Bethlehem, Sun 5.9.10, Afternoon
From 3:00 till 5:30 PM, Wallaje: we were unable to go out on our regular day, because of Rosh Hashana. Since it coincides with Eed El Fitr we decided to visit our friends in Wallaje for whom we had bought some goodies for the holidays, which we intended to deliver. However, due to an unforeseen emergency two of us had to leave as we were heading south. We had not seen our friends for some time and had been unable to contact them by phone.
The wall at the entrance to the village under the latest enlargement of Har Gilo (Sale in Progress, according to the sign) is now completed and there is even some graffiti. As we drove down in the village we saw the older A's wife and two of her daughters whom we were able to give a lift home. A. was pleased to see us and explained that his telephone was broken and could only be fixed in Jerusalem. Someone had taken it in for him and only just returned more than a week later. He said that if he had known we were coming he would not have bothered to ask a neighbor with a permit to do him this favor. Despite our adamant refusal to drink and eat, we were unable to refuse the cold water, coffee and wonderful figs from their yard. A. insisted that he would be very offended if we ‘fasted' with him.
Despite promises re rerouting part of the wall, his lower plot is nevertheless also outside the fence and no one wanted to hear about the promises that had been made. Some of his crops had not survived due to the extreme August heat.
A stretch of the path to the younger A. has been asphalted, a great improvement - but the last bit is as yet unchanged. We insisted not even to sit down. We had come unannounced and they were clearly not ready for visitors. A. said that he is not involved in village politics since he lives far away from the fence and also because he is afraid his sons might become activists. He works about two or three days a week, which is more than nothing, he claimed, but he is unable to finish the extension of his house. Next to him three houses have sprouted, his cousins have moved very close to where he used to live all alone with his wife and the kids. His wife is looking forward to the end of the long and hot summer vacation in two weeks - it was not easy with four kids stuck in the house. We promised to return soon with our colleagues.