Bethlehem and Hebron area, SUN AM, 14 Dec 2003.Watchers: Ch.A., D.R., A.Z.The Bethlehem-Hebron road was open. There were very few buses and some yellow taxis going through. We were told that a few days ago (Friday?) the bridge between Halhul and Hebron was opened, which makes it possible to go directly. It seems there were few buses because the Palestinians prefer the more frequent taxis.The bus drivers claimed that only a few of them are allowed to pass at the Etzion Checkpoint, and the rest are sent around through Sa’ir. The road there is narrow and has a lot of potholes up to Nokdim; it takes a long time to get past Nokdim.08:30, Etzion DCO. The place is full of Palestinians waiting for permits, indoors and out. To reach the “office” one has to jump over the sewage that flows through the yard.The first person in the queue at the single open window – at 8:30 AM – had been waiting since 4:30 AM. He’ll have the same wait in a week when he comes back to get his magnetic pass.On our way back, we passed Tantur. Two soldiers inside the grounds were checking pedestrians. A woman from Jerusalem with an Israeli ID looked suspicious to them because of her long clothing. She was crying because the soldiers, who couldn’t do a body search on her, wanted to take her to the checkpoint. We took her ourselves to the checkpoint and from there to the bus.