Hebron and route 60, Tuesday 1.11.05, NoonObservers: Michal Z., Hagit B. (reporting)Guests: Aliza – photographer, Galit – BA11:00 – 15:00All the barriers along route 60 are up, as usual. From Samoa on we see traffic of yellow cabs on the road. People are preparing for their holiday [Id el Fitr, the end of the Ramadan month of fasting]. We enter Kiryat Arba without any problem. A police patrol car parks at the entrance, so that the guard, who usually tries to block the entrance of I’, our driver, does not dare on this occasion. The Police Circle CP – manned by regular soldiers (instead of the military Border Police). They let the children returning from school, pass without problems. The others they check with a metal detector. We rushed further to Tel-Romeida CP, to watch the returning children from school. A military lorry parks at the CP, and two lines were created with cement cubicles, to allow separate passage for children and grownups. Still the children need to go through the scanning! On our way we met Eli Zamir, commander of the Hebron police station and Uri the commander of the station of the Cave of the Patriarchs. We had a conversation of about twenty minutes in which we clarified our different points of view and perhaps set a foundation for working relations. We met also Moussa, from “Betselem” [Human Rights organization], Sheli and another “Peace Now” activist. We did not observe any problems with the population as long as we were there. The Qasba CP has changed significantly: an iron gate separates between Yeshivat Hevron and the Qasba; a pillbox, with white colored cement blocks around it, watches over. We went through the gate and found ourselves in midst of a festive crowd, roaming almost freely around. “Almost” – for soldiers, with their rifles, march among them, stopping people from time to time demanding to check their IDs. Palestinian press photographers, whom we have already been acquainted to, are glad to encounter us (and we too). Soldiers from a Nahal unit detain a youngster, 15 years old, who is obviously not in his right mind, and who tries to make merry by drumming on a bucket. All of us try get him released. The soldiers, seeing what a blunder they have gone into, take him aside and release him. People complain that the soldiers are trying to spoil their day of celebration. An angering scene of cooperation between the settlers and the military – The students of Yeshivat Hevron [Jewish religious studies academy], with weapons and in uniform, are exercising and storm out of their compound while soldiers guard them. It is a blunt provocation. The iron gate seems now as a welcome means for the defenseless population. Gross Circle CP – Here too a new pillbox is under construction. It seems that the military settles itself within the abandoned neighborhood. There are no Palestinian passers-by. Eight soldiers are organizing for a patrol: 4 on one side and 4 on the other side of the deserted Shuhada road, with their cocked rifles. A sight. Avraham neighborhood CP – Aliza goes over to photograph the house of the Sharbati family. We stay behind, for dread of encounter with the notorious female settlers [Ed. note: known for their aggression, verbal and physical abuse; yesterday, settler leader Daniella Weiss was indicted for assaulting a police officer]. We talk with the guards who tell us that the family use a path from behind that connects them with the Qasba. The CPs around the Cave of the Patriarchs – One Palestinian crossed. A soldier took out a new pair of shoes that he carried in a bag, showed the shoes to the settlers standing afar and mockingly cried: “Look at the shoes he bought for holiday. What taste does he have?” One does not know where to hide one’s face, for utter shame. Dura -al Fawwar – On our way back, there was a roadblock. From the northern direction, 7 passengers were made to get out of their vehicle and checked. The separation/isolation of villages has arrived here. Five minutes after our arrival six of the passengers are released to go on but one of them from Benei-Naim, is not allowed to pass at this section of the road. He begins to go on foot to his village. I’ says that probably 500 meters from there the taxi will pick him up. From the south, a taxi with 7 passengers, five women and three men, returning from pilgrimage to Mecca are detained for two hours. They have not slept for three days, having waited for two days at the Allenby Bridge (crossing from Jordan). They want to return to their homes in Daheryya. We pick up our phones, and in no time they are released.