Hebron, Sansana, South Hebron Hills, Tue 15.12.09, Morning

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Observers: 
Tamar G. and Michal Z. (reporting)
Dec-15-2009
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Morning

Trans. by Charles K.

Sansana – Meitar
At 06:45 the fenced corridor is empty, and only relatives of prisoners wait under the awning.  Laborers who came through sit in groups around small fires and wait for their rides to work.

Route 60
Nothing special, all the roadblocks that were opened are still open, small children walking to school on the side of the roads; they’re not privileged to be driven to school.  This is Area C, under Israeli authority.  Transportation for schoolchildren falls into the gap between the Israeli regime and the Palestinian Authority.  It’s unclear, and incomprehensible and certainly annoying in weather like this.

Hebron
The city is quiet.  The settlers are celebrating the holiday of the Maccabees. 
At Curve 160 we notice that Golani soldiers replaced the Border Police.  Above the curve, on the road down to the Cave of the Patriarchs, there are also soldiers in one of the alleys. 

Pharmacy checkpoint – The children pass through the magnemometer on their way to school without delays.  We see something we haven’t seen before:  Soldiers on the roof of the house overlooking the checkpoint on the left.  According to the peace activists, there were also soldiers on the roof of their house, which is in area H1.  They said that it has happened from time to time recently.  All the other checkpoints are manned as usual, but we saw no detaineesinfo-icon.

It’s also quiet at the checkpoints around the Cave of the Patriarchs, and no detainees.

Anat Cohen passed by, looked at us, and this time, we were thankful to see, she didn’t stop. We hurry away.  There is no Palestinian traffic on the Zion route. “Someone” decided it didn’t pay to open it. Too much inspection manpower was “wasted” on the little freedom of movement the Palestinians had there. The Jewish community in Hebron has now be designated an area of national priority, and it’s obvious who’ll suffer directly from that (and already suffers).

Routes 356-317 
No sign of human life. The infrastructure is there, the road is wide, meant for many people and heavy traffic, and the main beneficiary – residents of illegal outposts and isolated settlements – wonderful areas of national priority.

Addendum
On a personal note – Zamir, my spouse, joined our shift. All the stories I told him, all the insights I shared with him – weren’t enough, nor were they able to make him understand the depth of the injustice of this occupation, until he saw with his own eyes after not having been to these places for 30 years. It’s sad to realize how accustomed I’ve become to the terrible things I see, and how someone seeing them for the first time notices and reacts to things that I’ve gotten used to. His impressions will be reported separately.