Batir,

We visited the road blocks around the three villages Batir, Hussan and Nahalin. We drove through silent, empty countryside under a bridge where villagers climb up and down from the main road (leading west to Zur Hadassa and Emek Ayalon) in order to avoid the curfew. Yellow, Palestinian taxis are not allowed on this road, but ply back and forth between the El KHader crossroads and the entry to Hussan, (about 5-7 kilometers) risking a 500NIS fine if found. Jamal, our taxi driver uses only the permitted, interior route,when its open. As we drove the huge town of Betar Illit loomed to the north, completely closing off any possibility of development for Nahalin, which bears signs of having been a prosperous township, now somewhat shabby because of the closure and the consequent unemployment. Some villagers work in Betar, with special permits. We toured Nahalin and saw the earthworks to the north-east, admiring the view over the hills that are, presumably waiting for a developer! Formerly there were three exits\entrances to the village, south to Bethlehem and Hebron, north to Tel Aviv and east to Jerusalem. Now the only traffic route lies through Hussan. Jamal drove us back to the bridge and apologised for having to dump us of there instead of at El Khader, because of the curfew on Hussan which he would have had to pass. Since we are all young and fit, we scrabmbled up the rocky bank, about 20 ft high and climbed over the low barricade to the road. Jamal's number is 052-877326. He can't take his taxi across the checkpoint , but from time to time a tour of the villages is interesting in itself. Nahalin has a population of 6,000.