Hebron, South Hebron Hills, Tue 12.6.12, Morning
In the early morning hours the area dozes in heavy mist.Even the Meitar Terminal seems quieter than usual.Hebron too is quieter and more deserted than ever, if that is possible. On the closed door of Abed's shop a notice in English offers free tours - does anyone know about this? Near Tel-Romeida the soldiers are taking a smoke break...
On the way back to Jerusalem we check on a report from Btselem that the checkpoint at the village of A Shyukh.The checkpoint closed on 4 other villages: A-Sair, Beit Einem, Al-Udesiyeh and A-Dawallah/ It is indeed open but one of the entrances to Hebron immediately opposite is closed off to vehicles with huge stones and blocks. The crossing of Route 60 is extremely dangerous to the many pedestrians crossing there.
At the entrance to El Hadr further north, the police are dishing out fines in a campaign against dangerous drivers leaving the town. All Palestinians of course. In the short while we are there dozens of Israel drivers on the main road zoom by at excessive speed. The (unmarked) police car too is parked at a ridiculous angle neither effectively stopping exiting drivers nor protecting itself from the vehicles on the main road.
And an adddition to last week's report: On the journey north we spotted a group of what looked like settler women having some kind of tea party on the verge of the road. Just beyond them was a very old sign saying
Havat Yehuda in Hebrew. A mystery!