Dura-Al Fawwar Junction, Hebron, South Hebron Hills
Hebron, South Hebron Hills
Oh, all the thirsting who go to the water source, with bottles
Everything looks routine, quiet. The workers are homebound early.
Then we reached the spring which they call Birke, but a reliable source told me its name is Dalba. It is situated about one kilometer south of the Dura-Al Fawwar Junction.
And this is what we saw and heard:
I asked – Why are you here? I was answered that only here is the water cold and clear.
Don’t you have running water in the villages? No, they answer. And if there is, we are not allowed to pump it out of the ground…
Do you come here every day? Yes. That is what does on in the summertime. Every time I go by here, I take water. There are always people here.
Where do you come from? I ask. From everywhere, the fellow answers. From Dura and Yatta and Dahariya, and Beit ‘Awwa. I’m from Beit ‘Awwa. And they (Israelis) don’t get in your way? Don’t chase you away? Can you always fetch water here? Not always. Sometimes the army comes and chases us away. If they see many cars here they don’t let us do it.
This is the way things stand.
Hebron seems deserted and quiet in the hot noon hours of Ramadan.
All the checkpoints look more fortified now, more secured and sophisticated. The fences are higher. At the inspection posts soldiers are only heard. Not seen. No physical encounter with the passersby. The gray, somber, threatening architecture reminiscent of East Germany of bygone days.