Hebron, Sansana (Meitar Crossing), South Hebron Hills
We went through the Meitar checkpoint at 9 AM, an hour when the parking lot is filled with cars. The workers had left a long time ago.
We continued on Highway 60 to Hebron. Soldiers stood by the roadside near Tel Umarim and observed shepherds and their flocks on the other side of the road.
Along the road the sea squills, heralding autumn, were already visible. Another pleasant sight also accompanied today’s journey: Signs pointing to the Palestinian villages, in Hebrew.
Hebron
At the entrance to Kiryat Arba, in front of the multi-story buildings rising on the hill, excavations are underway in the rocky area to the left of the road in what appear to be preparations for construction.
At the exit from the neighborhood, opposite the gate into Hebron, a tent, “Hazon David,” has been raised containing a table, a cabinet and a chair.
We “ran into” Moshe Zar near the Cave of the Patriarchs, the head of the family, the principal buyer/robber of land on the West Bank.
The army intends to erect a fence that will surround Beit Hameriva and the nearby area. The Palestinian residents who “benefited” from a shortcut to their homes farther up the hill will now be forced to make a long, tiring detour.
The Pharmacy checkpoint has been renovated: entry on the right, a separate exit on the left, a guard tower rising between them.
The lanes are quiet when we pass through them. Military jeeps park opposite Beit Hadassah. Last night settlers attacked a Palestinian here.
Back toward the “border” between Hebron and Kiryat Arba to visit a family we know. They’re in a forty-day period of mourning for one of their sons who died during the festivities celebrating the marriage of one of his brothers. It’s still difficult for them to digest the tragedy they’ve suffered, more misery in addition to many years of pain [poverty, disease, unemployment, unending harassment by settlers from the adjacent “Patriarchs neighborhood”…and an occupation with no end in sight, without hope…]. We sat with them for a long time, and could only listen and feel their hurt.