On Saturday, Nov. 1, we went first to Hebron for an event celebrating the fourth anniversary of Hebron international resource network (H.I.R.N.) is an international organization based in Hebron and is run on a purely voluntary basis by a group of dedicated Palestinians and internationals. Find my picture at https://www.facebook.com/pages/HIRN/388180624554795?sk=photos_stream

After the speeches and goodies, we went to a restaurant with the teams from Hebron and Bethlehem. Then walked past some shops and bought some supplies for our home in Yatta.

We then returned to the H.I.R.N. office since our driver was there, and after talking to Hamed about developments at Um al Kher, we headed back to Yatta. We were only home for a short time before heading off to Um al Kher. The PA (Palestinian Authority) had brought 3 new toilets and large plastic tents. The military was there today and saw the toilets but the tents were put up after they left. A resident of the village, Amotasem al-Hathaleen, said that the men were going to hide the toilets since they think the military will be back with bulldozers again to destroy them. They were also going to see about disguising the tents and make it look like something made of scrape. I hope they succeed.

Amotasem al-Hathaleen and Eid Suleiman Hadaleen inside the new tent.

Hadaleen

Stay tuned.

Today is Sunday. Leif and I were out of bed at 2:45 and left at 3:15. It was a chore to wake our driver. He has a 3-month old son and he kept him awake until after 1. We did make it to Meitar checkpoint in time for the 4 a.m. opening. We arrived to find vendors already open to sell to the people going through the checkpoints or the taxi drivers.

Unfortunately you can’t take pictures at the checkpoint. There are watchtowers. It is awful. Bars, barbed wire. I did manage to get the picture here on a previous visit when the checkpoint was closed. There are watchtowers to make sure the rules are. We counted 5427 people going through from 4 to 7 a.m. They have work permits which belong to the place that they work for and only good for a period of time. 44 people were turned back for various reasons. At times there was pushing and some climbed over sections to jump the line. Some of the workers pick oranges and the like.

This is all for now but will add on tomorrow so I hope you check back to hear about the school run and our visit to the seam zone.