Meitar checkpoint: The parking lot on the Palestinian side is full to capacity. There is no closure on the Sabbath. Muhammad says that there is a problem with sewage or water purification

In the morning when there are many people, the installation (or pipe) cannot carry the load, and there is a flood of sewage. For the attention of those who operate the checkpoint

Hebron: Because of the holiday (perhaps the blessing of the priests in the Cave of the Patriarchs), cars are  not allowed in  to the center of Jewish Hebron – the neighborhoods of Avraham Avinu, Beit Romano, Tel Rumeida, Givat HaAvot. You can only get there on foot or use the bus shuttle from the center of Kiryat Arba. The parking lots in Kiryat Arba are full. Police checkpoints at every turn

Therefore, we could not check out  the complaint of the residents of Tel Rumeida, that the Givati soldiers who replaced the paratroopers in Hebron, have been stopping them at checkpoints and forcing them to undergo a scan of the magnetometers. This is in contrast to the agreements, according to which the residents of the neighborhood are exempt from repeated tests of a magnetometer. The soldiers have lists of residents

I have not been to Kiryat Arba for a long time – the growth of the settlement and the new neighborhoods is impressive (or scary – depending on the point of view  of the observer).

Road 356 and 317: We returned through the outposts of 317.

Palestinian Susiya: As before, there is no running water and no power line. Residents bring it in containers which is very expensive, and use solar panels to generate electricity. Nasser reports daily on the problems of the shepherds from Susiya – the settlement. In the morning, a settler from the settlement, with his sheep invaded their field which  was just beginning to grow. The Palestinian residents called the army – it took the army an hour to arrive (remember – in the southern Hebron Mountains there are no traffic jams now …). When the army arrived, it took them three quarters of an  hour to debate with the Palestinians and call their commanders. Only after an hour and three quarters of an hour, the sheep, which had already eaten for a large part of the field, were removed. Is the IDF always so slow in its reactions?..

There is now a new outpost in front of the settlement of Susiya: The establishment of this outpost, next to the plant nursery, has already been reported. There is now an asphalt road leading to the outpost. The entrance to the outpost is blocked by a large gate.

The method of expanding the sheep farm in the southern Hebron Mountains: It has already been reported here, and also by Gideon Levy in Haaretz, that the current method of expanding the settlement is through sheep farms, and grazing the  cultivated Palestinian areas. On Road 317 and next to it we see: (1) the farm of Israel Kaplan, at the end of the outpost Asael (threatening the settlement of Abu Safi, below it); (2) the new outpost opposite Susוya; (3) a new farm near Znuta (entrance from the Meitarim area); (4) Expansion of Havat Maon.

The south of Mount Hebron is green now, and more pastoral than ever. Really reminiscent of the Tuscan hills. There seems to be no shortage of space. And I wonder to myself – was it possible that everything could  have  been different, as the song says ? Could it have been  that the residents of the Susiya settlement could have shared their water and power line with their Palestinian neighbors? Could   Carmel residents have bought  bread from the oven (which they destroyed) in Umm al-Kheir?  Israel Kaplan, the violent settler, could have  shared the grazing with his neighbor Abu Safi? It seems that everyone would benefit if they just replaced a diskette, could have gone  from an endless quarrel to a good neighborly relationship and friendship.