The attempt yesterday afternoon (6.9.03) on the lives of Sheikh
Ahmad Yassin carried immediate implications. In our shift we
noticed primarily the manning of previously unmanned roadblocks in
the Halhul-Hebron region.

7:20, northeast of Halhul: armored personnel carrier (APC) was
stationed at the open space adjacent to the huge rubble and rock
barriers. Its function is to monitor the movement of pedestrians as
they climb up

and down the obstacles. A middle-aged merchant from Halhul was
carrying a 50 kgs. sack of black

pepper on his back, for his family’s spice shop in Bethlehem.
“We pay $5000 rent a year”, the man told us, “but
the total number of work days this year did not amount to two
months”, because of the restrictions on

movement. Direct consequence of the APC’s presence was the absence
of all cabs from Beit Omar and al-Arroub who used to park
“illegally” at the site. Their place was taken by four or
five minibuses with permits

to move between these roadblocks.

Halhul, east entrance (Nabi-Yunis): Currently blocked with enormous
rocks piled on top of each other, posing quite a
“challenge” to pedestrians, since one can hardly find a
flat space to place one’s feet. Imagine crossing this barrier with
a donkey packed with a dozen carts of freshly picked grapes. It was
manned by four reserve soldiers with a strangely shaped
vehicle.

Etzion: We were immediately approached by about ten drivers of
Israeli plates transits, which have recently established their
presence on route 60, after the “grounding” of
Palestinian busses. Some work for Israeli

companies and regularly carry (permit-holding) laborers to building
sites as far as Ashdod. Today, however, the soldiers declared them
“law breakers”, confiscated their IDs, and held them for
long

hours. We couldn’t help.

Al-Khader secondary boys’ school: The headmaster, as well as other
staff members, were relatively relaxed and somewhat optimistic, in
the wake of the recent devaluation in al-Khader roadblock’s
“strategic importance”

They believe that if the army will stay away from the school
compound, this year may turn out better than the previous one
(which was a disaster…).