דרום הר חברון, חברון, יום ג' 17.4.12, בוקר

At 6:50 the Meitar Checkpoint is clear and the labourers have crossed to the israeli side.. they look tired and troubled. 

Route 60

livelier than usual but no army presence is felt.

At K. Arba the guard waves us in without ado and soon we are in the usual, but unnatural, stillness of Hebron.

Hebron

At the Worshippers Alley a 'budke' - an enclosed guard post - has been set up, but it unstaffed. At the so called 160 curve all is quiet and we pass to the area opposite the cave of Patriarchs where the contested settler house is guarded behind police barricades.  Opposite, a tent has been set up with the
slogan: We Paid, we bought, its ours!. At the pharmacy checkpoint a Border Policemen wanders over but does not accost us and notifies the guys at the settler's house that we are just wandering harmlessly around (in Hebrew it sounds both more insulting and more reassuring).  For those not familiar with Hebron all these locations are within hailing distance of each other.

We 'wander' up Shuhada Street  - there are new announcements declaring the injustice done to the Jews in the 'Oslo War', giving them a mere 3% of the city. Its always nice to encounter an alternative narrative.

At Beit Hadassah a youth of about 14 is detained but immediately resleased.

At the Tarpat Checkpoint  all is quiet.  At the top of the hill near the soldier's post at Tel Rumeida the soldiers accost us but in a very laid-back way. At the grocery store we encounter a middle aged gentleman coming from H1 on a motor bike, it transpsires that he is in charge of a clinic established by the TIPH which provides twice weekly medical services for the Palestinian residents of Tel Romeida. We forgo the ride up the hill past the Jewish cemetery where Anat Cohen's car peeps out from the ambush she has set for undesirables, as she must surely consider us. Discretion is the better part of valour!