South Hebron Monday morning, 24 May 2004.Observers: Yeela, Yaara, Yael. We left Shoqet Junction on Hwy #60 with our driver,Ibrahim, at 6:30 AM as usual. The road is empty; even the police car in the exit from Meitar was not there. The soldiers at Shima’s checkpoint know us already, greeted us and requested to see Ibrahim’s ID, and checked it out carefully. They said nothing.Dura – Al Fawwar checkpoint is open, sparse movement of pedestrians from both sides. The pillbox is manned; however, there are no soldiers on the road and no obstruction of movement.Hakvasim Junction – sparse movement of pedestrians. There is no Humvee.In the junction facing left towards Hebron and right towards Zif Junction there was a temporary checkpoint, a Humvee and a military vehicle on one side and a police car on the other. A truck loaded with hay was stopped by the side of the road. We stopped to see why the truck was detained, but right then the police car left with the truck following it. We asked why there is a new checkpoint, and the soldier said that there is some military action going on “inside”. Immediately after this the soldiers received orders to fold up the checkpoint and leave. We continued on Hwy #60 north-west towards Halhul. On the way we saw again the police car with the truck on the side of the road. We decided to check them out on the way back, but by the time we returned they were not there anymore, the truck was probably released. In the junction between Owen (outskirts of Sair) – Hebron children crossed the road to school, and teachers arrived by taxi from the south and joined them. The taxi drivers on the Beit Owen side said that since yesterday there is military action, and a closure in effect in Bethlehem and they cannot drive there. Those who did drive there yesterday morning had to give in their car keys and waited from 8:00 AM until 3:00 PM.The taxi drivers related that when they are asked to give in their keys they are also asked to lock and open their taxi doors with them, to demonstrate that these are not fake keys. (These are electronically coded keys and therefore very expensive to replace). The soldiers also confiscate the spare keys, thus completely disabling the taxis. We continued to Halhul. The traffic on the bridge was flowing, the old road has been blocked and there is no passage from Hwy #35 to inside Halhul from this junction.On our return we observed that all the checkpoints were open, there was still only sparse traffic, and no soldiers’ presence. Possibly the military activity and closure in Bethlehem is keeping the traffic down and soldiers busy. There were a number of Border Patrol vehicles parked along the road. Possibly waiting for cars that cross the road without the proper authorization? Apart from that everything seemed quiet.