Translator:  Charles K.

Meitar crossing

By 06:45, all the laborers were already on the Israeli side, awaiting their employers.  One bus with relatives of prisoners waited on the Palestinian side when we returned.

Highway 60

Light traffic, Palestinian schoolchildren waiting at the exit from their villages or walking along the road.

Hebron

What can we say that hasn’t been said already.

It looks like a routine morning, but we, who’ve developed an unusual sensitivity to the town’s atmosphere, sense tension in the air.

The area around the Cave of the Patriarchs is still quiet at this hour.  Many pupils everywhere – not detained, simply passing through the metal detector.

Most of the adults, on the other hand, are detained, at the Pharmacy checkpoint as well as later on.  A soldier has been stationed on the roof of the house next to the checkpoint.  He observes his colleagues at the checkpoint and the passers-by.

The house is one of those abandoned long ago, so the “grass widow” procedure wasn’t employed in order to use it.  Great.  CPT volunteers report that pupils usually have no problems crossing.  That’s what they focus on.  Only yesterday the male and female teachers were detained longer than usual.

We drove on Shuhada Street to see the rest of the checkpoints.  Many soldiers near Beit Romano.  Anat Cohen stands directing the forces.  She notices us and says something to the officer.  He approaches, only asks us politely to go back.  They’re blocking a part of the road because a big crane is arriving.

We decided to stay to see what’s going on.  Where can we safely stop and wait opposite the Shavei Hebron yeshiva and Beit Hadassah?!  So we drove down the street a little and split up.  We can’t let our driver go there or wait alone.  It’s very dangerous for him.  I stood with him; Hagit went to stand next to the soldier’s post opposite the stairs to the Cordova school.  There,  suddenly, every person bypassing the road and trying to go toward the Tarpa”t checkpoint is being detained.  Why?  Because Anat’s there, and the students in the pre-military program are there.  Anat says to Hagit:  “You’re here again, Madam Prime Minister?”  Noam Arnon also shows up:  “They’ll all finally learn” (??????), and more comments about Hagit being there.  The soldiers also ask her to move.  She’s interfering with IDF soldiers.  The settlers aren’t interfering, only us.

Later we saw Noam Arnon striding to pray at the Cave of the Patriarchs.

One of the soldiers reveals the military secret:  the heavy equipment is being brought to erect an additional guard post.  Thus shall be done to Shuhada Street.

A glorious future of peace awaits us here.  No doubt about it.

Knesset members from Meretz visited yesterday; there was a demonstration on Friday to demand Shuhada street be opened to Palestinians.  So this is apparently the conclusion drawn – to erect an additional guard post.

Nausea and despair.