9:30 Tapuah junction. Building material intended for road repair is heaped on the side of the road. It is clear that the work is already in an advanced state.
The settlers' struggle for domination of a section of road 60 has come to an end. The section of the road from Tapuah junction to Turmussaya has de facto become an apartheid road where no Palestinian vehicles are able to drive. Just as the settlers gained control over other places in the West Bank, here too the takeover began as an initiative of residents of settlements located near the road – Rehelim, Ali, Shilo and others – who began with the demolition of Palestinian garages on the sides of the road and continued with shooting at Palestinian vehicles. The army is continuing the takeover these days by means of rolling checkpoints and the erection of earth barriers at the entrance to the road. This road has strategic importance, as it is the main traffic artery connecting the northern West Bank, by way of the Tapuah junction, to the south, on the way to Ramallah and Jerusalem.
9:45 Talpit
At the council building we meet M. and talk about the rolling checkpoints, which disrupt the life of the inhabitants of the region. According to him, a day before our visit, rolling checkpoints were put up on the roads from Kablan to Talpit and from Talpit and Kablan to Yatma. The soldiers did not enter the villages themselves. These rolling checkpoints, just like the earth barriers at the points of exit to road 60, prevent the inhabitants from using the road.
Out interlocutor tells us that in order to get from his village to Turmussaya he had to drive on circuitous routes for 25 minutes, while the drive from Talpit via road 60 to Turmussaya takes only 5 minutes.
The interior ring road that connects the Palestinian villages in the region, is in the process of completion. The new road between Talpit and Jalud is already functioning. The section of the road from Jalud to Karyut is still under construction. M. tells us about his uncle, who lives by himself at Al Marajim. He owns about 300-400 dunams of land and has a flock of sheep. The settlers from Shilo are envious of him and his possessions, and they are trying to force him to leave. A settler from Shilo ran his tractor over his flock and trampled many of the animals. According to M., the army knows who he is but doesn't do anything. Under pressure from the settlers the uncle was also forbidden to cross the road with the sheep that were left. A block structure he built above his stone house is now destined for destruction. When he tried to cancel the decree he was told, "As far as we are concerned you can live in a cave." Thus the army and the administration join forces to gratify the demands of the settlers, at the expense of the Palestinians.
11:00 Karyut
In one of the alleys we meet the mother of one of the lads who was killed. She tells us that after her son was killed soldiers arrived, searched their house and threatened that they would demolish the house. Her husband joins the conversation and denies that they were threatened. Anyway, since the search, the army has not returned to their home.
On the opposite ridge, the settlement of Ali spreads out: A new quarter with red roofs has already been built. Now the settlers wish to confiscate another 1,200 dunams of the village lands, for further expansion. The inhabitants tell us that MK Ahmed Tibi is supposed to arrive at the village to investigate the issue.
12:15 Tapuah junction. Army forces at the intersection have increased, compared to this morning. We see about ten soldiers at the site.
On our previous shift on March 23 we visited Duma following the second arson attack there, in the course of which Ibrahim's bedroom was burnt down entirely while he and his wife managed to escape. Ibrahim is the only eyewitness to the arson attack by settlers who burnt down the house of the Dawabshe family, and he supposed to testify against those accused of arson and murder. It is therefore reasonable to assume that there are people who might try to liquidate him and thus prevent his testimony.
It was therefore more than strange to read press reports that Ibrahim was taken for interrogation and accused of setting fire to his home himself; was forbidden to mention the word "settlers” because "after all there were no Hebrew inscriptions on the house"… and also "after all you were not burnt down"… In a telephone conversation, his father told me that his son was released and returned home, and was told that an interrogation of this type would not be repeated. The father is conscious of the fact that Ibrahim must now to be carefully guarded from those who wish to prevent him in the most violent way from appearing at court and giving his testimony.