Bethlehem and surroundings, Sunday afternoon, 8.5.2005 Observers: Aya L. (reporting) Natanya G. (translating)15.00-18.30 15.30 DCO Etzion. About 12 people waiting for an hour. People go in and come out after a short time, some with the necessary permits, others refused and told to come again in a week or two. A woman is trying to get a magnetic card so as to enter Israel but she has a police file. Her husband is a retired policeman with a blue id but lives with another woman in Israel (and does bring her money…this is not in the Hebrew report).16.45 El Khadr. We passed over the to the other side where the market is but all was quiet. No police or Border Police.17.00 Beit Jala. Little movement and all quiet.17.15Bethlehem CP 300: When we arrived a family with four children on their way to Bethlehem were being detained. The father an Israeli but the mother had no identifying document. The taxi-driver also an Israeli who brought them is also detained. After 10 minutes it was decided that the father would return to Jerusalem in a border police jeep to bring his wife’s documents. (Also not in the Hebrew…the woman holding a baby evidently had to undergo a body search and the soldiers did not know what to do about the baby. The taxi driver was given the baby to hold and came to us saying “Now I am a babysitter too”)20 minutes later at 17.50 the father returned with the id. The soldiers fill in forms about the incident and in the meantime bring the family food and water. In the meantime another Arab Israeli woman is detained for driving a person illegally in Israel (although we did not see him). She is told to wait next to the soldiers and not allowed to speak to the taxidriver. Another Israeli arrives driving behind a jeep of the border police. A young man is in the jeep and taken into the hut where the detainees are. The Israeli is told to wait in his car. We were not sure why he was given this special dispensation. We left at 18.15 and the detainees were still waiting.( Also not in the Hebrew…. It did not seem that there was anything we could do to help them. The soldiers were evidently dealing with the matters on hand and except for one who would not allow the woman to speak to the taxi-driver were polite and even friendly to us).