Hebron, South Hebron Hills, Wed 23.1.13, Morning

Trans. Charles K.

Raya collected many bags of winter clothing; we drove to give them to Fadel in Umm Faqra.  The family received us happily, with cups of tea, and we saw his attempts to make progress building his house.  (Question:  If you had elections, whom would you vote for?  Neither for Fatah nor for Hamas, because he’s angry.)

There’s a demonstration on Saturday at Tawwani junction because the road between Yatta and Tawwani was closed.  Fadel says he took his six-month old son who was sick to the Yatta hospital; the car got stuck on the boulders blocking the road and they couldn’t continue until a vehicle arrived from Yata.  They transferred the patient by the back-to-back method, like at a checkpoint.

When we left we saw that some of the roadblock, boulders and earth, had been removed by hand by villagers from A-Tawwani, Umm Tuba and Umm Faqra.

We wonder how long it will take before a tractor comes to block the road again.

Hebron

Nothing new here; Kfir brigade soldiers seem calm.  Many tourists at the Cave of the Patriarchs; we’re directed to make a detour. 

We received photocopies of three IDs of people seeking help to obtain Israeli work permits, or at least a magnetic card.  We understand that Sylvia gets them; we’ll give them to her, hoping she can help.