Bethlehem 11/3/2004 Watchers: Hadas B., Inbal M. Bethlehem, Checkpoint 300. We arrived around 6:30. There were no vehicles present, but pedestrians were standing in the shed waiting to go through, and 23 detainees were sitting in a row facing the wall. The guards were changing, so it wasn’t clear who the commander in charge was, to whom we could appeal for consideration or for explanation concerning the restrictions. Only at 7:10 did the checkpoint spring into action. We noticed that they moved the people to the farthest end of the shed, and some were turned back altogether. Gradually, we received unofficial explanations (it was still unclear who the commander was and where he could be found). It was claimed that some kind of closure was in effect. We phoned Ezion DCO and were told that the closure meant permit-holders were allowed to cross, except for workers and merchants. No attention was paid to the detainees. Our attempts to get them water and to inquire about the processing of IDs were met with indifference and disdain. At 7:40, we drove to El Khader and came back around 8:00. On our return, there were more than 40 detainees at Bethlehem Checkpoint, some waiting since morning. One was an elderly man using a pitchfork for a walking cane. One was unusually small, looking like a boy. The women must have been processed more quickly. Just then, they were told to turn around and face the wall. Zohar, the BP operations officer for the Separation Barrier, was present. He spoke to us courteously, and helped 3 students from Beit Zafafa, on their way to Bethlehem, locate and get back their IDs (eventually, they were not allowed to cross, but they got back the IDs). However, he did not help with the detainees: he fully justified Dotan’s decree to force them to face the wall, to prevent them from spying on the checkpoint activity. He claimed that as a high-ranking officer, he could extend the detention over three hours, depending on the exigencies of the security investigator. Those still detained, he said, are probably people wanted by the GSS. We were successful only in providing the detainees some water from the faucet, and in informing them that they could send one of them to the faucet to refill their bottles. We left messages for Physicians for Human Rights and B’Tzelem, and before leaving, updated the Center for Human Rights. As we were leaving, 2 groups of 3-5 people were released. 35 were still detained. Some of them had been sitting in the sun for more than 3 hours. We found out that the commander was Yoav, who had arrived a little after us, and was sitting at the observation tower, thus inaccessible to us. This may have something to do with our presence there. El Khader. We did not see army or BP soldiers. Cabs were waiting and people approached them in orderly fashion. Near the entrance to Hussan-Batir we saw a jeep with 3 reservists. We asked them if there was a closure in Hussan. They told us, politely, to ask the Brigade commander. Later, I heard on the radio that a big explosive charge had been blown up there. Perhaps this accounted for the closure. We did not see any detainees at the Tunnels checkpoint, nor during the 7:40 rush hour.