Sansana (Meitar Crossing), South Hebron Hills
Monday: quiet reigns at the Meitar checkpoint. We travel on route 317 to the village of Tuwani. The head of the local council Nasser A and his mother welcome us to their home. They tell us that last week four settlers fom the nearby outpost Maon entered the village and wandered around. They left without incident but returned later and damaged some olive trees. Local children began to throw stones and the settlers were about to beat them but the village women came out and chased them away. That same week Nasser and his son went to the nearby village of Bir Id to help with the work in the fields. Settlers from an adjacent outpost/settlement Nesher Netzah (again not clear) came out and chased them with dogs. They called the army which came but did nothing. On Friday, 12/04 a group of Druze soldiers entered the village and took photographs of various buildings; they said they were looking for "exceptions". There is a feeling, that we shared, that things are definitely taking a turn for the worse and Nasser wants to organize a meeting/conference of all the organizations operating in the area to try and decide what to do. For example, the public park, with its natural wells, at the village of Um al Kheir has received a demolition order and that is an issue that needs to be dealt with. On our return journey we saw army bulldozers preparing to block the access routes to and between the local villages. Today (17.04) Ma'an, the Palestinian news site, reported that the access route between the town of Yatta and Tuwani was blocked with concrete. Getting ready for annexation?