South Hebron

Hebron and South Hebron Hills Tuesday 3/1/06 AMObservers: Yaela L, hagit B (reporting)6:30-10:30Shoket Junction - a BP jeep stops cars carrying Beduin to check if there are any illegal entrants into Israel.Sansana CP – there is a large signboard on the guard tower- the CP's official name is now "Shim'a Crossing". There are no workers and no vehicles. Complete closure. Work on the fence continues apace and the barbed wire coils have already been put into place.The junction between route 60 and route 317: a new CP has been set up on the road and the cars of settlers are being checked – presumably because, as we learned from the newspapers, the evacuation notice of the illegal outpost in the wholesale market in Hebron is due to be served today. The Palestinians don’t have to be checked since the road is a completely apartheid road.Samoa: the barriers are especially high and have been strengthened with enormous boulders.next to the large stone quarry there is what looks like a mourners' booth –but it's empty. A camouflage net has been slung across it- but that is the only sign. Later shifts should watch out for this. I. has promised to keep an eye on the house.Dahariya, Carame, Dir Razeka: very high earth barriers and new boulders block any possibility of entry or exit.On route 60 as far as Dura- al Fawwar there were three flying CPs- but not a single Palestinian vehicle-not even a taxi.Dura -al Fawwar: The pillbox is manned. The gates are closed but the crossing is open to pedestrians –ie 500 meters have to be crossed on foot even by cripples and small children. It is very cold.Beni Na'im – the entrance has been blocked with enormous boulders. At the entrance to Kiryat Arba- a flying CP.Route 356 - a flying CP next to Karkum army post. Zif Junction – the gate was closed and there were also big boulders in place next to it. Where Congo CP used to be – there are two new cameras which photograph passing traffic.Route 317Two flying CPs and the entrance to Tawani is blocked. Congo CP – no one there. Switzerland CP-– no one thereWhat's the point of the flying CPs when there is no traffic. Children are walking along the sides of the road-school finished early today. Rather than the routine of conquest there is an inexplicable emptiness here –after all we know that people live here.HebronThree storiesPharmacy CP -the girls' demonstration is over and the kids pass through the CP quickly. Two pregnant women refuse to go through the screening machine in the shed and the officer A wont allow them to go round along the side of the shed. I went round to the Palestinina side of the CP and spoke to the women . One of them showed me the letter which Limor Yehuda had received from the DCO. The letter said that pregnant women could go round the side of the shed. The soldier wouldn’t accept the letter from the Palestinian woman. Yaela who reads Arabic spotted a discrepancy between the Arabic and Hebrew versions of the letter. In Hebrew it said that only pregnant women could go round the side of the CP but in Arabic it said that children were also allowed to go round the side. Yaela passed the letter to the officer –and he then allowed the women to go round the side. The women waited for the children with them to go through too and continue on their way. We gave them our phone number in case they should need our intervention next time. The same officer, A., went to the parking lot near the CP and asked our driver I to come closer to the CP. (we weren't there at the time since we had continued deeper into Hebron). The officer checked I's ID (I. didn’t phone us and waited till we returned to the minibus). I. and we have same blue identity cards – once again we are faced with this irritating discrimination – and the officer A could be king for one day and perhaps for his entire military service. The whole thing is a game of 'master" and "slave"The Casba CP - we met Manara, a new Palestinian friend whose job is to accompany the Canadian observers of the Palestinian elections. She asked us what we think will be the chances of freedom of movement on election day. We promised to help as much as we could and that she should tell us which CPs she thinks will be the most problematic. All this takes place by the grey iron gate under the eyes of the soldiers in the pillbox-one of the soldiers held his rifle cocked. Pity there was no café near by we could have spent a pleasant hour with Manara. (NOT for website: MW should organize itself for election day in the PA – as we did last time there were elections there)The wholesale market - This is a special day. A large company of soldiers, dozens of policemen and press photographers are already in place – all because 12 families who broke into the wholesale market and squatted there are to be served with eviction notices- There were about ten settlers on view – one of them a woman wearing orange who told me that I was ugly and had no children but only one and a half dogs. The cant even put forward their usual arguments –they can only be coarse and stupid. What is unbelievable is the sight of buses from which descend some 70 small children- aged no more than five to eight . These kids sit on the railings of the building and begin to collect stones and also to throw them at the representatives of the press and at the police. When I intervene and say this should be reported to Isaac Kedman from the Council for Children's Welfare, the cameras turned on me and the usual coarse curses of the settlers were hurled at me. It was clear there was nothing more we could do there so we hurried back to our minibus. On our way back we warned all the Palestinians we met and we also rang others to warn them to avoid the settlers today. They are really dangerous, At home I rang Isaac Kedman and spoke to him at length; it turned out there was nothing to be done at the moment. I have to call the welfare officer of the local council and report if the children are at risk. But risk is a matter of definition and the welfare officer of the local council probably shares the settlers' point of view. Catch 22 in short. Why should the children serve as a defensive wall for their parents – only the god of Noam Federman knows. I also reported the incident to MK Ran Cohen who is chairman of the Knesset committee for the rights of children. I hope he'kk do something