Abu Dis Tuesday PM, 26-7-05Observers: Yael I. and Ilana D. (reporting) From 3:00 till 6:00 PM Abu Dis, Along the Wall to Jebel Mukaber, Pishpash, SawahreWe had not been in the area for a couple of months and felt somewhat like tourists. At the gas station a couple of parked buses awaited passengers traveling into Jerusalem. One soldier was checking each pedestrian. We drove up the newly asphalted clean road and noted that the barbed wire at a crossing point before the Cliff Hotel had been moved to the side. A new gate has been installed on the top of the road and barbed wire decorates the broken windows of the hotel. We drove to Kidmat Zion and continued all the way past the University and down to Jebel Mukaber. There was not much traffic on the well-paved road. At some points landscaping has already been carried out on the Western side (later we saw more of the same in addition to the paintings on the wall beyond A-Tur). The steep slopes were hard on our brakes and with the help of some workers (whom we later met in Wadi Nar) we cooled off the tires. On the way to the former Pishpash we saw some Palestinians crossing. At the Pishpash were Border Police and only Palestinians with blue Ids crossed after having been unscrupulously listed and checked. The taxi-drivers told us that G. and his gang are back and that he has been beating up Palestinians without valid permits. They told us that there is a curfew and that even those with valid work permits had been returned in the morning. P., the commander of the CP refused to answer our questions and stated that his ‘task is not to talk to us’. When a BP-jeep with his commander arrived we asked about the curfew and were told that there is no curfew. Nevertheless we saw a number of Palestinians waiting in the yard of the Monastery for the departure of the soldiers, who, according to the taxi-drivers, had been on the spot since the morning. Some crossed the fence a little further to the North. We drove to the other side of Abu Dis and delivered a heavy battery for the wheelchair of Barbara’s protégé. On the way to Wadi Nar we were most pleasantly surprised that the road had been newly asphalted and that even streetlights had been installed. A short distance between the sharp turn and the University has not been paved yet, but the remainder was a sheer delight, but for the last 50 meters for which the cabdrivers claimed there had not been sufficient tar. The road via Kedar was blocked, but a soldier came with a key when a CD-car wanted to pass. We were not allowed to get close to the CP, but managed to inspect the one of the toilets (under protest of the soldier). They were reservists, glad to be there and not in Gaza. All cars and pedestrians were checked in both directions, but there was no line. We left via the same route.