Bethlehem and surroundings, Monday, 24.10.2005, AMObservers: Haya A. Malca A. (Reporting)07:05: An uncommon CP in the north side of the tunnel. The soldiers stopped yellow numbered cars. 07:15: A: About 30 Palestinian cars queuing near Bet-Jalla CP. The drivers and passengers are waiting from 06:30 for the opening of the CP which usually takes place at 07:00.B: Fathers from Walleja tell us that they are loosing work days because they have to take their little children to school, and they have to come back at the end of the school day to bring them back home.C: They say that only two cabs can get out of the village. The rest of the cars at Wallaje are paralyzed by IDF. Cab drivers from Gilo hill came to the CP at 06:00 in order to be the first in the checking line which starts at 07:00, so that the pupils going with them will get to school on time. Haya reports to Beit-El about the delay and within a few minutes soldiers show up at the CP and the cars get permission to go through. 07:25: The traffic on the roads is sparse, because of Hoshana Raba day and the Simchat Thora Eve, and because of the roads being blocked for Palestinians. Al-Khadr We discovered that the dirt and rocks mound was pushed tens of meters to the east, and on the dirt way to Al-Khadr schools they created two new blocking mounds. The bulldozer turned upside down a few sheds on his way, which were used by a few coffee and bagel sellers as shelters from the rain and the sun. From now on the crippled pupils can’t go through and have to wait for people to come and carry them on their arms in the morning and at the end of the school day. One PC and anther CP… and the rainy days are not yet here.Ezyon junction 08:00 – The soldiers stopped for checking Palestinians who came from the south. Al-Harub 08:10 – 2 CP: one opposite the observation tower at the entrance to the refugee camp, and the second opposite the agricultural college. Beit Omar 8:20 – Soldiers checking at the village entrance.Hawewer square 08:30 – At a circle, which reminds a threshing floor, about 30 cars were pressed together, most of them cabs and their passengers. On a parallel road to the one we are on, we find hundreds of cars pressed together along an internal road, without any possibility to go on, because of the CP in the north side of the village. Halhul – Nebi-Yunis 08:40 – At the southern entrance where cars, trucks and petrol movers could always go through, there is now a dirt and junk mound, a new blockage. Nobody can come in or go out. On the opposite side, at the entrance to Sair there is another CP. Many Palestinian women beg the soldiers to do them a favor. They pull my sleeve towards the soldiers who do not allow us to come near them. A big crowd is standing there. They want to go to Jericho.Ezyon DCO 9:40 – Closed, as it is every Jewish holiday eve. An elderly cab driver, crippled in both legs, is upset because every time the soldier orders him to get out and open his trunk. He gets out with difficulty, opens the trunk and the soldier-boy doesn’t even bother to come close and check. “He already saw me a few times”, the man says, “and checked my permit, and in spite of all this he is sitting there, drinking tea, half lying, and orders me to bring him the driving permit. When he gets it he puts the permit aside and sends me to wait. I know that if I shall sit quietly he will forget about me for another half an hour, but I have passengers, so I shout.” Haya tries to calm him down, but he is upset – a soldier-boy disrespects him and treats him as a ruling conqueror. 10:10: Going back home we think about the little girls who are afraid to go through the CP without their fathers; of the new mounds on the way of hundreds of pupils on their way to their schools; of the crippled children being carried; on a very thin man, crippled, faltering with his permits towards the soldier.And in Jerusalem people are walking on nice sidewalks, carrying bags full of food.