South Hebron Hills

We arrived at the Meitar crossing at 06:30.  It was rainy and foggy.  People arrived at intervals and crossed quickly.  Many of them returned home after the contractors told them they wouldn’t be working because of the rain.

We continued to Tuwani.  Heavy fog along the way.  We reached the school early; Juma, B’tselem’s contact person, hosted us in his home.  He told us that the villagers are very interested in improving their children’s education and about their struggle with the Civil Administration to establish a kindergarten and to add classrooms to the school.  All the residents are involved.  When they began erecting the kindergarten and representatives of the Civil Administration arrived to confiscate the building material all the women sat on it to prevent its being taken.  They lost only a cement mixer.  Construction continues!

We were sad to hear that Juma’s oldest daughter had fallen ill and had to be taken urgently to the hospital in Yata, but because of the checkpoints he had to bring her there by tractor via unpaved dirt roads.  She died because she wasn’t treated in time.

The pupils from the Ma’on area who are escorted by the army got to school on time.