Jerusalem suburbs and Hebron village

We met our host on a roundabout just behind the wall. She was late and in a bit of a tense mood, which threw me a bit, as she is usually so calm. Back at her house she explained that she couldn't meet us on time because she had been at a house all day trying to prevent the Israelis from demolishing it to make way for new section of the wall.

The wall, the wall... we walked along the main road of the village later that day and there it is! as you walk round the corner; looming over us 11m of grey concrete cutting the road in two, how has this become reality? The road now winds down the side of it and the journeys that took minutes can now take hours, you can hear voices and noises through the cracks and the guy who used to have a thriving business tells us about passing notes to his family through the small cracks in it???

This is sometimes to strange to comprehend even when its right there in front of you...but how does it effect permanent residents of once bustling high streets and tourist attractions? Well it strangles them and makes them turn to drugs to cope that's how...lots of people have left and those that remain face 70% unemployment, and poor working conditions, bosses can hire and fire as there are plenty to take the jobs.

People are paranoid because of informers so trust is being shattered and women have no easy access to hospitals to go to to give birth; so if complications arise they can and do die at checkpoints; waiting for officials to give them special permits to go up a road in their town that used to be open and accessible.

So when we chat to the kids about what they want to do when they grow up it seems pretty offensive that they can't answer like other kids, because universities are inaccessible and regular employment is not an option. It's really sad to see little kids laughing and playing, knowing that this immense gray snake that is winding it's way through their homes will eventually catch up with them and ruin their lives as it has of so many of the adults in their town.

I ask about he hill in the middle of the village; it's pretty and has pine trees on it; it looks a good place to walk to and there are Bedouin camped on it...our host points to the earth works around the bottom of it and explains that its being turned into a nature reserve with the wall surrounding it and that the Bedouins will be evicted pretty soon.

This shouldn't be happening should it? So why is this place invisible to the rest of the world? is it because 11m of grey concrete stops people seeing it? or is it because we are usually all so caught up in the rush for more money and better housing that we forget to look around us? To take time out to remember what the oil wars are doing to the real people who live here.

I don't think the wall is about security, but I do think it is about securing resources for the western world to feed off.

The tiny village we drive to the next day is virtually surrounded by illegal settlements, the soldiers stop us on our way in, we have Israeli Peace workers on our side so we can enter. Every time anyone comes and goes from the 160 residents they are stopped and questioned...every time they go out!

The pace of life here is slow and the houses very basic, no one seems like a threat to the huge security operation that surrounds them... When Miss Me the clown approaches the children with Brain the toy possum they flinch away like she might hit them? She's bothered by their reaction she knows it's because they've been hit before.

We are told that every day they are escorted past settlers who verbally abuse them and sometimes throw stones as well, they are escorted on foot and herded by jeeps by Israeli soldiers!!! Some of whom are settlers themselves.

So no wonder they are nervous; when the soldiers arrive to escort the kids they loose concentration and get restless, they are so young to have to run this gauntlet every day, what effect it's having only time will tell but it can't be good.

So for an hour or so we change the tempo, pulling faces doing tricks and interacting with games and circus kit; they laugh and giggle and meet strangers that aren't threatening to them; I hope it helps a bit; I really do.

Settler violence:

On 18th November, thousands of Israeli settlers and supporters entered H2/Hebron for a Jewish celebration. Acts of violence were carried out, causing injury to two internationals and three Palestinians. On the same day the IDF prevented Muslims from entering the Ibrahimi Mosque, keeping it open for Jewish worshippers only. Settlers from the Havot Ma'on outpost also chased Palestinian students from Tuba and Umm Faqqara as they were going to school in Twani. The same group of settlers entered Tuba and attacked Palestinian property. Israeli settlers from the Neve Daniyel settlement uprooted 100 olive trees on land belonging to the Palestinian village of Al Khader.

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Occupied Palestinian territory November 2006
OCHA Humanitarian Update

West Bank Access

Internal movement: In the West Bank, Palestinian internal access continued to deteriorate. The number of IDF physical obstacles controlling Palestinian movement now stands at 540. The number of manned checkpoints has increased form 59 to 84 since January 2006. During November, the IDF closed 'Asira ash Shamaliya checkpoint and road (north of Nablus city) for Palestinians.

The checkpoint is now only open for humanitarian organisations and emergency cases. Until 20 November, the IDF continued to impose age restrictions on movement south of Nablus for Palestinian men from Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarm, between the ages of 18-25 years unless they acquired a special permit from the IDF. On 22 November age restrictions were re-imposed on Palestinian men between the age of 16 and 35 years from Jenin governorate travelling southwards.

"Ambulance access: (1) Palestinian ambulances will wait no more than 30 minutes at any checkpoints; and (2) Effective mechanisms will be put in place to ensure that Palestinians seeking critical medical services (child delivery,
dialysis, chemotherapy etc) can quickly pass all checkpoints."

Gol Bertini Commitment (2002)

Ambulance incidents in the West Bank

Four denials and two delays in access (in excess of 30 minutes) were reported by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in the West Bank. In addition, on 8 November an ambulance was shot at by the IDF when on its way to evacuate injured Palestinians in Al Yamoon village, Jenin governorate. Two live bullets hit the ambulance but no injuries were reported.