Abu-Dis, the container 11/5/2004 Watchers: Angela G., Yael J.L., Ayelet E.N., Hannah A., Ora K. (reporting); a guest, Maria, photojournalist 6.40, the Pishpash gate. No BPs; free passage and movement . The taxi drivers told us of the young 19 year old who was killed yesterday, who was doing nothing, and they also reported about his brother who was hospitalized and now is back at home. They suggested we speak with him. We went by Transit to Wadi-Nar, to the container. 7.00, the container. 28 commercial trucks waiting at the CP on Bethlehem side, and 7 on Jerusalem side, plus taxis and other cars. Traffic moving slowly but fine. Drivers were waiting 2 hours on Bethlehem side, an hour and a quarter on Jerusalem side. BP checking was somewhat randomly. The CP was working, and there were no detainees. Pedestrians passed by the mountainside, with no restraint by BP. When we returned to the Pishpash gate, it was still open and the passage free, as before. 8.00 a.m. The hotel looked empty. A BP jeep parked next to it and the soldiers were checking people walking through. We reviewed the wall’s progress and the settlers’ house (Kidmat Zion). On the roof were two civilian security guards. We split into two groups: Angela and our photojournalist guest went to see the boy who had been beaten up, and the rest of us returned to the city. During the entire shift, we saw no detainees, and only one jeep at the hotel. A highly unusual shift. Every BP we spoke with asked us, somewhat nervously perhaps, how it was today. Maybe they were wondering if we knew about the boy killed by BP the night before last and the surrounding story. The mourning in Abu-Dis. All shops were closed for three days, in respect for the dead boy. The men sat in a nearby building, the women — at the boy’s home. We were the only foreigners and the only journalist to have visited. The room was full of 30 women (family and neighbors) sitting, silently weeping. Photographs of the boy were everywhere on the walls: a sweet, smiling boy — easy to know from his face, in his mother’s words: “a flower”. Our taxi driver translated, and one woman spoke fluent Spanish, so Maria discussed the whole incident with her. We saw the brother, too, on his way to the doctor. He could hardly walk, was badly bruised and stitched. Another friend was also beaten up badly. The story from locals is that the 3 BPs were new at their job; they panicked and shot in all directions, beat the Palestinians up badly, and stopped them from taking the dead body (which they then beat up!) to the hospital. The feeling in the community is that the soldiers don’t have understanding of the “situation”, they are not qualified to police the area…Everyone insisted there was no stone throwing, no Molotov cocktail, no trouble at 9.30 p.m. It was a quiet night. The boy himself, Fadi, was never a troublemaker. He was doing his final year of school, not at university, as was reported in the press. It was with heavy hearts we left and made our way to Bidu for the women’s demonstration — a far less stressful experience, policed not by BP but by restrained IDF. News of the other boys killed in Gaza, Palestinians and Israelis, made it a heavy day. Too many funerals. For what?