Bethlehem
Gush Etzion, 0700: Brisk motion, many people coming from Hebron,
crossing the checkpoint getting on transits to Bethlehem. We saw
also a bus full of people headed towards Bethlehem. But the bus
company manager complained to us about having his bus stopped, and
the policeman telling him that people should walk. We saw several
detained transit drivers with their vehicles near the CP, but also
transits leaving briskly down road 60, including transits with
Palestinian registration. Occasionally an officer would approach
and stop the transit. At the CP, a blue policeman, reasonably
civil, claimed that only people with valid permits and humanitarian
cases can pass, but did not seem very strict.
The Al Khadr entrance was blocked by barbed wire. Orders
were to pass only students, valid permit holders and humanitarian
cases. The soldiers were reasonably civil. Near the checkpoint were
several detained people who had been caught in the mountains. When
one called us for help, a soldier closed the checkpoint as
collective punishment, and threatened to keep the guy detained for
extra hours. The officer did not have the stamina to stop him, but
after a few minutes, the checkpoint was reopened. A Husan man was
not let in to Bethlehem, “because he did not have a good
enough reason to go there”. Getting to Bethlehem seemed pretty
much to be by whim of the soldiers, who claimed that they are much
more lenient than their orders.
checkpoint 300: looked deserted, manned by BP.
Hebron
See all reports for this place-
According to Wye Plantation Accords (1997), Hebron is divided in two: H1 is under Palestinian Authority control, H2 is under Israeli control. In Hebron there are 170,000 Palestinian citizens, 60,000 of them in H2. Between the two areas are permanent checkpoints, manned at all hours, preventing Palestinian movement between them and controlling passage of permit holders such as teachers and schoolchildren. Some 800 Jews live in Avraham Avinu Quarter and Tel Rumeida, on Givat HaAvot and in the wholesale market.
Checkpoints observed in H2:
- Bet Hameriva CP- manned with a pillbox
- Kapisha quarter CP (the northern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
- The 160 turn CP (the southern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
- Avraham Avinu quarter - watch station
- The pharmacy CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
- Tarpat (1929) CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
- Tel Rumeida CP - guarding station
- Beit Hadassah CP - guarding station
Three checkpoints around the Tomb of the Patriarchs
Muhammad D.May-13-2026Hebron - Request for compensation for land expropriation
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