Bethlehem, El Nashash, EtsionSunday, Nov 19,Observers: Sylvia P, Ofra B, Chana A (reporting)7:00 Bethlehem CP: A heavy flow of workers outside and in. Some say the crossing took half an hour, others a little more. Inside there are still long lines although there are four stations operating. One young man, a law student at El Kuds University, it turns out, is refused entry into Bethlehem. He has a blue ID card for East Jerusalem, goes inside a couple of times a week for classes. Today he has an exam at 8:00, but he is refused to exit Israel. Why is today different from all other days?7:40 El Nashash: Many taxis but no petitions to write.8:15 Etsion DCL: Hundreds of people waiting at the gate. It transpires that the Labor Exchange strike is over and the tax stamps are available again, the unavailability of the stamps held up the submition of requests because each request must have a tax stamp on it. Therefore there is a flood of requests and many people are waiting for their entry permits now that they have their magnetic cards in hand. The DCL opens only at 10:00, as has been the case in the last months on Sunday.Many people stop us at the car. Many different requests, not all security related. One man has an 11-year old dying child in the Augusta Victoria hospital. He and his wife have permits, but the grandfather and one of the aunts want to enter Jerusalem to visit the patient. We ask and hear that the aunt (30 years old) is considered a security risk, but the grandfather is not. So he applies, is refused, applies again etc. At 18:15 he finally gets permission to come and visit his grandson in Jerusalem. Took all day.Many other people have problems: under age (22 and 25) who want to work in the OT but can’t get a number at the DCL, a worker who has a permit but doesn’t know which employer (one out of ten he applied to) etc. There are also the regular petitions and we are busy for the full two and a half hours there.