After a night of protests in the neighborhoods around East Jerusalem – it is now quiet
7:15 a.m. Jabal Mukaber and Sheikh Sa’ed checkpoint
After a night of protests in East Jerusalem neighborhoods against the Israeli army’s operation in Jenin, we saw here and at other East Jerusalem neighborhoods pairs of the municipality’s sanitation workers removing debris: smoking upside bins, improvised roadblocks… It seems the protest was very limited compared to the protests against the latest attack on Gaza.
At Sheikh Sa’ed Checkpoint no schoolchildren are seen crossing to their school in Jabal Mukaber because summer vacation has started. We met three young Palestinian men holding a (blue) Israeli ID, whose families are split between Sheikh Sa’ed and the mother-neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber. It is not really clear who lives where, but they are the fortunate waiting to be picked up to go to work.
Silwan
We take a turn at the bottom of Batan Al Hawa (this neighborhood is threatened with the demolition of 70 homes), there is nothing new here. Colonist children are picked up in several spots to reach their schools (at our expense).
The sign declaring the attraction of the Shiloach pool being dug out has been taken down. Nothing has been discovered yet. But the digs are ongoing and deep. The spokesperson of Emek Shave – archeologists against the occupation – explains that the area belongs to the El’ad association in some real-estate deal, and promised that eventually a pool will be there alright, called the Shiloach Pool, even if it will not be the original one.
Opposite the City of David, the uphill section of Wadi Hilwa Street has been severely narrowed. The Giv’ati car park and its growing digs are becoming a huge tourist center of the El’ad association. This makes the mostly Palestinian residents’ exit here very difficult when they wish to drive along the road circling the walls, opposite Dung Gate.
Ras Al Amoud on the way to The Olives Checkpoint
The media often mentioned riots here tonight. Right now, things are “quiet”. The guys are either sleeping or in custody… The road turns. Workers of the Moriah Company are clearing a broad area on the old Jericho Road, above the turnoff to the upgraded road going down to the Wadi Qaddoum neighborhood below. Why this area? We are suspicious and try to find out whether preparations are in store to a tunnel planned to pass under Abu Dis and A-Ram that would connect to the northern American Road (see route at https://peacenow.org.il/eastern-ring-road-consfiscation We shall report further.
The Olives Checkpoint
Good news: the DCO here has begun to work again, after closing down in the 2021 Ramadan, issuing magnetic cards and lightening the pressure on the Qalandiya DCO. It opens at 9 a.m. and there is already a waiting line (a bit after 8a.m.). Among the people waiting is a nice radio anchor who gave birth a year ago, and now wants to visit Jerusalem occasionally. We wish her luck.
The toilets on the Palestinian side are locked, as always. The man in the phone cards booth above the car-park for those arriving from Azariyah tells us that thousands of people passed here today between 4 and 7 a.m. Now it is fairly empty, but at times even now a sudden long waiting line forms for document inspection. This is a ‘primitive’ checkpoint on all accounts – no electronic posts, and all contact facilities between people wishing to cross and the checkpoint workers are totally inactive. But the woman-soldier was efficient and the waiting line dwindled.
Shu’afat refugee camp
Our driver tells us that every night, and especially last night, many soldiers enter the camp and throw teargas canisters, reacting to the roadblocks and stones and firecrackers thrown by Palestinian youth. Strangely there is a traffic jam in the vehicle checkpoint leading to Jerusalem. This time the reason is that only a single lane was opened, although there is another lane blocked with a yellow metal gate. There are enough people at the checkpoint to open another lane, so what’s the story?
I disembark to see what the boys’ elementary school grades 1-6 looks like now, on a side alley close to the checkpoint. The area always seems strange to us as a school. Apparently, this was once a meat market (including a slaughterhouse). Now there is a summer camp and children arrive here on days of their choice. The principal tells us that it is financed by the education association “Lavee” (that supplies transport and support for educational institutions in Jerusalem. It is a right-oriented association, as far as I’ve checked). But the school is no longer subject to the Israeli school system, except for Hebrew and English classes. In these subjects the graduates may continue for Israeli matriculation. The rest of the program is the PA’s). It is nice to witness preparations for the children studying about outer space. But saddening to hear that today the superintendent found 2-3 stub grenades thrown in the schoolyard, left over from a nocturnal clash.
At the exit from Anata, at the Anatot Junction, bulldozers are broadening an are which will probably be used to widen a road or roundabout to Almon and Kfar Adumim (colonies).
The sign stuck at the entrance of Shu’afat refugee camp, declaring a main road to Anatot is upgraded, is already an anachronism. Works were supposed to begin in 2022, but apparently only the sign sufficed.