Abu Dis/ContainerFriday August 12, 2005 observers: Mikhal Z, Avital B, Liora (guest from France), Rita M (reporting) 9:30 am Container: not many cars – we wonder if they are prevented from traveling, or believe it is futile and do not even try to cross. the soldiers – who now operate this checkpoint (as the BPs are in Gaza for the disengagement) – at times look at an ID of selected taxi passengers, usually young men, but do not call the GSS to check further, and let the taxi through. They do not detain any cars while we are there. the only taxi that is stopped for a short while is one that drove through the one way road that is closed with a barrier, used by the garbage trucks – the driver is given a reprimand, and soon is allowed to continue on his way. A bus is stopped, going south, and the young men in it are told to get off and pass the checkpoint on foot, but the ID of none of them is checked while they walk through the checkpoint. Later we ask the commanding officer what is the logic of this procedure – he says “we have many ways of checking if someone is suspicious – not always do we need to check their IDs. Since we do not get on the bus ourselves, we ask certain passengers to come down and walk through the checkpoint, so we can have a better look at them.” on the way to Abu Dis, we stop at the new “terminal” being built at Az-Za’ayyem, above the Ma’ale Adumim road. This time there is no construction taking place and we are not stopped by any guards, so we take a look at the place. There is a small parking lot on either side, probably for taxis, a large shaded structure on the eastern side, and a structure with six or so turnstiles, each one at the end of a roofed passage that is closed on both sides. We can imagine that it can get crowded in that semi-enclosed space with the turnstile at the end of it. No Palestinians seem to be currently using this crossing point, where the Wall ends – at least not while we were there – it is probably too far out of the way for any one to use it voluntarily. we drive to the El Fadji –passage, to show our guest the Wall at the end of this narrow passage between two monastery walls. We find a barrier that we have not seen before, and since it is open, we drive through – the passage is now paved. We remember the mud and puddles on the ground, in one of the most horrible incidents we witnessed while on Machsomwatch, several years ago, when a crowd of Palestinians were herded back in the muddy passage, by a honking jeep with a screaming driver, like animals.at the end of the passage, we turn right (if we turned left we would have gotten to the “terminal”) and drive along the Wall – now on a dirt road, and pass a place where there is a gap in the Wall – and then after another short stretch, the Wall ends – at the back of the monastery/convent where people cross through to get to the pishpash. A few nonmilitary guards are sitting there in the shade of the high wall, but do not seem to stop anyone from crossing. we turn back, and give a ride to a local resident whose house is just behind the wall, on the eastern side. She tells us that the reason there is the gap in the wall is that the land on the eastern side also belongs to the convent, and they object to having their land separated from the convent, on the western side, with the threat of losing it. Abu Dis: Pishpash; there seem to be fewer people crossing than on other Fridays – we wonder if this is because they know they will be stopped and do not even try to pass? The BP say there is a closure – because of the disengagement, and only people over 55 can cross, or those with permits and blue IDs. The higher officers are able to be more lenient, and often let people through that do not fit the exact categories, on the basis of their own personal judgment. One young man is detained for close to an hour – because he was caught watching out to warn others if the BP are present or not – this act is labeled “hachshalat shoter” in military lingo, “disrupting the police in their work, causing them to fail in their mission”. When the higher officer arrives, he is let go, back to the eastern side. At the gate that has been welded with metal plates last week (further down the hill, closer to the gas station) the lower right hand corner of the plates had been lifted and people are crawling through. Literally crawling, having to bend down deeply to get through the narrow opening in the welded gate. On the western side, in a cramped corner behind a barrier, stand some BP, who write down the details of everyone of the persons who come through, one by one – mostly elderly women and men. A slightly younger man is turned back, but we see later at the Pishpash that he managed to get through there. we leave around 12.