Hebron, Sansana, South Hebron Hills, Mon 28.4.08, Morning

6:30 - 8:45

Summary: much more military presence on the roads. Many more detainees than usual.

Meitar-Sansana CP
Reasonable passage of workers. Most likely it was not well known that the closure had ended. About 50 still were in the process of crossing the border. 

Route 60
Comparatively many Palestinian vehicles on the road and MANY military and Border Patrol jeeps on the roads.  In a pedestrian crossing between Bani Naim and Hebron Border Patrol detained Palestinians for ID paper checks. They waited for about 20 minutes. About 17 men were stopped. Women and children were not stopped. This pedestrian crossing is not usually patrolled, the men said that two days ago they were stopped at the same time in the same place. 25 minutes later the jeep with the police left. 

Hebron: as usual.
Kiriat Arba: many policemen at all pedestrian crossings, at times even two at a crossing. Why? 

At the Meitar crossing a worker complained about the difficulty of coming to work from Daharia. So we stopped to take a look. Three women were waiting with large bundles/ sacks full of clothes to be sold for a taxi to stop by. They said they at times wait even a full hour. The road has been blocked for several years, making a five-minute drive to a full hour drive to the Israeli border.  Palestine is celebrating Israel’s independence day… Israeli flags have been put up along the road in southern West Bank. How arrogant.