Central and South Jerusalem vigil at a cease fire of the war

Sheikh Saed checkpoint - we are in contact by phone with a representative from the neighbourhood. Since October 7, the checkpoint has only been open to medical workers and teachers with a blue identity card. No medical or family reunification permit worked.

Now students with a permit also pass, and all holders of blue certificates, workers with permits do not pass. We spoke to several female students who were waiting for a ride to the girls' high school in Jebel Mukaber. They want to go on to higher studies, including medicine. A father leads his children to kindergarten in Jebel Mukaber. Tells about the plight of the workers who are not allowed to leave Israel with their work permits. The economic situation is getting worse, there is no work even in the territories.

Siluan - the streets are quiet, even though Kamal tells us that last night there were celebrations and chaos in the neighbourhood on the occasion of the return of a 14-year-old boy as part of the kidnapping deal. Lots of cameras on the roads near the City of David. The search for the Shiloah pool continues with deep excavation, but even if nothing authentic is found, a tourist site is being prepared here at the southern end of the City of David. There are no barriers at the exit to the road around the Temple Mount, but they added rows and rows of Israeli flags on the road around it. A jarring display of (only partial) ownership probably does someone good.

Driving through Ras El Amud and Abu Dis to the Olive checkpoint - many flags on the way, near the Ma'ale HaZeitim settlement there is a sign saying "Together we will win". Shops are open, streets are quite empty. The Olive checkpoint, which allowed Palestinian pedestrians from the southeast to pass is locked and closed. 3 taxis are waiting for a miracle of passengers. Hanna approaches the olive tree that has finally withered - the symbol is true to reality.

We return to the Hebron Road to get on road 60 and visit the Dadua family on the outskirts of Efrat/El Khader. Last week Judge Stein of the Supreme Court ruled to demolish their magnificently renovated home. (See the sad story at the end of the report).

The works to double highway 60 and add 3 tunnels have been stopped because there is no entry of workers from the territories. There are traffic jams at the entrance to Jerusalem, and so also the settlers from Gush Etzion, Hebron and the southern West Bank are suffering from the war...

The members of the Dadua family (Nafuz and her husband and their seven children) were happy to welcome us even though we didn't announce our arrival because we didn't want to promise... We sat down with the whole family for a cup of tea (this time the husband was also revealed to our eyes for the first time). Hana visits the house for the first time, and gave the patient and her husband precise instructions on which documents they should bring to her so that she could process the permit for him for oncology treatment at the Augusta Victoria Hospital.

Undoubtedly, the last week was very traumatic, but it seems that the three months they were given until the danger of demolition begins still allows us all to hope that we can do something to change the evil of the decree - not on the legal level, of course.

Read the story of the family house and how we are connected to them. It has a title: "There is no justice and no mercy". We wonder: how do you spread it to influence the decision-makers at a time when houses are being destroyed all over the West Bank, and neighbourhoods are being destroyed in Gaza?