Abu-Dis

It is the morning after the suicide
attack on Jaffa Street. There is a new checkpoint near the entrance
to the Mt. of Olives cemetery near the roundabout at the top of the
road. Every car was stopped and a long queue had formed. Down at
the bottom near the wall the street was almost empty. Two border
policemen on top of the wall prevented any attempt to cross. At the
top the gate was closed and blue IDs were let through, only
schoolchildren whom they assisted over the high wall next to the
gate. Buses and vans were idly waiting for lack of passengers and
the soldiers said they had no idea at what time passage would be
resumed. The order to close it hermetically had come from the
government and not from the army. We took our car through Atur all
the way around to the other side of the wall and boarded a cab to
Sawahre. Two workers on their way home to Hebron told us that they
usually are unable to get to work more than ten days a month and
needed to feed their families. In Sawahre we found a long line of
trucks with agricultural produce on their way from Jericho to
Hebron waiting in the sun while the vegetables were getting
spoiled. No pedestrians were attempting to walk down or trying to
come up. The friendly Druze commander of the area said that he
didn't like to face these trucks, but that the instructions not to
let anyone through had come from high above. Though he had just let
a diabetic pass to fetch his medication, he could make no other
exceptions. Some truck-drivers related their problems. One with a
carload of wilting Swiss chard (mangold) said an empty truck was
waiting at the bottom in Wadi Nar and he was prepared to leave his
papers with the soldiers while he would carry the crates from his
vehicle to the other truck. Another told us about the cheeses on
his truck, getting hot. They were afraid to talk to the commander
themselves, so we did. He promised to find out whether an exception
could be made for those trucks, and drove off. After about 30
minutes, the truck with the Swiss chard decided to attempt the
descent. The other drivers watched with us and saw that he was held
up by the border police jeep below. We called the Head Commander,
and within a couple of minutes the truck was let through. Very
excitedly all the other trucks started in a long convoy on their
way down, and we were pleased to see a large number of pedestrians
also appear as if from nowhere. Most walked down, but some were
picked up by a yellow cab who took them beyond the valley. A man
born 36 years ago in Jericho had lived his whole life under the
occupation and had worked in Jewish settlements nearby warmly
thanked us in excellent Hebrew. He gave us some of his tiny
cucumbers after rinsing them. He fetches 15 NIS for a crate full
(18 kilos) of tomatoes. His truckload was worth 3000 NS and he was
very pleased that now it would not spoil. Back in Abu Dis the taxi
drivers told us that the passage at the gate on the hill had just
been opened.