Bethlehem Oct. 11, 2004, PMObservers: Shlomit S., Batya K., Yael S. (reporting)A rainbow in the sky on this first winter day, butwhere is the hope?Al Khadr On the way south to the ETzion DCO, Al Khadr seems full of life, so wecontinue to DCO. On the way back we check the placeand note that the stalls are open for business again.We hear reports of army raids: no stalls overturned,but some gas grenades…DCO Etzion There are just a few Palestinians waiting for their permits. Among them medical cases: one person need to go toto Mukassad Hospital (in Eastern Jerusalem)- He is told to return tomorrow for processing of his request because the DCO suspects his documents are forged. Another requestes a permit to go to AugustaVictoria HOspital (Eastern JErusalem)- This man does not have a magnetic card and therefore is given a permit for only one week. The third has an invitation to ShareiTzedek HOspital in WEstern Jerusalem23. A letter from the hospital allows him to getthe necessary permit.Passage within the territories: a sheep merchant issent from the counter to bring a certificate from theCommerce Dept. He claims that up to now he has beengetting permits with only the Agriculture Dept.certificate. We phone the spokesman of the CivilAdministration and the DCO commander’s interventionyields a permit for two and a half months.5 Palestinians have been summoned to the SHABAC atDCO. They arrived at 9 AM. They gave their IDs to thesoldier at the counter but they were kept until 16:00,whereupon they were sent for questioning to Hebron.One of them claims that this is the fifth time this hashappened.An ID card taken by a soldier at 4 AM at Bet Jala wasnot found at the DCO, even though the soldier told thePalestinian he’d be able to retrieve it at BethlehemDCO. The Humanitarian Center was unable to locate theID at the other DCOs, and asked us to lodge acomplaint with the police. The police was too busy andfor an hour nobody received our complaint. We left aletter with the details with the brigade commander.The Palestinian has a photocopy of the ID (a smartmove considering the hardships). Bet Jala CPOne soldier mans the entrance to the village, another two are at the exit. A taxi is detained because of licenseproblems. We do not intervene. There is still no signof the missing ID.Wallaja CPBored BP officers stop us for 6 minutes taking downour particulars.3 other cars cross without checking. It seems thatPalestinians are detained here during noon hours.Traffic jams on the way back to Jerusalem.