Southern Hills of Hebron, Monday 24.10.05, MorningObservers: Nurit Sh., Jagit B. (reporting)In general: Desperation grows. Almost no people are seen on the roads, and no traffic. The roads are spotted with rolling roadblocks, but almost no people to check, to detain.The fence is almost complete up to and beyond Beith-Yatir that has been annexed to Israel.We have succeeded in letting 100 women pass over to go and pray at Nebe – Moussa.East Halhul – was the main story of the day. (At least we were delighted to meet our friends: Haya Ofek and Malka Argov from Jerusalem).On our arrival we saw 2 buses parking on the road toward Sai’ir, in which elderly women sat, in their best clothing, on their way to pray in Nebe Moussa. On front of the buses hangs the permit they have, that allows them to move on certain dates, one of them being today. The drivers tell us that the women began their journey from Yatta at five o’clock in the morning. They took taxis to the Sheep junction where the buses waited for them. This is the first roadblock, and they have been waiting here for two hours. They do not give up. They sit quietly in the bus and wait. We too decide to wait and not to leave till they are allowed through. One of the women is the mother of G’, from Tawani. She gets off the bus and talks with I’, our driver (they are already old friends by now). We start a series of phone calls – The Emergency Center of the IDF, the DCO [District Coordination Office of the IDF, that issues passage permits], Operations of the Yehuda Brigade – and the soldier by the CP says that they are handling the problem. A jeep from the DCO arrives and gives permission for the buses to pass. Now the commander of the roadblock has to give his authorization, and we have to wait patiently. The women begin to lose their patience; they get off the buses and argue with the soldiers in the jeep (who are certain that the women wouldn’t have dared had we not been there). The soldier goes down from the jeep and yells at them to return to the buses. We do not move (Haya and Malka leave in the meantime). All the time people keep arriving, having to show their IDs and lay their packages on the ground for inspection, while the cars of the settlers pass by, cursing us. A Palestinian photographer keeps photographing all the time, and the soldiers are stressed.Finally the permission has arrived. Now begins the ritual of examining the IDs. It is 09:30 when they leave, having been already five hours on their way, and who knows at what roadblocks they still might face problems. Women in their 70s, dependent upon the whims of whoever staffs a roadblock. We give them our phone numbers, so as to help them if problem arise. Till now we have received no calls. Hopefully they did it. Sansana – The military police border mans it. Their base is in Kramin. Only cars with yellow plates, namely settlers, are allowed to pass. On our return we see settler girls waiting for a lift. Ramadin – Golani soldiers let the school pupils pass. It seems that they know them and do not stop them. A soldier says that he is from the “Beit Hillel” school of thought, tending towards lenience rather than restricting orders. His method: he takes the ID document of anyone who wants to pass through, requiring that the person returns through the same CP to receive the ID back. The soldier refers to this as “utilizing his discretion.” In principle, Ramadin is still in “isolation”, separated from the rest of the area. One can get out of it, but not enter. Goods are transferred “back to back” only that here the goods that are unloaded from the trucks [that don’t pass the checkpoint] are loaded again onto donkeys and carts. Route 317 – From both sides of the absolutely apartheid route the high mound of the roadblock earthworks glitter in the morning sun. The bulldozers have worked diligently. There is no vehicular traffic, even of the IDF, and not a single Palestinian car. This is “topographic conquest and control” — and I suppose that after the rains, wildflowers will spring up and a passerby will admire the landscape without necessarily realizing that these constructions were deliberately put here to block passage.Kongo CP – The passage to Yatir forest – A tractor driver with license is allowed through and we are told that the teachers will be allowed too. Sussia CP – From the Nazalin direction we observe the almost completed [Separation Wall] fence. The teachers are behind us and a tractor passes with the children from Karmel and Soussya on their long way to Tawani. We give our phone number in case they are stopped. Route 356Zif junction – The gate to Yatta is locked. A rolling roadblock and I almost lose my temper when a soldier lectures me that the according to the Bible this is our Promised Land. Children and teachers pass by the house where Palestinians succeeded in convincing a bulldozer worker to remove a dirt heap that blocked the entrance to the house. The children run; they are late. The vehicle that takes garbage to the site in Um Darag’ is the only Palestinian vehicle allowed to move on the route. Route 60Hebron – I call the principal of the Cordoba School and tell her that we are on our way to the school, and she implores us not to arrive, because it’s a holiday of the Jews. She says that it will be dangerous for us as well as for them. I have to admit, that I was relieved not having to enter this hornets’ nest. Hebron is encircled by barriers. Military vehicles move on the roads constantly. Shiuch-Hebron – and the Sheep Junction – There was no military at the instance we were there. Taxis are on both sides of the junction; the crossing of the road is perilous.Dura-al Fawwar – The pillbox is manned. The gates on both sides are blocked. There are many taxis and a number of pedestrians. There was no military when we were there. Between Dura and al-Fawwar are three rolling roadblocks. The yellow gate to Karame is open but instead there are huge boulders that block the way. A squad of soldiers in a squad commanders’ course look through their rifle sights at a detained car. The Palestinians said that they wanted to be in the shed, for it is Ramadan. The soldiers just look at them and at the village through the sights. Perhaps the car was stuck when trying to cross the route. They could go back but there was the problem of the stuck car. The terrible result of the apartheid roads is that it totally isolates people. The way to Hebron that would have taken 10 minutes, will now stretch over two hours, because of the byways and paths one needs to find so as not to use the normal roads. But worse than that is the total isolation from one village to another, as they are encircled with high mounds of earthworks barriers. One has to see how whole families, now in the Ramadan days – women and children – in their best clothes have to walk and climb along side routes, in the midst of the holidays. Samoa – A yellow cab and a car that belongs to the EU are unable to enter Samoa, because of a rolling roadblock. They return. The entrance to Samoa is only I km from there and we see mothers with children climb over a dirt mound. What will happen in the winter in the mud?Route 35The dirt mounds have been heightened. No Palestinian cars. Total apartheid.The Humanitarian CP [so-called for being a passage for medical cases and materiel] – Pillbox manned. There is a little queue of cars in the direction toward Hebron. Taxis from that direction have to return; they are not allowed out. Halhul – Hebron bridge – The pillbox is manned. Little traffic over the bridge. No barrier on it.It is the eve of the Simchat Torah holiday, the “Rejoicing of the Torah,” but I am not in a rejoicing mood, seeing what is done in its name.