Hebron Hills Tuesday 17/1/06 AMObservers: Elena L Yaela L (reporting)6:45-10:30Summary –we didn’t go into Hebron because of the tense situation with the settlers who oppose the imminent evacuation of the market there. The roads are very empty, although not entirely so. There were soldiers and spikes in several places and there was operational activity in el –Fawwar and therefore the all movement from Dura to Al fawwar was forbidden. New: there are an enormous number of cement blocks along the sides of route 317 particularly on its south side, which prevent access to the fields and to paths. Shim’a CP – a vehicle containing five Israeli Arabs whose IDs were checked was held up for 5 minutes.Ramadin CP- manned by Nachal soldiers. The same rules as before- only Ramadin inhabitants can pass through by car to Ramadin- anyone else has to have an authorization from the DCO. A local man said that there has been a certain easing of the ban on movement.Near Karame – a flying CP- there are spikes on the road and the CP is manned by soldiers.Dura al-Fawwar: at 7:55 there is military activity in the refugee cam al Fawwar- Hence no one is allowed in from Dura. However pedestrians can enter Dura from AL-Fawwar. The gate is closed and according to the inhabitants it is closed every evening at about 20:00 and is reopened in the morning at about 8:00. In addition there are shorter closures at various times during the day. When the gate is closed only pedestrians can pass through. A jeep leaves Dura and the soldiers in say that they think the operation will end at about 10:00 am. The soldiers are from Lavi brigade. Beit Haggai -a CP with spikes on the road –manned by soldiers.Sheep’s crossing – Open to pedestrians. No soldiers. An appalling amount of mud.We saw the first Palestinian taxi just outside Kiryat Arba. (During the entire shift we saw a total of 2 Palestinian cars and about five taxis on the road)Shiyukh –Hebron (the girl’s school) Crossing-No soldiers to be seen. There’s no school today because it’s a holiday –so there are no schoolchildren crossing route 60.East Halhul – Hebron Crossing- open to motor traffic. No soldiers on the road. Humanitarian Gate: Closed . Soldiers man the checkpoint next to it on route 35. They were inspecting cars-we saw one car being released to continue on its way.Halhul –Hebron bridge – open Route 317There are big cement cubes placed along the southern side of route 317- they have been placed there sometime during the last couple of days.Zif junction – blocked by big boulders. Passage is back to back taxis.Near the cameras and the military base on route 317 there was a flying CP manned by soldiers. They asked for IDs and checked the contents of the car and our bags – they said they were looking for smuggled goods. There seems to be a new trees near the turnoff to Yatir –on the south-eastern side of the junction Yatir CP -It has been removed from the turn-off onto or nearer the green line. It is now 2 kms nearer Israel. It’s possible that the teachers wont have to go through this CP any more in order to teach in Um-Darajat.Congo CP – as usual.