Abu-Dis, Sawahre 19/5/2004 Watchers: Sylvia P., Levana R., Ruthy R. (reporting) Abu-Dis. Apparent quiet routine at the Pishpash gate. Hard complains by the transit drivers. Wadi-Nar. Taxis, trucks and buses cross without any checking. Six detained for one hour.At 6:30, the city is almost empty. It is quiet near the hotel too. The new settler house is quiet and closed. There was no guard on the roof.Near the Pishpash gate there is a BP jeep. The passage is open; people cross freely. A few young men that sat on the other side said that they would have wanted to work but they know they will not succeed to do so. Sylvia says a good word to them since they smile, joke, and keep their sense of humor.On our way back, around 9:00, the Pishpash gate is still open. According to rumors, it will be closed at 10:00 because of Jerusalem Day. The BP soldiers are hostile towards us. The soldier that sits in the jeep beeps the ugly and frightening jeep hooter when I pass by; he was amused by my scare. He treated me very rudely: “Yalla, yalla, go away”. He hooted again and was very glad. He refused to give me his name, scorned me, and gave me his name only after another soldier intervened. On the corner there was a group of transit drivers that complained very hard about the checkpoint commander Gili and about the soldier Jubran who behave with them with extreme hardness, talk rudely, curse the Prophet and sometimes throw tear gas because of nothing. The soldiers at the checkpoint behave rudely, humiliate and curse. All the drivers hold blue IDs. They praised the checkpoint commander Itamar that always talks with them with respect, asks how they are and tries to make life easier when he is there. They told that the detained are sent to a room in the hotel; they wait there until their release.At Wadi-Nar the traffic flows. Cars cross almost without any checking. The soldiers hardly give even a look to trucks completely covered and certainly, they don’t ask the drivers to unload the goods like happened last week. Four or five buses of prisoners’ families crossed as well.When we arrived, the soldiers didn’t answer our “good morning”, and one of them stood before us and requested to keep distance from the checkpoint. In spite of a slightly more pleasant talk that Sylvia and Levana had with one of them, the atmosphere was very hostile toward us. One of the BPs with an orange beret, which was on his head like a cook hat, and a cigarette in his hand forbade us to talk with the detained — six young men whose documents were taken away. After half an hour or so we called and asked to hurry the checking procedure. We were promised that they will try and said that there is not need to call again. And indeed, some time after we called, the detained men were allowed to continue on their way.When I came to say good-bye to the checkpoint commander, he said that he knows that we want to trap them and if he had been my husband, he would have forbidden to me to come since it is dangerous. “You don’t know them”, he said.At the checkpoint, there were two women, Alex and Ilbe, Ecumenical volunteers who live for three months in Al Ezariya. They document the situation and try to help. They asked to notify them about our presence there in order to avoid duplication.