Abu-Dis, Mishor Adumim, Sawahra, Sunday August 1 AMWatchers: Ora A, Chana A (reporting), Malka, guest6:35 Abu-Dis, gasstation, Cliff Hotel: Nothing remarkable.6:45 Pishpash: At first we saw no soldiers and a lot of young men with their plastic bags filled with lunch passing over the cement blocks. Not for long. A military police jeep (# 22-286) with only the driver inside, comes driving up and “catches” all the tresspassers on their way down the road, taking their ID’s. Then he reaches the top at the pishpash and starts operating his siren (right in front of us, so accidentally). This repeats itself a couple of times and then a second jeep (#22-571) drives up with about seven BP’s inside. They climb over the cement blocks and explode two or three tear-gas canisters on the other side. We can smell the gas. All our attempts to approach the BP’s are met with contempt. We called Mike Raz and got a listening ear. He said he would check into it right away. After an hour the blue ID of one of the detainees was returned and he went on his way to Jerusalem, not before he had called his lawyer on the cell. 8:00 Mishor Adumim. About ten yellow cabs are detained and the checkpoint has been moved closer to Jerusalem. The first cab has been waiting for an hour; one of the passengers is a computer science lecturer in Al Arub who has a class to teach at 9:00. Within ten minutes of our arrival, the ID’s are returned. The commanding officer was a nice young Druze from Bet Djan. 8:20 Sawahra: About thirty young men detained. The water faucets are not yet connected to the tank standing right next to it. No one seems to have any water with them. Two students from Al Kuds university are on their way to their graduation at 10:00. The soldiers are very unpleasant. Not that they don’t talk to us, but only to tell us to keep away (from the checkpoint, from the detainees). We ask them about the water, but they have “no time” to deal with it. We call Shlomi Benarush, who promises to deal immediately. After less than ten minutes all ID’s are returned and everyone is on their way. The guys thank us with a handwave. There still is a line of cars on the southern side when we leave, but hopefully they will cross without delay.