When Palestinians need treatment in hospitals outside the city, their stretchers are passed from ambulance to ambulance over cement blocks and earth berms that choke the highways. An unarmed Palestinian man was shot in the leg, nearly severing his foot, in a mix-up at an Israeli checkpoint in Hebron a week ago. Army officials, after the writhing man was caught on news video, expressed regrets for the shooting. His foot may be amputated. During the curfew, Palestinians watch television, stockpile rice and lentils, and give searing looks towards the soldiers and settlers who drive their roads.
Some children pass the time by scrounging up bullets discarded by the troops.
They empty the gun powder into plastic soft drink bottles and use them to set off small explosions. Hussama Rajabeh is a truck driver who, during curfew, cannot get to his truck parked about a 100 yards from his house. The soldier cocked her M-16 and leaned over the woman when, Rajabeh said, his feisty aunt pushed her. The soldier then hit her in the head with her rifle butt, according to Rajabeh. Other soldiers came to treat the wound, but would not comment on the incident.