoints.
Route 317
The Ziff Junction - we went into the grocery store to buy something and also to find out whether indeed a Palestinian had forced his way through the checkpoint and been shot on Saturday. According to the grocer's version of events, it was a Palestinian who had been driving an unlicensed vehicle and burst through the checkpoint to escape from the police. Thus an incident of a crimininal background, not a nationalistic one.
We went via Hirbat Tiwani to take a look at digging operations and then made our way back home.
08/01/2012 ,Afternoon
Roni Hammermann and Tamar Fleishman (reporting); Guest: Michal
Translation: Ruth Fleishman
Qalandiya:.JPG)
At the deserted territory over which no authority takes responsibility, the place which is a 'no man's land", that according to the maps belongs to the city of Jerusalem that holds the duty to provide services such as the evacuation of garbage which is just one example, piles of trash were set fire to near the wall that surrounds the checkpoint, for this is the only option that the residents of the refugee camp have for getting rid of this sanitary hazard that accumulates into mountains of garbage.
The claim made by the workers of the municipality that they avoid the place for fear of violence and attacks, are unconvincing in light of the raids performed by the inspectors on the poverty stricken paddlers, hunting down children as well as men, events which occur every day in that very same place.JPG)
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On the wall, in black and blue was a greeting from Berlin:
"Freedom, Peace & Justice for Palestine! Tabea from Berlin". And between the hundreds of vehicles stuck in endless traffic jam, that tail of which could not be seen, the child Muhamad was selling lupines packed in nylon bags tied in a rubber band.
Jaba checkpoint:
Lately (so say the cab drivers), soldiers have been reinforcing the policemen who prevent those coming out of Ramallah/Qalandiya from driving freely on road 60 on their way to Hizmee checkpoint. Apparently, there is need for combined forces for this assignment which is in service of the settlers.JPG)
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Four Palestinian detainees stood by the checkpoint, watching the dog and its trainer walk towards their car, inside and around which the dog received its training. Once the pair from the Oketz unit were finished and the owner of the Palestinian car that "hosted" the dog (which according to Islam defiles everything it comes in contact with), did as Palestinians do after decades of years under occupation, each time they are released without harm, and shouted loudly towards the soldier that returned his keys to him: "Thank you so much!".
04/01/2012 ,Morning
Raya, Gefen (guest) and Hagit (reporting)
Translated by Charles K.
We entered through the Meitar crossing today as well. Not much traffic on Highway 60, but the traffic police are active.
Hebron
Only M., our driver, is asked for an ID card at the entrance to Kiryat Arba. Our attempts to present ours were rejected. We were told to park off to the side until the guard made a call to receive permission to let us in.
Giv’at Avichai is still there, 11 buildings and vehicles.
Most of the route was relatively quiet, many pupils in the streets (exams are underway and school ends early). We were really astounded to see the path marked in blue and white by the Trail Marking Committee (on the way up to the Cordova school). It was tempting to take it, but in view of the experience of our colleagues in recent days, we refrained.
Tel Rumeida – Golani soldiers don’t want to speak to us; they don’t really seem to understand who we are. We returned to the car. Two buses carrying Israeli visitors park at the entrance to the road; one of the drivers explains to the soldiers who we are: “They’re worse than Arabs,” with a wave of his hand.
On the way down we met a group from “Breaking the Silence.” They said they also want to go up the stairs to “Cordova,” and that it’s necessary to insist, to try again and again.
Many visitors in the area of the Cave of the Patriarchs – Israelis and others. Today, as it happens, the music comes from the muezzin.
A-Tuwani
We stopped at A-Tuwani, saw the excavations and mosaic Leah Shakdiel referred to, and Nasser showed us a calling card from a group called “Emek Shaveh.” It’s apparently headed by a person named Yonatan Mizrahi; we immediately saw on the internet that he deals with “Archaeology in the shadow of the conflict”: an effort to build bridges between communities. It would be worth getting to know them; maybe they can be useful.
Nasser is worried that if the excavations continue as planned his home may be damaged, and, of course, their request to be connected to a water line depends on the excavations!!
We visited the small museum and shop.
01/01/2012 ,Afternoon
Roni Hammermann and Tamar Fleishman (reporting)
Translating: Ruth Fleishman
A cab driver told us that the regulations on the passage of children had become stricter, that often the soldiers at the inspection post demand that when a child is escorted by his parents, in addition to the presentation of a Kushan (=birth certificate) and the inscription of his name in the parents' ID, the child must also be carrying his own Tasrih.
The parents make their way to the Palestinian DCO or Israeli DCL, wait in line for hours and then are told that children aren't granted a Tasrih because it is enough that their name be listed in their parent's ID. On returning to the checkpoint they find the soldiers unwilling to budge. They refuse to accept the parents' testimony or make inquiries with the DCL. The parents have no choice but to try their luck in other checkpoints, where such regulations aren't implemented, or at least not for the time being. The narrator witnessed an incident in which after having a confrontation with the soldiers, a man who was escorted by his son had a tantrum, he ripped his permit to shreds and threw them on them grown, he took his son's hand and left the site in rage.
"Tell them, tell them about me…", a person who had approached us said to the man we were talking to. He told us that a few days earlier he was taken from his house to the Moskobia, (=the Russian Compound) they accused him of being an illegal alien in his own home. The 45 year old man, who is a resident of the occupied territories and is married to a woman from Jerusalem, was held in custody for three days.
"Did they beat you?"—"Well, obviously…" he replied. After three days in custody he was brought before a judge that rebuked the Israeli Prison Service: "What are you doing, bringing me such an old man?"
The man was released and transferred to the territories of the Palestinian authority through Beit-Sira checkpoint (near Modi'in), but he has a rented room in Ar-Ram.
A-S also told us his story, which resembles that of many others from his nation:
That most of the Palestinians find themselves trapped between the restrictions that narrow down their freedom and rights, imposed on them by the Israeli system, and the corruption of the Palestinian authorities. He said that they, the big boys in the Muqata, take everything for themselves and don't leave means for providing for the majority of their people.
A-S, who up until the beginning of the Intifada made a good living for his family of ten members, who had worked for ten years as a crane operator at Givat Olga and as a truck driver, who had transported merchandise throughout the Israeli state, and who at times, when transporting merchandise to Ramat Hagolan would earn over a thousand shekels a day, is today, like the rest of his family, on the verge of starvation. That he is entrapped inside Palestine, that politics had turned him from a productive man to an endlessly wondering pauper, living from hand to mouth off occasional peddling.
"And how is it today?" he summed up, "every year it gets worse. I've got eight kids who want to eat. What can I do? Should I steal?- they buried us but we are alive".
At the inspection post inside, the female soldier standing beside the soldier checking the IDs, was the one in charge of pressing the button that turns on the conveyer belt of the scanner, but for several minutes she was busy combing her hear with her fingers.
The people standing in front of those two were entrapped inside the inspection area, they waited, and waited and continued to wait. "One second"- yelled/ordered the soldier examining his college's activity with excitement. The people waiting outside, where the line was growing longer, also waited patiently for the hands of the soldier to be free and her finger proceed to press the button operating the mechanism.
27/12/2011 ,Morning
Idit S., Shira V., Katia (a guest), Anat T. (reporting)
7:20 Sheikh Saed
Palestinian children are on a fortnight's winter holiday, with the exception of those attending institutions of the Waqf -- mostly little ones, as far as we could tell. Even so, things move slowly at the checkpoint. We are told this is because there's a new Company in charge since last week. On our previous shift at Sheikh Saed (Hanna B, Idit S, and myself) we encountered a border policeman who created unnecessarily harsh confrontations with those crossing. Hanna B. complained to the B.P. spokeswoman about his inappropriate behaviour, and we hope the matter has been dealt with.
When we disembark our papers are carefully examined, and we're sent off to fetch Shira's document forgotten in the car. Meanwhile we miss the turning away of a 10 year old : a resident of Abu Dis with birth certificate and school permit, but without the DCO permit, who is not allowed to cross the neighbourhood checkpoint. He fails to meet the regulations twice over: neither a resident of Sheikh Saed, nor the carrier of a DCO permit. We try to persuade the checkpoint commander that a 10-year old whose school-bag has been checked, is not a security threat, and how can he reach the Olive Terminal alone? Unfortunately the child had left by then. The commander retracted a little from his claim that orders are orders are order... but just a little.
8:00 Drive around the Abu Dis area and observation from the Olive Terminal of the expected traffic changes
From the shoddy American Route we turn west to Silwan and drive up Ein Hilweh St. Major municipality work is proceeding on the slope (near the Shiloah spring). It is only in the evening that we learn of the collapse two days ago of the tunnel for an archaeological dig near a mosque, and of the "Peace Now" request to stop all underground digs in Silwan until an exhaustive and independent engineering report of all the tunnels is made. We also learned that today the local committe of the Jerusalem Municipality will consider two building plans submitted by the Elad organisation: a large building in the former Givati parking lot, and the development of "Beit Ha-ma'ayan at the bottom of Silwan. Local residents are protesting. After a short drive around the closed lazarus checkpoint (next to the monastery which houses a kindergarden), we continue to the Olive Terminal to observe the system of new roads breaking out of Az-za'ayyem to Hizmeh through the new intersection under construction opposite Issawiya. We read about it in the piece by Haim Levinson in Friday's Ha-aretz, but it all becomes clearer after a short internet search in the "Ir Amim" site which shows a map of the planned Route 45 from 2009. The idea is to created a separate system of roads for Palestinians, linking the south of the West Bank (Bethlehem) with the north (Ramallah) by means of bridges and tunnels, eliding the roads approaching Jerusalem, and thus allowing checkpoint-free passage for Israeli residents from Ma'aleh Adumim to Jerusalem, and enabling construction in E1 to create urban continuity between these places. See map of roads planned on:
Drive along the new roads, the new Shuafat checkpoint, and Beit Hanina
We drove along the new roads as far as the spot where they are blocked with locked gates. Through a checkpoint and an under-road crossing to As-za'ayyem we drove along Route 45 (the road with a wall in its heart) on the Palestinian side, and found it blocked, but continuing, further on, to Anatot. We then returned through the vehicular crossing in Az-za'ayyem and continued towards French Hill on Route 1 as far as the new roundabout with the turning to Metzudat Adumim. We expect that this is where the road to the new vehicular crossing in Shuafat will pass, channneling Palestinian traffic allowed to enter Jerusalem by car. (Will that include Palestinians holding blue IDs? Probably)
We continued to the new Shuafat checkpoint, although it was already late, to observe morning traffic. The checkpoint was fairly empty, the walk to it and back unreasonably long. From a piece in the "Bamahane" link we learn that from March 2011 this is the site planned to be the largest crossing in the West Bank, built according the demand of the High Court to confirm the route of the separation fence, along which are planned offices of various delegations, government offices and more. See
Meanwhile the military police check documents at the single pedestrian crossing operating, without benefit of x-ray machines. We did not see any representatives of government offices yet, but the squeaky clean toilets were opened especially for our use. In answer to our question whether Paletinians were allowed to enter these premises we were told "only if they desperately need to..."
We ended this survey in Beit Hanina. We drove from the Shuafat checkpoint to Pisgat Ze'er, turned to Beit Hanina, and at the first roundabout north of the Light Rail terminal we found a roundabout from which the road will lead from Pisgat Ze'ev to the Begin highway (continuing from Route 443). We reahed the large interchange under construction, the route changed because of one home which gets in the way and cannot be moved. We reflected on how all these plans -- proceding stealthily and silently through various committees -- surprise us, and eventually come true, unlike dreams of a better life for both out peoples.
