South Hevron and Hevron, Tuesday, May 17, 2005 AMObservers: Edna s. and Ye’ela l.(reporting) Paula- translatingWe left Shoket junction at 6:45 A.M. and returned at 11:00.In brief: At Tawani we heard of the new incident of setting fire to heaps of their hay by the near-by Ma’on settlers.At the Zif junction there was a roadblock.In Hevron there was a massive presence of soldiers. The streets were deserted of Palestinians, as usual.In general we encountered on our way less Palestinian traffic and more military.TawaniG’, G.’s brother told us that on Saturday a fight broke out between the settlers of Havath Ma’on and Ma’on and between neighboring villagers, from the A.-T. family of Carmel (Palestinian Carmel) and S. family. For an hour they through stones at each other and it came even to fist fighting. It stopped when the police arrived. No one was arrested. According to G’ the reason for it was that the settlers began the fight, after setting fire and destroying the harvest of those families on the eve of Saturday. The harvesting alone took 10 days of work of 4-5 men (not taking into account the plowing, the sowing etc.). The police arrived to examine the damage. E. from Ta’ayush came also and the volunteers from the CPT photographed. As to compensation for the damage and loss, Israel never compensates. The Palestinian Authority compensates partially. To my opinion, it is important to struggle for compensation for the damage caused by the settlers. G’ told us that the PA promised to compensate for the poisoned sheep and for the milk that had to be spoiled as long as the poison was still in the body. It did not. T. from the Civil Administration came as soon as the fight broke out and demanded for the 50th time to check the Taboo documents. In the meantime they were driven out of the area on the pretext of “closed military zone”! G’ thinks that advocate Shlomo Leker helps in this matter.G’ told us that, yes, the children are still harassed on their way to school, especially by one woman from Havat Ma’on. She beats the girls in front of the soldiers, who do not interfere. They do not beat in the presence of the police. The beating is done behind the hill, where the CPT volunteers cannot photograph, without risking their life. Today the police escorted the children on time, in consideration, perhaps, for the examination period.The time of harvesting is almost over. The villagers cannot harvest the fields close to Ma’on. They asked for our help to coordinate with the authorities, in order to protect them from the settlers. Zif junction4 soldiers from battalion Lavie man the roadblock. They check the permits of most of the passing-by vehicles. One is detained for half an hour. According to the soldier, he is waiting for a date to be summoned for investigation. Another vehicle with some passengers is being detained too for 10 minutes, for the same reason.There are military jeeps on the road without front plate numbers. Why? How can a Palestinian identify a vehicle, when he needs to issue a complaint, without an identification number?Hevron roadblocks We went to the Jewish neighborhood, to the Qasba and to Tel-Roumeida.Every few meters there is a post of a soldier of two, behind a concrete defense or camouflage cover. Apart form those, there are patrols. We have met three patrols on our way. The streets are empty. The children – Palestinians and settlers – are at school. The shops are closed, and along the Apartheid roads – as we were told by the soldiers – the residents were ordered to leave their houses, so that they would not be able to look from above at the settlers passing on the street.In the Jewish neighborhood, behind the concrete fence, the Palestinian is building his house anew. We heard the noises of building inside. In the neighborhood, the Border Police is posted. Racist graffiti all over the area: on the doors and gates, on the threshold of the shops and the walls. The soldiers were glad to talk with us and hear of our doings.We also had a conversation with A.-M. whose shop is clinging to one of the blocks. We drank coffee and listened to him. He told us that yesterday the soldiers allowed a narrow passage of 25 cm’ for crossing. He asked the soldiers to widen it a little bit, so that women would be able pass through without damaging their dresses. The soldier refused and retorted angrily that those are the orders of the officer. When the officer arrived, he asked him again, and the officer got angry and closed the passage entirely. A.-M. said that he has not been allowed, for 4 years, to visit the grave of his father, 50 m’ from the place where we sat.A settler came by and was angry at the patrol of the soldiers for taking a rest, and that they were not vigilant enough. Some soldiers reacted to our presence: “Oh, you (MW women) are here too. We know you from Qalandia CP and other places”. Another one called: “Salute to you for being here!” The sheep Junction: The boulders towards the Hevron direction, have been replaced by a gate.All the dirt mounds are maintained and vehicles cannot reach the road.Dura el Pawar: Free passage of vehicles.