Abu Dis Wednesday PM, 14.9.05Observers: Mor BI, Daniela G. (reporting).Abu Dis DCO – 13:00-14:00: The soldier who opens the turnstile needs calling again. At a certain point we had to phone the soldiers in the office to bring him back to his post so as not to let men and women wait too long in the blazing sun. There are about 5 men in the shed, three more waiting at the magnetic cards window and two at the one for permits. There are new signs in Hebrew and Arabic (probably due to the new commander of the DCO) but still no cold water in the shed. The soldiers behind the windows, male and female, are pleasant towards the Palestinians and speak Arabic. They try to help them but apparently there are new rules (again) and merchants are supposed to leave their requests for permits at the Palestinian DCO, which in turn brings them over to the Israeli one every day for a joint meeting in which the answers are decided upon. Two of the people who had nevertheless come, claimed you had to have “connections” at the Palestinian DCO for your request to be accepted and processed. We also learnt that only men aged 30 and above who have at least one child can apply for permits as merchants. By the time we left, most of the people had been attended to and except for those two, all left with what they came for.The container – 14:10: About ten vehicles southbound are waiting in line. Checking is random and swift, waiting time is approximately 5 minutes. It is unclear why men are ordered off a bus and not off taxis or transits in order to go through the turnstiles and have their documents checked. Obviously there is no one to ask since the soldiers do not acknowledge our existence. Upon our arrival, a blue-policemen hurried to close the yellow iron gate preventing entrance from Sawahre. As we were leaving, a little girl casually went up to the closed gate, opened it easily and let her donkey through… Abu Dis – 15:00: About 5 detainees beside the former Pishpash, waiting while the soldiers perform the usual ritual of form filling. On the other side of the monastery, the shop owners relate the strange detour the wall is planned to make, leaving the next door monasteries and some of the houses (including a large building which was bought by Americans and intended as a hotel) in Jerusalem, while their houses and shops will be circled by the wall and closed off. They are obviously very unhappy about it. By the time we get back to the Pishpash, the detainees are gone. No soldiers at the welded gate and people pass freely. A BP jeep is at the entrance to the Cliff hotel.