Abu Dis, Sawahira ash Sharkiya, Sheikh Saed

From 6:00 till 8:00 AM

Sheikh Sa’ad

The enormous wall now hides the garbage belt underneath the village. We turned right to ‘inspect’ the new parking lot, way below ‘for the comfort of the residents’ who have to climb the steep hill up before they reach the CP and have to climb even more to get home. We managed to find a spot along the road on top. There were even more cars parked inside the village than we usually saw, but apparently people had not left for work yet. The soldier in the makeshift CP - the proper one is still under construction – allowed us to enter. One grocery store was open and did a brisk business selling pitta’s and rolls to people on heir way to work. It looked well equipped, the man in charge said that he gets his products via Sawahre; he spoke very poor English. One of the customers told us that for the time being they are very pleased with the way the passage is run. The soldiers are kind and they let sick people pass even if they do not have the required permit. The crossing was smooth and fast and all the children got without delay into their respective. vans or school busses. There are no civilian security guards.  We didn’t even have to show our Id’s when we exited.

We proceeded towards the Sawahre CP and saw some schoolboys trudging up the long way to the CP. We entered after one boy had knocked several times on the door which then opened. We asked the soldiers whether we were allowed to go just in and out and he agreed. A car passed through the CP and the driver thanked us for our presence. On the way out we again didn’t have to show our Id’s and wanted to give a lift to a lady with heavy bags, but she said that she was waiting for a car to pick her up. A bus for children with special needs came to pick up a deaf boy. A father waited with his 10-year old daughter for her special transportation as a gifted child.  On the way back and all the way along the Road of the Americas we saw new road signs in white on blue all along, beneath was the same dirt as always, the hundreds of blooming sea squills were a sheer delight;  they apparently thrive on rubbish and squalor.

The former Police Station in Ras El Amud is still not inhabited. There was new innovative graffiti on the wall in Abu Dis. As we inspected the huge red sign (stating that the road to the settlement is a security road) a huge semi-trailer with building material moved up the slope and crossed into the ‘security’ zone. The Cliff Hotel looks a mess; there is no longer any sign of the Border Police, just concrete walls and lots of coiled barbed wire.

The nursery school at the convent  was of course closed, since it was Sunday.