Hebron, South Hebron Hills, Sun 18.7.10, Morning

 Translation: Bracha B.A.

South Mount Hebron

There is a stone block on Road 60 between Samiyeh and Samua- what remains of a previous roadblock. It is now being used as a sign. One side reads "Building Materials with God's Help" with a Star of David and the other reads "Land for Sale" in Arabic. Further down the road there is a police vehicle with plainclothes policemen. They stop us and then immediately let us go. They claim to be checking documents and looking for traffic violators. .Near the sheep junction we see something we never saw before - an Israeli road cleaning machine and on the other side a water pipe has burst and water is running everywhere. We hope they will not shut down the water in the entire area and claim that they have already used up their weekly water quota, as they do in Hebron. The Arabic writing on the sign at the entrance to Maon has been blacked out and Leah claims that these are the true Post Zionists. She's right. What settlement freeze? They are still building.

Hebron

The illegal settlement in Hebron now contains five huts, three tents, and one stone building with no roof on it. The Worshippers' Road now connects Hebron 2 with Kiryat Arba. Two settler women are sitting on chairs praying surrounded by their children under an olive tree. Nearby A soldier stands nearby with his weapon and the settlers' car and command car stand next to them. There is evidently a permanent presence of settlers since the Supreme Court decided that there would be no vehicle traffic on this road. The gate to the army camp on Shuhada Street is open again to allow a shortcut for settlers between the Avraham Avinu neighborhood and Shuhada.

On our way out of Hebron we stopped where a soldier said he had seen a snake in the weeds next to the road. We asked if he could set the grass on fire. The soldier said that as far as he was concerned the snakes would remain and they could stay, but the Arabs should leave.