W. and I go out for a walk in the surroundings, observing the wall again and, as usual, we can’t finish our walk without being invited for lunch. This time it is M. and his son inviting us to their roof terrace. Communication is difficult this time so we only learn that all the land we can see on the other side of the road belonged to M.’s father once. He tells us this while we eat from a tiny dish of olives.
While we are on the roof top, talking little, we see a machine that I had not seen in my life before. Fig 23
We all look at it while it moves slowly over what looks like rabble from here. It is actually the fine gravel they are building the road with. M. tells us: “to take the olive trees”. I look at him in surprise and W. explains: “that is the kind of machine they use to uproot the trees”.
Coming back home, I decide that I am going to take notice of what J. and A. told me and leave Bi’Lin. Tomorrow I am going to Hebron, in South Palestine, at least to the South of Jerusalem. M. has told us that something has happened today in Qualandia, the checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem, and that it may be closed.
I call R. in Ramallah to ask him. He confirms that it is closed today but surely in a few hours they will open it again. I ask him how long it will take me to get to Hebron and he says about two hours. In a normal country this would probably be about half an hour or an hour, depending on traffic, but here I will have to change taxis in Qalandia and then in Jerusalem.
W. will stay here “on guard”.
I have to be thankful that, in all the time I have been here, I have not had to come out one single night.
