Bethlehem. Tuesday PM, 3-1-06 Observers: Yael Y., Ruth O. and Ilana D. (reporting) From 2:00 till 6:00 PMNot much army presence on Road 60, traffic was moving smoothly at the tunnel CP, the Etzion CP was manned, but there were neither detainees nor any queues of waiting vehicles. We delivered the documents with the paid fines at Abu Nassim’s grocery store and noticed that the yellow gate at the entrance to Al Arub was closed; an army jeep (with the soldiers inside) was parked there. Only pedestrians could pass. The anti-rock chicken wire fence is now in place and underneath one can pass, but it is too low to enable stone throwing.At the Ezyon DCL we met with two disgruntled men who had applied for permits on humanitarian grounds. One had an ill child hospitalized in Hadassah since October and needed a permit to be with her. The hospital’s Social Worker had actually asked in her letter to enable the little girl’s brother to visit her too, since the girls had been away from home already for so long. Apparently some mistake had been made with the applicant’s name and he was waiting for four hours for the ‘mistake’ to be fixed. Phonecalls to Eyal, Ayad and Moti proved not effective, so we called Dalia Bassa on his behalf and the matter was settled in no time. Another man who suffers from stomach pains needed a permit for a week to enter Jerusalem in order to undergo tests at Augusta Victoria. He had been given a permit last week, but the doctor had not been in. Finally he was given a one-day permit for today at 2:00 PM, too late to travel to the hospital to start proceedings. The man is a singer at weddings and used to work within Israel, but no longer. At the windows he was told that he was refused both on police and on security grounds, but nevertheless he had received a permit last week. After trying other venues in vain Dalia Bassa was also called on his behalf. She knew of the case and told us that he is no longer a security risk, but apparently Maher had been annoyed because he had contacted a MW-member. She managed to convince Moti to issue him the paper, but it could only be granted to him to-morrow morning early so that he would be able to proceed to Jerusalem immediately. Three young Christian men from Beit Jalla wanted permits to celebrate the Greek Orthodox Christmas in Jerusalem. They had come with lists of their family members who also wanted to visit relatives in Jerusalem, but were told that they each had to complete forms individually. When they were given their papers (for a week) it turned out that they were even allowed to sleep over in Jerusalem (the permits were valid from 0:00 to 0:00, whereas Moslems get permits only from 5:00 till 19:00, even to be with a sick child).It was already getting dark (and cold and windy) when we approached Al Khadr, which appeared emptier than usual; there were far less yellow cabs. We crossed the hurdle and the entire Shuk where we noticed many election posters. We were warmly greeted by most vendors and cab drivers. Some asked for Sylvia. A man needed advice for his son (aged 25) who had been hurt while working on the building site of the tunnel under Mt. Scopus. The Tel Aviv firm using the crane, which caused the accident, is responsible and should pay damages. The man had been summoned to Bituach Leumi for an evaluation of his disability, but was refused a permit to travel there. Now he has a new summons for January 17th (the father produced copies) and we promised to deal with the matter and be in touch with him.