South Mount Hebron and Hebron, Tuesday 23.1.07 Observers: Tzipi Z., Mirona A., Michal Z., Hagit B. (reporting)06:30-11:30Summary: Routine occupation daily life –seen with fresh eyes for the first time it strikes one as a quiet horror –Sansana-Meytar: 70 workers pass rapidly with no particular hassles; a Border Police soldier opens the documents, sees the magnetic card, and lets the person move on. Many workers come with a fruit-picking bag.Road 60: All roadblocks are new and higher than before. The commanding general tells lies when he reports taking down roadblocks.Dahariya: the usual blocking.Samo’a: A driver from Kseifa in a vehicle with an Israeli license plate is stopped by Givati soldiers when he tries to get on road 60. In quite unpleasant tones the man asks: “why can’t I go on the main road?” And the soldiers answer: “it is against the law.” “Which law?” he asks, and indeed WHAT IS LAWFUL ABOUT “APARTHEID” ROADS AND ROAD BLOCKINGS?The soldiers tell us that they will let him go as soon as possible and advise him to take the back roads. That, of course, entails a much longer trip and the man needs to be in Beer Sheva by 08:00.We left after giving him our telephone number, and by the time we have reached Dura-alFawwar he called to tell us that he got his papers back and is on the main road.Perhaps our intervention did help.Carame: blocked as usual. Children go to school at the side of the road.Dir Raza: blocked as usual.Kliklis: blocked as usual.Dura-alFawwar: soldiers came out of the pillbox and stop the traffic going from Dura to alFawwar; it is 07:10 and people are on their way to work. About 15 taxi cabs and a few private cars are waiting. We cannot figure out why checking is needed there. The checking however is quite fast. It seems to us that it started moving faster after we came. However, one of the drivers tells us, shouting, that he thinks the soldiers would go away if we disappear, so we move on.Sheep Junction: Pedestrians are crossing in both directions; no military presence; Israeli cars are moving very fast, as if the Palestinians were invisible. Crossing is truly risky.Shiyukh-Hebron (Girls’ school): School finished early and the girls are crossing the road on their way back. Soldiers are sitting in one military jeep and no one is detained.East Khalkhul: There are soldiers in the pillbox; traffic is flowing well.Road 35:All the blockings are there – junk piles and small earth mounds.Humanitarian check post: Soldiers in the pillbox; money exchanges are taking place, but all is quiet.Idna-Tarquomiya: There are soldiers in the pillbox; traffic is flowing well.Tarquomiya:It is 10:00 and the place is full of activity. The Civilian Administration opened the authorization office and there is a lot of action exchanging ownership of taxicabs and other vehicles. Merchants cross without problems. Many ‘blue hats’ Border Policemen; they say 400 laborers passed in the morning without any problems. No prisoners’ families visits today. In the parking lot 3 trucks move merchandise back to back.Hebron:Pharmacy Check Point: Children are crossing on their way to school; no female soldier and no magnometer used to check the women; Journalists from MA’AN, a Palestinian news agency, take pictures of the children and interview us as well; the school’s janitor is observing the children. They complain about the speedy reckless driving of the settlers, who keep driving here even though the school locked the other gate so settlers’ traffic can move fast on the other side.The cave of the Patriarchs, Shuhada street and Tel Romeida road blocks: Very few passers-by – the usual sight of deserted Hebron.Kharsina [pottery] Hill: A young woman wishes to complain about the situation there, but she notices the jeep of the Border Police commander of Hebron and freezes. We left her a phone number so she can call us if there are problems. This is a reminder to all observers to visit the place. They suffer quite a lot of harassment from the people of Kiryat Arba while we focus on Tel Rumeida.Road 356:All the blockings are in place. Few children walk on the roadside. School must have finished early and our car is the only one on this “apartheid” road.Ziff Junction: The gate is open; Cameras are operative as usualRoad 317:The blockings and the fence that protects the road are still in place.Khirbet Tawwani:The Yata approach is open. Um Tuba’s Children play on the road, waiting for the military escort to go home. It is only 11 and the escort comes at 12. The army has not been notified of the change in school hours.Beit Yatir roadblock: Male and female soldiers man this roadblock which serves only families from Beit Yatir, and of course the Palestinians from Nazalin. The latter however are no settlers, that is why they have no water, or electricity or cars with which to go through the roadblock. The village of Nazalin is under ‘apartness’, but who cares?Uneventful shift –but oppressive nonetheless.