This morning there are fewer soldiers along the road and the same goes for  barricades.  Quiet.

Hebron

The house  of the Patriarchs is guarded by soldiers but children and shvisim (Jewish women’s religious head gear) are peeping from the windows.

The whole area is  being filled with fences and checkpoints. The Pharmacy checkpoint is not enough. This is the  checkpoint through which all the elderly women, teachers and children of two schools have to make their daily way. The two schools are Al-Fayeha for the girls on the left of the House of the Patriarch and Al-Ibrahimeyya for boys on the right. Now so as to guard the lords of the land who are stuck in the middle as a bone in the throat and people will have to face an even greater hell than before.

The continuation of the story and video of the Shaharbati family

As we remember before at the beginning of Ramadan the video was taken from the family. The police who were called in took the easy way out and took the cameras on which were recorded the TIPH people puncturing the tires of the settlers at Beit Hadassah. The family was told  by the soldiers that these would be returned after two days for their own safety. The brothers waited and now that a month has gone past they asked for our help.

We got a power of attorney from them and went to the Hebron police.

At the gate the Bnei Menashe the guard was polite, questions us as to why we have come and phones and says that there is a public relations unit. Boris, the policeman was  polite and pleasant  and when he heard what he heard and explained what he explained phoned the investigating officer who sounds by his name to be a Druze. After a short interval his honour invited us to his room.

The VCR video is on his table. The complaint by the woman settler is taped to it.

“I phoned her two weeks ago and she has not replied. I wanted to return the video to her”, he says

“But you took it from the Shaharabti family” I say and he does not reply. His reply is that of the right hand which does not know  what the left hand has done. “I thought it  was theirs”.

“Your friends, the other policemen were at the home of the family and took it from them. You were called  in by the settler woman but the evidence which you collected came from their neighbor, the Palestinians.“ This I explain to him.

“Aha, Aha” the polite policeman replied. Write and signs, writes and signs and gives me the video. 

We thanks most heartily all the Hebron policemen who are concerned in the matter. They were prepared to return it after two weeks  but did not know to whom. But they were polite and pleasant and cooperative.

“Why did they not come themselves to fetch it”? This they ask.  “The question is why did you not return as promised.”

“Maybe they are scared”? I ask.

“Nonsense”, says the pleasant policeman.

We happily gave back the video to the owners. He connected it again. Everything is working properly and will continue to record the abuse opposite the house which is documented by the VCR.

So what do we have here? The settlers do not want the organization of the United Nations to show what they are doing to the Palestinians. There have been confrontations. The Palestinians record everything that they can.

The Israeli police is called in by the thieving Cosacks. No one is arrested and they do not deal with the problems although they use the Palestinian cameras to see what is happening. And in the end they want to return the cameras to the settlers.

I hope I have reported this correctly.’

How does  one show the surrealism. I do not know. This is Hebron.