'Anata, Abu Dis, Ras Abu Sbitan (Olive Terminal), Sheikh Saed, Tue 19.7.11, Afternoon

2:30 till 5:00 PM

The Sheikh Saed CP

looked empty and sleepy in the early afternoon heat. The ambulance motorbike had been washed. Along the Road of the Americas the garbage bins had been turned over and emptied along the street. The second phase of Maaleh Zeitim is still not occupied and the fhttp://www.machsomwatch.org/en/node/18467/editormer Police Station looks more beautiful every week.

There is new graffiti on the wall in Abu Dis. 

Ras abu Sbritan (Zeitim) terminal

Even in A-Tur some garbage bins had been emptied on the street.  We saw a reinforced (trellised) army jeep crossing the parking lot of the Olive Terminal and drive up the hill beyond it. We parked and walked over and on the top of the hill we bumped into a fenced in area where excavations had been carried out. The army vehicle was parked next to it, but the soldier had no idea what the place was called. They were overlooking the roads and the entrance to A-Zayim and told us that as Israelis we were not allowed to be there, since it was dangerous.

We drove to Qedar and noted the long line of cars from the direction of Azzariya –the red sign forbidding us to enter was clearly visible. On the way to Qedar South the road is completely blocked off by a gate with a padlock and even on the birch a big concrete slab had been placed, so no one can enter. The only way to reach the Container CP is via El Azzariya and Sawakhre – there was quite a lot of traffic on the road which was closed to us.

To try another way we entered the road near Maaleh Adumim towards the Border Police base – which proved to form the dead end. We first saw four donkeys, a young girl who was guarding them and meanwhile picking up empty soda cans. Then we noticed a whole group of camels all eating out of the open garbage frog in front of what used to be the DCL and now is an abandoned ruin. Their owner was quite far off. We looked at the Jahalin huts and some of the magnificent houses that had been constructed on the site when a soldier came out to ask us whether we had gotten lost.  He was not impressed by all the camels eating plastic.

On the way back we saw the little girl with her donkeys again in the company of a few little boys all rummaging in a pile of junk to find scrap metal.

We took a right turn after the A-Zayim CP and entered the road to the Border Police HQs which was littered with garbage and served as a parking lot for concrete slabs. The large metal door to the circular road is still closed. Major road works are taking place to widen the highway and connect it probably to the new Anata CP under construction which is taking enormous dimensions. We entered and noted that the vegetable market had been moved further away from the CP. On the way out our ID cards were scrupulously checked.