Bethlehem and Surroundings – thurs. Aug. 4,05 PM Observers: Eva P., Gili K., Nurit S., (reporting)Ezyon DCO: We arrived at about 3:30 and found a few people who were being served at the windows. One of them asked for our help when he came out. HIs name is George Nissan and he is a businessman who owns a few tourist shops in Bethlehem and Jerusalem and also a travel agency. Throughout the years he has run a very active tourism business and has cooperated with Israelis to the benifit of all. This year he made a great deal of effort to rejuvinate tourism through his many contacts all over the world and he has gotten response. There are tourist groups coming into Israel as a result of his efforts. He told us that he sent out 8,000 letters, urging people to come, telling them it wasn’t dangerous and so forth. However, he is not able to travel freely into Israel to take care of his tours. At best he is able to get a permit to enter Israel for a week here and there. He tells us that he is unable to manage his business in such a manner and is having great difficult supporting his family and the families of his workers. He wishes to speak with some higher authority about this problem. Perhaps somebody at the Department of Tourism, or perhaps a Knesset member. I took his details and promised to consult others in an effort to try to arrange some sort of meeting with somebody. I need advice and help in this. Please.El Kahdr: The usual bustle.Biet Jala: There was a very long line of cars and so we stopped and walked over to the CP. We found new reserve soldiers there who didn’t know anything about us but were very interested in talking to us and hearing what we have to say. It turned out that the line resulted from the entrance of a fuel tanker into the adjacent army base, and as soon as it entered the base the soldieris waved the traffic through in a friendly manner. The CP commander who we spoke with said that their main purpose is prevent Israelis from entering Beit Jala (for their own safety). It seemed that he was pleasant enough to the entering vehicles.Behtlehem CP 300–all quiet, we saw no detainees.postscript: I got a message from Daniella ( one of our members) with her husband’s phone number and the name of the relevant person to contact at the ministry of tourism…in order to help Mr. Missim. I called him and gave him the inforamation and he was very pleased. He also told me that he had been summoned to a meeting with some other person at the DCO and he had hopes of somehow working out his problems with the authorities.