Hebron, Sansana (Meitar Crossing), South Hebron Hills
09:00-13:00
At the Meitar crossing, four buses with relatives of Palestinian prisoners waited for the Israeli buses…it looks like they’ll leave any minute now.
For your information: relatives of prisoners arrive at the Palestinian side of the crossing in Palestinian buses funded by the Red Cross, are inspected at the crossing and transfer to Israeli buses which transport them to the various prisons. The laborers went through much earlier.
The number of homes in the Aviga’il outpost has doubled – some of the NIS 400 million secretly transferred to the development of the settlements (as revealed recently in the press) have surely paid the bill.
The IDF observation balloon floats above Beit Haggai and Hebron.
Almost no military presence on the road. The water line between Kvasim junction and the junction of Highways 356 and 60 is still under construction.
They’re completing the plaza at the Shuyukh-Hebron junction on Highway 60. They’ve erected yellow gates
on both sides; I’m guessing they’ll build a small pillbox and open the roadblock (like at the entrance to Hebron near the Beit Haggai settlement).
No detainees at any of the Hebron checkpoints. An excavator is digging near Curve 160. It’s now possible to open the gate there by pressing a button; that’s how a TIF vehicle goes through.
We encounter Swedish journalists at the Tel Rumeida checkpoint, and Mrs. Abu Heikhal. The main complaints of the Palestinians who gather around them are that the army and the police always believe what they’re told by the settlers, and instead of arresting the settlers they arrest them. They also complain of how difficult it is to obtain construction permits.
The excavations next to the Abu Heikhal family’s home have become routine; neither soldiers nor police are there.
A “flag war” is underway on the electric poles and rooftops – many new Israeli flags, and many new Palestinian flags.
Hebron is outrageous and exhausting, as usual.