Hebron, South Hebron Hills, Sun 8.2.09, Morning

Road 35
Leaving Taqumiya, we head for Hebron.
South Hebron CP is closed (Ibrahim tells us that it was open for only a short while in recent days).
Olive Pathway: open and the soldiers checking. Traffic flows.
Shayuch Shair: A Boarder Police jeep, and four Palestinian detainees. When pass by, on our way back an hour later, they are gone.

Hebron
The House of Dispute is surrounded by a concrete wall and barbed wire. No soldiers seen in the area.
At the entry to the Prayers' Route a Boarder Police jeep blocks the way.
On the turn right, immediately before the Patriarch's Tomb Cave, another Boarder Police Jeep is stationed.
Pharmacy CP: the children's passage to school is held up a bit, and a local elderly stands there and shouts at the soldiers, to let the children through.
Tarpat CP: Two overseas volunteers report that the last hour passed reasonable smoothly, with no special problems.
Tel Rumeida CP: Give'ati soldiers, just back from the fighting in Gaza, animatedly converse with us about this and that, including their vote in the upcoming elections – most of them will vote for Barak, who they applaud for handling the war excellengtly.
They never heard of "MachsomWatch" before and so, weren't aware that talking to us was "prohibited" for them. The children have all gone through now. 

We leave Hebron, and head for Halhul east – a rolling CP.
At the CP we talk to the soldier, whose gun is directed right into the cars he checks up.
We suggest that he lower his gum down somewhat, as the children in the car seem terrified. He retors back that his job is to ensure they live in constant uncertainty and fear.  
He tells us of the alternative to the "neighbor procedure" (outlawed by the Israel High Court) namely, the "uninvolved procedure": it is the same procedure, under a different name.
He described how he enters a village were stones are thrown with old Daud, making sure that Daud walks ahead of him, so that the stones hit the old man. He claims that the youngsters keep throwing stones even then. 
He enquires whether our children served in the army and in what units. He believes that if we had a serious occupation, as his engineer-mother has, we wouldn't have been roaming around the territories.  

Cheerful, educated but friendly, we leave the CP.

In Tarqumiya we part with A the driver and hasten to the Beit Govrin gas station