Sheikh Saed, Sawahre, Abu-DisFriday, 25.08.2006, AM (09:00-12:30)observing and reporting: Mikhal Z, Rita M.,A French journalist as guest.DCO – Humanitarian office offers no solution to absurd situation of Jabel Mukaber resident with orange ID.Sheikh Saed – We ask what the orders are, and are told that only people with blue IDs and permits can pass. And no elderly people from the territories are allowed to pass to pray in Jerusalem, even if we remind the soldiers that on Fridays such an exception is usually made.”They are all going to the hospital” one soldier remarks cynically. “If I let one through, then all will want to pass”. There are about 50 people waiting, mostly elderly. Suddenly, at 10:15, the soldiers must have received new orders – for then the elderly with Palestinian IDs are allowed to pass – but only those who live in Sheikh Saed. The people know that if they wait long enough, there is a chance that the orders change, or there is a change of guard.We get involved in one case, of a man whose father is being released from Mukassed hospital today, and the son has to pick him up, as the father had a heart attack and now is in a wheel chair. We plead with the local commander – A. to no avail. The son is a resident of Jabel Mukaber, but has an orange ID – he and several members of his family had appealed to court to be allowed to live at their own home, for which they pay municipal taxes. The district court issued a (temporary) order in April 2006, stating that he and the other family members who appealed together with him, are not to be expelled from Israel, should their IDs be checked on the street. With this piece of paper – which the man has carefully covered in plastic, and lists the names and IDs of all the 35 appellants – he can in fact travel to Tel Aviv, if he chooses to. The absurdity is that this piece of paper, once he entered the territories, does not allow him re-entry into Israel! At least, this is what the local BP officers claimed. The son had gone to Sheikh Saed to his father’s house, to prepare it for his father’s return from the hospital, and now is not allowed back to Jabel Mukaber, as he does not have a permit, only the court statement.We call the DCO – Humanitarian office – and conduct a long interaction with a Gilad there – from 9:30 in the morning, with many, many phone calls, and always get the answer “we are working on the case” – until we give up. The son in the meantime sent another relative to get his father – so this was more a matter of principle for us, than one of urgency. Sawahre – Only those with blue IDs or work or humanitarian permits are allowed to pass here today.We are shown the place where a few weeks ago, the bullet of the attacker dressed as a woman hit the reinforced glass of the checkpoint and are told the story again, shown the house again where the attacker lived – as this has been reported previously.We notice coils of barbed wire lining the path that leads to the checkpoint, on the Sawahre side. Abu-Dis – There are no Palestinians here trying to cross. They seem to know it is a lost case.We are not allowed to cross between the concrete blocks near the monastery. Apparently there is a new team here, who do not know that we have been crossing over every week. We call S., the commander – but when he gets back to us, we are already on our way home. He promises to make sure the soldiers at the crossing will let us through – and we are invited to call him next week and let him know we are on our way. We walk and drive up the security road along the “decorative” wall – as there is no sign that says this is forbidden. Until we are stopped, at a place where there is still a large gap in the wall. We are told that only the people who are on the list of those who appealed to court are allowed to pass.