Sansana, South Hebron Hills, Sun 27.7.08, Morning
6:30-11:00
Summary: a lot of roadblocks and checking by the army around the city of Hebron. Possibly the result of the military raid to look for wanted Palestinians yesterday.
6:40 Meitar (Sansana) CP
At least 200 workers standing in a queue which advanced very slowly. After we rang to ask what the problem was the pace seemed to quicken. Shlomi was not present at the CP. Some of his men told us of a technical problem with the electronic checking devices which was slowing the whole process down. According to our calculations it took more than 30 minutes to get through the actual inspection once one had got inside the first turnstile.
Route 60
8:10 Dura –al-Fawwar: A long queue of vehicles coming from Dura towards route 60 and Al-Fawwar. Soldiers were checking some of the cars.
Beit Haggai –the gate was closed and an army jeep and two soldiers were waiting there –for somebody?
Sheep Crossing - The big yellow gates
on either side of route 60 were closed. Some of the Palestinians waiting to get through with their cars said the gates had been closed for the past two hours and some said that they had been closed since 2:00 am A soldier was in the pillbox watching the crossing. There were no soldiers on the ground. There was one long queue of vehicles waiting to enter Hebron from route 60 and another waiting to pass from the direction of Yatta onto route 60. An ambulance which arrived wanting to enter Hebron opened the gate on the Hebron side of the crossing and after that the gate on the Yatta side was also opened. On our return journey the gates were still open and there was an army jeep checking cars leaving Hebron
Shiyukh –Hebron - soldiers were sitting in a jeep by the side of the road and only checking Palestinians carrying bags or parcels.
Route 35
The Humanitarian Gate: was closed. On the way back we saw soldiers manning it who had stopped two cars carrying peace volunteers from the EU (Italians) who wanted to get into Hebron and couldn’t understand why they were not being allowed to do so.
Halhul bridge – Hebron - the bridge was black with the vast number of people standing in the road among a mass of cars and vans. One jeep and 4 soldiers had laid out spikes on the road near the Hebron side of the bridge and were preventing movement in either direction. Occasionally a few cars or an ambulance was let through. At 10:00 the bridge was opened and all the pedestrians crossed quickly. The cars were checked and went through more slowly.
Hebron – Beit Kahal road - This road was also blocked and only opened after 10:00
Idna – the gate was open and soldiers were checking the cars passing through
On the way back on route 60 more Palestinians vehicles were observed than Israeli ones.