Bethlehem

No Palestinian vehicles were observed
on Highway 60. Huge new tall concrete slabs have been put up around
and along the checkpoint closest to Jerusalem, below Beit Jalla. In
Halhul a Palestinian cab driver from Beit Umar who had been to
Hebron in the morning was waiting and frustrated, since he was
unable to return his home, two km. north. He used to work as a
gardener in Rehavia, and speaks beautiful Hebrew. Road 60 can not
be used for Palestinian vehicles without permits. A border
police-jeep was parked along the road, preventing unauthorized
traffic. He said that of the 35 buses usually operating on that
stretch, only three are now allowed to take passengers to the new
checkpoint of Al Khadr, and no Palestinian taxis
whatsoever.

Etzion. We were greeted by a nasty commander who wanted us to get
lost. He refused to talk to us and to give his name. He asked over
the phone what he should do about "those women", but was
told to leave us alone! An endless parade of pedestrians from Beit
Fajar was walking behind the fence towards the bus stop on their
way to Bethlehem, without being checked or held up. We saw a lot of
activity of trucks with building materials.

Al Khadr looked totally empty, no border police presence. We walked
over the rubble to be met by one lone cabdriver and four people who
had crossed from the other side of the main road with two loaded
donkeys. Two passengers and their parcels were shoved into the cab
(headed to Bethlehem) and the unloaded donkeys with their riders
returned across the main the road. The kiosk and shacks have been
dismantled. The checkpoint has been moved two kilometres further
south, next to the new road into Efrat North. This will be
problematic in two weeks, when schools reopen. At the entrance were
two very friendly soldiers who went out of their way to be nice to
us and even offered us a ride down the road towards the Southern
entrance of Al Khadr. There were the usual mounds of earth and
concrete slabs which can prevent even loaded donkeys to pass. They
said that this checkpoint will be permanent. The three villages
across the road are no longer under curfew, but since no
Palestinian vehicles are allowed on the road, their only way to
reach Bethlehem is on foot or on donkeys, till after the Al Khadr
checkpoint. (BTW, a donkey now costs 1000 NIS). I., familiar from
the former Al Khadr checkpoint, said that his wife and the wives of
three of his brothers on their way home from the fields across the
road had been beaten up by the border police at around 10:00 AM on
Monday morning, 11.8.03. One had a broken arm.