South Hebron

South Hebron Hills, Sunday 19.9.04, AMWatchers: Laka Ts. Hagit B (reporting; English translation: Elena L)We left Shoket Junction at 0630 and returned there at 11:00Route 60The CP which was located at the turn-off to Sansana has been dismantled and transferred some 2 kms inside the OT – at the turn-off to Dhahariya. It is a roadblock for cars and maintained by the BP.Shim'a CO – completely abandoned – including the observation tower.The dirt barriers which block all the entries and exits along route 60, have been raised higher still and new ones have been added wherever anyone may have imagined that vehicles could pass. The dirt barriers have been topped by large beautiful stones (as if an environmental sculptor had decided to place them there). Samoa, Dhahariya, Karma as far as the Dura al-Fawwar crossing – there were no vehicles on the road and schoolchildren could be seen walking to school.Dura –al Fawwar- The gates on either side are locked. The pillbox is manned and three soldiers below check the IDs of anyone who seems suspect to them. At ten to seven there was a great deal of pedestrian traffic. Two detainees – when I try to find out for how long and why - I get the usual reply – it's in the hands of the GSS [Israeli General Security Service]. One detainee is angry with me – "Go back to your car – you can't help me anyway." I have nothing to say to him. Another Palestinian approaches me and says "Shalom, Hagit, how are you?" And I can remember neither his face nor his name. He asks me to send his regards to Leah from Arad and he greets us with a cheerful "Good Morning". Between these two I'm unable to decide what our presence there really accomplishes. The gate was opened without any problems for the water tank which goes to the water station which is as far as the underground water pipes go. The soldiers behave correctly both towards us and towards the Palestinians. They seem frightened and tired, and they worry about us moving around there without a ceramic vest. Sheep's crossingLively pedestrian traffic – the usual scene of taxis waiting at either end. Surprisingly there's no Humvee and no soldiers- We don't stop.The southern entry to Bani Na'im is open and from time to time a yellow transit van be seen – a communal taxi. Shiuch Hebron junction ( the girls' school) - It is 7 :20 and there are a lot of pedestrians crossing the road. There is little traffic on route 60 and therefore the danger of crossing it is reduced. The crossing is manned by 3 Nahal soldiers – one soldier checks the people coming from Hebron and another checks those coming from Shiyukh. The children are occasionally asked to open their satchels but most of them cross without problems and one beautiful little girl with white stockings and a white ribbon in her hair was even smiling. Welcoming music was heard coming from the girls' school. Those being checked stand in line – one for women and one for men –and from time to time a soldier calls out in Arabic "wahad wahad" (one by one). We stand and watch. A female school teacher came up to Laka and asked for her help. She didn’t have a teacher's pass – but she teaches in Shiyukh –and she is sometimes allowed through and sometimes not. Today- in Laka's presence-she was allowed through Getting to get a teacher's pass means "spending a long time" at the DCO [IDF Civil Administration office that issues passage permits] –and the loss of workdays. By ten to eight most of the schoolchildren have passed through and we continued on our way. Sair –Halhul east junction - The pillbox is manned – entrance to Sair is permitted to cars coming from the direction of Jerusalem. They are not permitted to continue to Hebron. Hebron is under "siege" and how is the encirclement enforced? With a flying CP on the road. A taxi which had left Hebron for Bethlehem in the morning is not allowed to return, even though all the passengers have permits. A phone call to Operations of the Judah battalion solves the problem. The taxis is to drive to Sa'ir and then, with a little luck and with a bit of crossing over earthworks and barriers they'll get to Hebron. The settlers drive without any checks and at a speed which endangers everyone. One Palestinian woman who was walking was dressed entirely in pale blue- including her head covering and her sunglasses- Where does she get the strength to spend time on looking fashionable - I admire her powers of survival.Al- Jura CP – the junction of route 60 and route 35 – the "humanitarians" CP [that deals with medical and urgent cases]. – three soldiers and a great press of vehicles. We have never seen so many there at 8 :00 am. There are ambulances, doctors, Human Rights organizations, petrol tanks, water tanks and trucks carrying food. The queue stretches out on both sides of the CP. The soldiers tried to check quickly but it was beyond their powers. Two problems require dealing with. Problem number one: a lorry with a yellow license plate arrived from Jerusalem with oxygen tanks destined for "Aliya hospital in Hebron" (we saw the order form) . Israelis are not allowed into Hebron. Haya telephoned Dalia Bassa and I telephoned Alex at DCO – but permission was not given. The solution was to unload and reload at the CPin a "back to back" operation [in which goods are transferred between vehicles that remain on their respective sides of the CP without crossing it]. The driver asked the hospital to send a lorry similar to the one he was driving and when we returned later to the junction the lorry had already gone. The total time wasted in the sun for the oxygen tanks was about an hour and a half.Second problem-a petrol tanker – for which an Israeli tanker is waiting at Tarqumiya – is not allowed through. The driver didn’t know he needed a permit for this (usually no permit is required and one is needed only because of the "siege". After several phone calls to the DCO the problem is solved. We continue to the Halhul bridge and while we were standing on the bridge we saw the petrol tanker on its way to Tarqumiya.Route 35Halhul-Hebron bridge - The pillbox was manned. The barbed-wire and dirt barriers were still there. The glass shop was open today but not a soul crosses the bridge. The house on the rise – is still an IDF post. The soldier warns us to leave. Shoshana takes a photo and we get off the bridge.All the entries onto route 35 are blocked with dirt barriers and big stones. Whoever doesn’t walk across the bridge crosses the road on foot and once again there are taxis on either side. This time there are no soldiers there ( what's the logic in this?).Idna CP – the yellow gate to Idna is closed and locked. A few cars try to edge past it. The soldiers in the pillbox see this and don't come down. We didn’t go onto Beit Awwa as we had planned becase we did not want to pass a closed gate. In general there is little traffic on the road, a few pedestrians and Palestinian 'millionaires' who own donkeys. On our way back we saw an army jeep on Halhul bridge.Route 356 - once again the sad picture of barriers and the new big stones. The area seems asleep . Where is everybody? What's happening to them? We are the only car on the road. The gate to Yatta is closed. A tractor from Khirbet at-Tawani was on the road and its driver waved to us. Just as we passed there soldiers were descending from the pillbox to set up a roadblock. Route 317 – There are new asphalt roads to the settlements. There are roadblocks manned by soldiers at the turn-off to Arad (route 316). At the turn-off to Shani and Livneh there are dirt barriers on all sides –each week they get higher. At the eastern entrance to Samoa the height of the dirt barriers is quite terrifying.To sum up: There are almost no military vehicles on the road and the signposts of conquest are very clear - as are the shame, the oppressiveness and the pointlessness.