Update during Corona: South Hebron Hills - Quarantine

We left for our shift after 10 AM – the occupied territories were closed off because of Purim. There were a few dozen people illegally in Israel at the Meitar checkpoint, and a substantial police presence.

Highway 60 is very quiet, the landscape green and flourishing.  We decided to visit Tuwani because the volunteers leave this week.  But Basel, Nasser’s son, met us on the road at the entrance to the village because the Palestinian Authority had placed the villages under quarantine and outsiders were prohibited from entering.  Tourists who’d visited the village had arrived from Bethlehem, which was already been under quarantine for a few days.

Schools on the West Bank are also closed, so the absence of volunteers escorting the pupils won’t be felt for now.

I wonder what the violent residents of Havvat Ma’on will do – will they take advantage of the closure, or are they also quarantined?  Or perhaps they believe that, as part of the chosen people, no harm will befall them?

The roads were pretty empty on the way back.