Bethlehem

Etzion: No buses and almost no
pedestrians. In expectation of a Hamas retaliation for yesterday's
assassination of a leader in Hebron yesterday, the Hebron district
is completely disconnected/insulated. Hebronites who wish to exit
northbound cannot; Hebronites wishing to return home from
Bethlehem, and residents of Bethlehem wishing to enter the Hebron
district are forbidden to do so; public transportation within the
Hebron district is banned; curfew was imposed on large parts of the
city of Hebron. Given the absence of public transportation and the
massive deployment of the military in the region, Etzion checkpoint
was today beyond the reach of all but a handful. The few Hebronites
we saw arrived by foot, after hours-long walks in by-passing paths
and fields. Some were caught in ambushes set up around the
checkpoint, others made it to the Bethlehem region, but were
eventually caught at more distant roadblocks or improvised
checkpoints and forced back. They now had to negotiate their return
home, facing the soldiers' initial refusal. Barbed wire and large
blocks of concrete (means rarely employed before) were scattered on
the ground and around the soldiers' posts. A single bus from
Bethlehem arrived at the junction. It was stopped, and all
passengers ordered to get off and return to where they came from.
One old woman managed to stick to the target and continued walking
towards Hebron. A small group of labourers from Beit Omar arrived
at the checkpoint after a failed attempt to reach Jerusalem, where
they work. We had met them before. They had started their day at 4
AM, walked, managed to bypass Etzion, continued walking, and
eventually caught a ride to the vicinities of checkpoint 300.
Trying to cross to Jerusalem through a valley to the east of that
checkpoint they were hunted down by BP reinforced with police dogs.
Now they were on their way home (tomorrow is another day, they
said...). We drove south towards Hebron, until we reached
roadblocks east of Halhul (some 7-8 Km to the south of Etzion). Not
a single Palestinian vehicle on the road, but dozens of people
walking and walking and walking. We gave a lift to two women. At
the Halhul eastern roadblocks we met another group of desperate
walkers, waiting for a miracle bus or transit. But none arrived. We
then offered a lift to a young couple and their 4 months old sick
baby arriving after an exhausting journey that began three hours
earlier. The baby is very sick, and his chances of survival are
slim. They were headed to Caritas children hospital. At Etzion
checkpoint, the soldiers demanded a full ID check on us. However,
we managed to call their commander, who allowed the couple and baby
to continue their journey, without conducting any examination
whatsoever. The baby is the couple's seventh child. Two others
suffered from similar problems, one survived and one died. We
brought them to a massive roadblock (tall barrier of dirt, stones,
garbage, etc.) to the west of Beit Jala, on the other side of which
they caught a taxi to Caritas. Concluding this shift with a short
visit to checkpoint 300, we saw police horses being boarded on a
truck. There was no sign whatsoever of Palestinians at the
checkpoint, where dozens of soldiers were standing or sitting idly.
The adjacent valley and fields were also successfully evacuated of
Palestinian presence.