South Hebron

South Hebron Hills, Thursday 23/12/04, AMWatchers: Hadas P. B, Elena L (reporting)Guest: Naomi L.We left Shoket at 6:55 and returned there at 9:10Summary: We saw no soldiers at the CPs- very likely they were manning the pillboxes but it was hard to see them. The surrealistic parade at Khirbet at –Tawani was only time we saw soldiers on the ground.We passed Sansana CP without any problems. An Israeli car traveling towards Beersheva was being checked there.Route 317: We saw high schoolgirls crossing the road on foot from Khirbet at-Tawani towards YattaWe stopped on the hillside above Khirbet at Tawani. We met the Mukhtar S' and we waited for the arrival of the children of Umm-Tuba who had to come past the wood - where the thugs of the illegal outpost of Maon live – on their way to primary school in Tawani. . At 7:30 a surrealist vision appeared on the horizon. First there came an army jeep traveling very slowly and after a while one saw that behind it 6 small children carrying school satchels were walking together and with them were two tall figures of adults. When they got nearer the adults turned out to be two Israeli soldiers who were escorting the children on foot. The rear was brought up by a second military jeep also traveling very slowly. Anyone who hadn’t seen this curious parade with their own eyes would find it difficult to believe that anything so absurd was possible. We left at 7:45 when ther children had reached the school yard.Zif junction: open and no soldiers to be seen.Shiyukh-Hebron crossing: Open to pedestrians and no soldiers present.Sair – East Halhul junction: Open in both directions. A lot of cars and lorries. There was an army jeep stationed on either side of the junction, but there were no soldiers on the ground and the traffic flowed smoothly.Humanitarian CP (Ras al Jura): Closed. No soldiers and no traffic.Hebron-Halhul bridge: Open to traffic but the ascent to it from route 35 was blocked.Idhna CP: Closed and despite the murder of the security guard not far away yesterday there was no army presence on the ground.Sheep's Crossing (Yatta- Hebron): open to pedestrians. No soldiers present.Dura –al Fawwar Crossing: Open to vehicles . No soldiers present.