Bethlehem. Monday PM, 7.11.05 Observers: Mikhal Z. and Ruth O. (reporting)From 2:15 till 5:00 PMCP 300, Beit Ummar, DCL Etzion We started at the Bethlehem check point, walked along the pedestrian path which was empty of pedestrians and full of garbage on both its sides. The soldiers welcomed us quite nicely which encouraged us to go beyond the usual limits allowed. We walked to the cherub tree where we saw 7 young men, detainees. They claimed their I.D. cards were taken from them (probably because they had no permits) and that they had been detained an hour and a half by then. The commander of the CP, who came to chase us away, said they have not been there even an hour. There was quite a lot of traffic in the direction of Bethlehem. A bus of visitors to Rachel’s tomb, several private cars and small official buses. All cars were inspected by a military policeman and the traffic passed at a reasonable pace.Our next station was Beth Ummar where we wanted to check on the entrance of the Palestinians to their village, a problem we have reported about last week. There still is a check point at the entrance to the village, and although there was a report stating that the people do not have to pass the regular paved road, via an uncomfortable (and now after the rains, very slippery) path, they still do. We tried to talk with the commander of the CP, who was very polite but stated he is not in the position to answer our questions about the necessity of the checking of the inhabitants of the village at the entrance to their homes or about the reason for making them go through the bypass. He claimed that only an officer is allowed to talk with us, and although he is the commander in charge, he is not an officer. We climbed the route the Palestinians have to (some of the people who saw us offered to help us) and were approached by a young man who asked for our help. He told us that the day before he was hit by one of the soldiers who prevented him from going home, even via the bypass. The man told us he was on his way home with his wife and two young children, one of them a baby, when he claimed he could not go up the path with his baby in his arms. The soldier told him to find his own way, even further than the slippery path. He also claimed he was accused of hitting a soldier, was handcuffed and taken to the Ezyon DCL. There he was questioned by a policewoman called Ronit, who took 800 shekels from him and handed him an invitation to a trial on March 7th 2006. In the invitation (that we saw) was no mention of what he is accused of. He also did not get any receipt for the money he paid. He was told he would get the receipt the next day, but did not get it then. We took the name and phone number of the man and hurried to the DCL.We arrived at the DCL at 16.00, found there one man who could not explain to us what his request was since he spoke neither Hebrew nor English (and we, to our shame don’t understand Arabic). We managed to find Maher (the police representative) by phone and he agreed immediately to our wish to talk to him. We were invited to his (heated) office and told him about what we heard in Beit Ummar. He explained that the money taken from the young man was a deposit to assure his appearance at court. Also, that a receipt is being given only after the money is deposited in the bank. Maher agreed with us that this procedure is irregular and that for every amount of money received by the authorities a receipt (even a temporary one) has to be given. We were appalled by the fact that no explanations were given to the man. We called him and explained the procedure to him. We decided to keep following the events. Maher also told us about his work and all responsibilities he has which explain his absences from his post, about which we complain now and again. Maher lives in Shfaram, in the north, and is at the DCL Sundays (after 11 o’clock), Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. He is willing to answer any questions on these days and asks to be called at his office phone number and not at his cell phone. On days he is not there, the new DCL commander, Eyal, will be in touch with him in cases of emergency.