Bethlehem and Surroundings Modnay Feb. 20, 06 PM Observers: Ora, A. Shlomit, S., Yael, S. (reporting) The Palestinian “diet” and the decreasing living spaces: The tunnels are expanding. We looked for the famous yellow road sign but didn’t see it. El Hader:We were asked to stop there, but even though it was very crowded, we didn’t see any soldiers. El ArubWe saw soldiers, near a “Hummer” jeep talking to two young Palestinians – which gave us an excuse to stop there. One of the young men said to us that he was asked not to walk in the area. Shulamit went to find out from the soldiers what it’s all about and they told her that “walking on Road 60 is not advised and that they should walk on the roads farther from the main roadÉ since they may throw stones” So if until now we were told that cars with Palestinian license plates cannot drive on Road 60, now it seems that pedestrians are also not advised to use the road – we didn’t ask about riding horses or donkeys on the side of the road. DCO Ezyon:Still under renovation. We met Maher, who dealt with a request of an elderly Palestinian. At the same time an Israeli orthodox woman asked for a work-permit for someone. Other than that, the place was empty. Bethlehem Checkpoint – Rachel’s Crossing:At the exit, a young woman complained that she has been waiting for over an hour. Since Roni was inside, I went over to him and to another Commander that was with him, and we all went over to the checkpoint, when about ten Palestinians crossed over to Israel. We asked them how long they had been waiting and they said about 45 minutes – then half an hour and then 10 minutes. Roni says that there is no occasion when people wait for two hours, even in the morning. Today, unexpectedly, hundreds of people came to the checkpoint and the waiting time was longer than usual – but no more than an hour. We asked about the workers that have been detained without permits for hours every day, and emphasized that these are people who just want to buy their daily bread. However, we received the usual security answer: even if one in a million is a terrorist, we must deter him from undertaking his mission. But they are caught usually when they are already in Jerusalem. It’s not important. Since the “wolf is hungry and the Palestinians are on a diet”. And indeed, we saw at the old checkpoint, seven workers that were caught, and they said that they were in the shed already for an hour and a half, and during the following 20 minutes, another group of 20 workers were caught, their ID cards taken from them and they were marched to the checkpoint, in order to be detained for hours – perhaps part of their “diet”.