Bethlehem, Sunday, August 28, AMWatchers: Sylvia S, Chana A, Ofra B (reporting) Bethlehem CP6:55 – A feeling of restfullness. There seems to be a Christian festival, the Maria Festival. Cars and buses pass in both directions. Closure is in force still and there are hardly any pedestrians at the CP. Two Border Policemen allow us to enter the “sterile area” and to stand at their post and talk to them .They think the CP should not have manned by soldiers or policemen but by civilians, custom officers and the like just the way it is at the airport and at other border crossings. We ask them why they call this point a border point whereas the real border is several hundred meters to the north? They think that question has to be directed at the political level and not at them. The BP man Y. who is always armed to the teeth is not there today. They nickname him “Rambo” – a certain sense of humor. A few minutes later one of the soldiers tells us that, although he has no problem with us standing there, he needs to put a ceramic shield on us to protect us. We got the point and move away behind the metal police barriers. Al Khader7:40 – The usual picture, lots of yellow minibuses and relatively few pedestrians. The market place is awakening. In our conversations with the drivers and the merchants, we get the same story, they want there to be peace and quiet. Peace? they are not sure it will materialize. We meet Yasin who has just arrived from his fields with beautiful grapes and fresh figs. DCL Etsion8:20 – All the windows are closed. In the waiting area and at the windows together there are some 35 men. After a short while this number grows to 50. The men are angry and frustrated. They have been told to wait: all the computers are down from Beth El southwards. We almost feel that this happens on Sunday mornings because we come and write a lot of petitions for the people waiting there who are “GSS refused”. Paranoia?One call to Azhar indeed confirms that the computers are down. We call the IDF spokesman and complain about the computers being down on Sunday mornings and people having to wait for hours. A few minutes later, the computers are up in working condition! Coincidentally?In the crowd, as usual, there is a church employee (from the Lutheran Church) whose entry permit wasn’t renewed. We tell him about the permit quota and he suggests writing a letter. One “police refused” owes “only” NIS 650 in fines before he can receive the documents he requests. One person asks for an entry permit for his wife, born in Yaffo. All her relatives live there. They want to visit there and then pronto! they are not allowed. This family has lost one of its members and they are part of parents’ forum and participated in dialogues and group meetings with a mixed group of Israelis/Palestinians. We write a letter for this family.At the end of our watch we receive the usual envelope of letters from Attorney Fadel Achdush to send to Beth El. The interesting thing is that Achdush studied law in Russia, his wife is from there and I speak with him in Russian. He wants us to find out how his parents-in-law can come to visit. He needs us to find out! the shoemaker has no shoes to wear! (hasandlar holech yachef!)