Etzion, 07:25. Complete absence of
Palestinians: no busses, no passengers, no detainees behind the
fence, only soldiers at their posts. Shortly after, about ten men,
all in their thirties and forties, approached from the direction of
Beit Fajar (east). All but one are residents of Beit Omar village
who despite unimaginable difficulty managed to hold jobs in West
Jerusalem. Some return home once or twice a week, and spend other
week nights in rented places in Abu Dis, others make the risky
journey to Jerusalem on a daily basis. Today they left Beit Omar at
4 AM, walked several kilometers, then managed to find a ride
through side roads to Wadi Nar. They were stopped by soldiers and
forced to return. In the near absence of cabs, the way back proved
to be extremely difficult. Now they still faced the journey from
Etzion to the village, short in terms of absolute distance, but
exhausting with no transportation in sight. No movement of
Palestinians whatsoever was permitted today, including movement
between locales within each district. Additional prohibitions,
including a complete ban on public transportation, were imposed on
Thursday (June 12th), following the suicide bombing in Jerusalem.
We drove eastbound, on the road that connects Etzion junction to
Beit Fajar. Soon enough we encountered an improvised checkpoint (no
physical barrier/obstacle) set up there by a number of soldiers.
Two soldiers were standing on the road and two others were
‘deployed’ in the field on the margin. Further up stood between 25
and 30 Palestinians, among them workers, male and female students,
elderly men and women, sick people on their way to medical checks,
and several children. Some were residents of Beit Fajar village who
needed to get to Bethlehem, others were residents of Hebron
district, attempting to either get to Bethlehem or return to
Hebron. All were denied passage, regardless of the destination.
Upon our appearance, negotiations began, with us presenting
individual cases to the commander and putting immense pressure on
him. Success was very partial, and came as a surprise. We were
unable to persuade this commander to allow some 15 residents of the
Hebron district, now stuck in the middle of nowhere, to advance
towards the main road so that they could return home. The soldier
told them to either piss off or walk through the fields. He also
refused to allow an aging man to continue on his way to a medical
check: “He is tricking and fooling me, and i will not
reconsider his case”. On the other hand, he did eventually
permit some students, two doctors, and several aging women to
cross. Note that those lucky few were soon to face the problem of
transportation as well as additional harassment on the way. Thus, a
woman student from Beit Fajar (studies at al-Quds university in
Abu-Dis) who was allowed to cross, returned home through the
improvised checkpoint an hour or so later: no cabs were allowed to
move on the Wadi-Nar road. “I haven’t been able to reach the
university for over a week now. Each day I try, and each day I
fail”, she told us. Upon leaving, we noticed a handicapped man
limping towards the main road, and offered him a lift. He is a
resident of Dura village (south west of Hebron), 43 years old, and
a professional upholsterer, who worked in Israel for twenty years
(with a 5 year intermission in Baghdad and Amman). He holds a valid
work permit. Today he began his journey at 4 AM and walked more
than 7 kilometers. Calling his employer on the mobile, he now
promised to be at Tantur in half an hour. God endowed him with many
compensations, such as bodily strength and a sharp mind, he said.
Once, he recalled, he walked the entire distance from Halhul to the
Tunnel road (approximately 25 Km).