Abu-Dis, Zeitim CP, The Container Thursday, 4.5.06, AM Observers: Ruth E., Aviva W., Rama Y. (reporting)Abu-Dis – There are soldiers at every street corner. The old Pishpash gate is blocked again by a concrete slab. Five soldiers stand on the “Israeli” side of the improvised barrier, Palestinians crowd on the other side – they are not allowed any longer to go west, not even to cross the street; they have now to take a cab, go east on a very bad narrow road, to Zeitim CP, pass through, take another cab and then go back west. Except for school children and some “humanitarian” cases. But then a high officer arrives and gives the order not to let the children through. “Our task is to habituate the Palestinians to go only through the CP,” he says to us. Two men accompanying an elderly blind man are allowed to pass, but one of them expresses his anger about those inhuman “regulations”, about the humiliation, so he has to leave his ID with the soldier and is allowed to accompany the old man only to the taxi and then come back for his ID, because he didn’t “speak nicely” to the soldier.Zeitim CP – Almost empty, as usual, but then, we got there relatively late. At the dirt road below the CP, leading eastward, we see a soldier, and soon another one accompanies him. About six young women stand down there, not daring to approach the soldiers. They are teachers on their way to work, but this road too is blocked. Palestinians are surrounded from all directions those days.The Container – Quite a long line of cars coming from Bethlehem. Checking is quite cursory.