Bethlehem

Today no Palestinian vehicle whatsoever was allowed to move on
route 60 and the transverse connecting roads, even the usual the
exceptions.

Yesterday evening, T., a bus driver from Fawwar, called for help.
In August, after more than a year during which he and his bus were
"grounded", he finally retrieved his valuable permit to
carry passengers from Halhul roadblocks to Allenby bridge. Hardly a
day passes without him being held for several hours at the
"container" checkpoint, and every night he is obliged to
leave his bus at Halhul roadblock, 20 kilometers away from home.
But 50+ T. considers himself lucky compared with his permit-less
fellow drivers. T. received permission to take a group of people
going on a Hajj to Mecca from Beit Fajjar village to Allenby
bridge. At 06.45 he called to say that he is stuck at Etzion with
the Hujjaj on board. On our way there, driving on road 60, we did
not detect a single Palestinian vehicle. At Etzion junction, we
found T's bus at the midst of total chaos. Despite the absence of
transportation, a crowd of over 200 people - mostly employees at
various institutions - managed to reach the checkpoint, apparently
by covering long distances on foot. Now they gathered around the
military post, manned by several soldiers and their woman commander
and asked, to be let through. The orders were strict: no one is to
cross in the direction of Bethlehem. Using a megaphone, the
soldiers urged people to disperse.

But the people did not disperse easily. A group of eight women
teachers from al-Arroub refugee camp would not accept the refusal.
The day before they were prevented from reaching the school and now
they insist on getting to work, they said. The woman officer said
that the regulations must be maintained. The crowd also included
lecturers from al-Quds university, doctors, nurses and employees
from Bethlehem-based hospitals, and many others who wouldn't give
in. Their pleas and protests could hardly be heard, however, given
the ongoing engine roars of the tractors that are currently
leveling the ground of what used to be the checkpoint compound and
is to become part of an expanded settlers' road. Six or seven of
these heavy machines - all driven by Palestinians - moved earth and
rubble from here to there.

We made a call, and I. came from headquarters to allow bus with
pilgrims, as well as all employees of the education system
(including universities) through. All the rest are to return to
where they came from. How? That is not the military's concern. So
we turned our car into a "Machsom-Watch shuttle",
offering people rides back and forth on route 60. Among them were a
60+ old woman from Hebron and her three sons, who had just
completed an eight kilometer walk; three heavy Jerusalemite women
in their sixties and seventies, who got stuck at Halhul roadblock
following a weekend visit to relatives; two high-school teachers: a
young journalist "in the making" from Hebron, on his way
to a job interview: and parents + baby +grandfather, whom we
managed to get all the way to Beit Jala.

Acquaintances phoned to tell us that BP are now manning the
previously unmanned Halhul northeastern roadblocks. Upon arrival
there we encountered three of them engaged in confrontation with
about 60 male high-school students. The orders, said the BP
commander, are not to allow anybody to cross the roadblocks,
schoolchildren included. The atmosphere became very tense after two
border policemen pushed and hit two of the kids, confiscating an ID
from one.

Our intervention was to no avail. The kids had already missed their
classes the day before, following a similar confrontation with BP.
Fortunately, about an hour and a half after the confrontation
began, a higher ranking officer arrived and let the kids
through.