Hebron and Southern Hills of Hebron, March 7, 2006, The whole dayObservers: Michal Z., Hagit B. (reporting)10:30 – 15:00On the procedure of “straw hat”, on a pair of shoes, on a funeral etc. In short: on evil and stupidity: Shim’a CP: We did not encounter workers crossing the CP. Route 60 –The dirt barriers along Samoa are high, as usual. Cement cubicles and new boulders are scattered on the road toward the village. Dahariyya – blocked. Durra el-Pawar: pillbox manned. Vehicles cross freely route 60. Shiuch-Sair: No soldiers; the entrances blocked as usual, and taxis park. Benei-Naim: exit blocked, as usual.Summary – daily life disrupted, as usual.Sheep junction: witnessing a “straw widow” procedure, namely, a method where the army is entitled to seize and occupy a house, for an unlimited period, leaving the habitants some confined space. We noticed it, when we saw on a house a camouflage net, and a huge flag flying on its roof, proclaiming: we are here. So we stopped and passers-by told us that the army seized the house. From afar we saw some women in the house, and we entered it from a back path. We were not able to communicate very well, because of the language barrier. But they agreed to come over with us to S our driver, who translated between us. We learned that 8 soldiers occupy the house and have forbidden the 25 members that live in it, from entering the kitchen and using the toilets. They are crammed in 3 rooms and are not allowed to use the phone. The children went to school as usual and the men to work. The army came a week ago and stayed for two days and yesterday returned. The children are frightened and cry and have started to wet again. There are many women in the house and the soldiers do not behave according to the proper cultural code. (What culture is it anyway to intrude on ones private property and behave like it’s yours?) In the meantime they cook in an improvised kitchen, and the army allowed them to come in and go. We called the Deputy of the Regiment Commander, the Emergency Center and the Operations. The answers we got everywhere were the same: necessity for operational requirements. But what have operational requirements to do with invading a house? Why can’t do soldiers sleep in a tent? If they are hiding there, why do they have to hang a huge flag on the building?We left our phone numbers, and apologized for this barbaric behavior.HebronSome anecdotes:In Tel Rumeida: In Tel Rumeida, near the caravans, two Palestinian families live. Yesterday, two girls that wanted to visit their friends that live there, were stopped by a soldier and were not allowed to visit them. Sand bags and razor wire are spread on the road. Only after calling the police, could the children go over carefully so as not to get hurt by the wire and not tumble over the sand bags. When we were there we also saw a soldier detaining some girls. They told us that they have to tell the soldiers each time that they are going simply home and are entitled to pass. We met perchance two officers from the DCO, and they promised to hand out clear instruction for the soldiers.A pair of shoes: A young Palestinian wanted to cross the Tarpat CP yesterday. A soldier took his ID because he wore military shoes, and was told that he would receive back his ID when he returned the shoes, which he did and today he received back his ID. The steps to the Cordoba school: workers have begun renovating the ramshackle “alternative” steps and build a barriers and a wall for protection against the stones that the children of the settlers throw. Three military PB protect them.Purim: The police (according to the commander of the Hebron police) has summoned the parents of the settler children and instructed them to prevent their children from their usual Purim custom of throwing stones with rugatkes at the Palestinian children. A funeral – The police with the military PB stops a funeral procession in order to check their ID-s. When they saw us, they let them go. The policeman could not understand what was wrong with checking ID-s in midst of a funeral procession.This is the crop of some instances of the tight bond between villainy and stupidity.