Bethlehem Tuesday, 17/8/2004 Observers: Chava H., Mara K., Hannah Y. (reporting) 6.45, checkpoint 300. We walk down the pedestrian path and are appalled at identifying the heaps of refuse scattered all over the place as used containers and wrappings of drinks and food, discarded by our own soldiers.Chava, who has been here before, notices that recently a large piece of ground has been flattened. Are there plans for a huge permanent checkpoint? Some fifty pedestrians stand in line. It takes each person about one minute to be checked. Some ten detainees are sitting on boulders, about twenty meters inside the checkpoint proper. Chava advises me to go and see if I can talk to them. Under the watchful eye of a very young soldier I learn that these men are in the possession of electronic cards, but have green IDs, so that they cannot pass the checkpoint unless a contractor arranges the necessary permits for them. But how can a Palestinian laborer meet an Israeli contractor if he is not allowed to cross into Jerusalem? The only thing he can do is come to the checkpoint every day, have himself detained for an hour or two, and hope that an Israeli contractor will turn up who needs a Palestinian laborer. Since many young men from Bethlehem and surroundings have no work anyway, they spend their mornings being detained and hoping for a miracle to occur. After a while, the young soldier joins us to ask if I need any help. He has never heard about MachsomWatch. I give him our card, and he says he will surely look at our site. We leave checkpoint 300 and drive through the tunnels, to the spot where pedestrians coming from Hussan need to cross the highway if they want to reach El Khader. Since there is no official pedestrian crossing, they regularly get caught and fined by the police. Today Chava has good news for them: One of MachsomWatch members has contacted the police and persuaded them to cancel the reports through her mediation. On the road from Bethlehem to Hebron, we run into a flying checkpoint. There are some 30 detainees, some are released very soon, others have been waiting for half an hour. One Palestinian who has all the necessary papers to work in Jerusalem and who passes every day without any problems has no idea why today he is told to go by way of Wadi Nar, a detour of some 60 kilometers. We leave early because Mara, our driver, has an urgent appointment in Jerusalem.