South Hebron

South Hebron Monday morning, 3 January 2005Watchers: Leah Y, Elena L (reporting)Hours: 7:00 - 8:50We left Shoket at 7:00 and returned at 8:50. Almost immediately we were enveloped by fog. We passed through Sansana CP without being stopped; there were no other vehicles there. The heavy fog limited visibility and very little could be seen ahead or on either side of the road. We could just make out the CP at the turnoff to Arad. There seemed to be no traffic there. Because of the fog there were few cars and pedestrians about throughout the shift. Just before Yakinton on Route 317 the fog lifted for a while and we saw boys and girls walking along the road - in different directions – to school. Further on, a lot of children were walking southward across Route 317 to a school building on a rise (on the outskirts of Yatta?)At the turn-off to Tawani a group of schoolchildren and their teachers were walking towards the village from the direction of Route 317 and Yatta. 7:40: Zif junction was open and no soldiers were present. Shiyukh- Hebron: Open to pedestrians. No army presence.East Halhul-Sair: open to traffic in both directions. No army presence.We saw no soldiers at any of the CPs and crossings, except for an officer and 3 soldiers in a car parked facing away from the Humanitarian CP (Ras al Jura; passage for health cases and medical materiel). They said they had stopped because it was so dangerous to drive in the fog. The CP was closed, but there were no Palestinian vehicles there. Halhul –Hebron bridge: open, but the ascent to it from Route 35 was closed as usual. The fog had become so thick that we decided not to continue to Idhna CP. On the way back it was impossible to make out the Sheep's Crossing but our driver I., said he could see it was open. It was deserted. 8:30 Dura-Al-Fawwar: Again, but for our driver, we would have remained unaware of the crossing because of the fog. It was open and there were no pedestrians or soldiers on the ground, only two military jeeps parked at the side of Route 60, facing south away from the crossing. Elections: A school teacher who was crossing from Shiyukh to Hebron told us that three days ago, the candidate Mustafa Barghouti had come to Shiyuch to campaign there and had moved about freely.