Bethlehem Checkpoint, El Nashash, Etsion DCLSunday, August 6, AMobservers: Ofra B, Sylvia P (reporting)6:45 Bethlehem CP: We arrived to a deserted area: closure. People complained that closure continues even after the radio annoucement that it was over. People got up at 3-4 in the morning and found that they cannot cross. Almost no one passes, only humanitarian cases or church workers. We meet one of the people from Wallaje who we know and who works for a church in Ein Karem and he tells us that the Court has given Wallaje 3 years for planning. It means that they are not going to demolish homes there – that is good news. 7:30 El Nashash: The place is lively. Many people around. We visit the drivers tent and exchange a few words. No one says anything about the war but it is in the air. We meet a man who was prevented by the Shin Bet who got a magnetic card and a permit after we appealed for him. He asked about his brother that has appealed recently through us. Since the number of people prevented by the security services is likely to remain fixed, if one gets what we call “a good answer” another one must become prevented by the Shin Bet… Sometimes it happens in the same family. These is life in the occupied territories. 8:00 Biet Omar;Abu Nassim: Since he called last week and asked why we don’t go there any more we decided to pay him a visit.But he told us that Chaya O. is coming on the morrow so we didn’t stay there.8:30: Etsion DCL: It looked deserted as well, but people were in the cabin. Forty numbers for magnetic cards were already handled. Everybody got one but only people over the age of 27. Younger people are told that they are “marfud” (prevented). It doesn’t mean nothing concerning the security or police prevention, but it causes worries. Those young people don’t know what to think and they call us to ask. The toilets stink. Ofra calles E. and lives a message about it. Fans are not working. I called the office but it didn’t help. Finally we called the soldier on the roof. We talked “from balcony to balcony”, very loudly, and he opened the fans. A lot of people outside the iron gate. Waiting for some Captain? Waiting for permits? Generally, when there is a closure, no permits are handled. But we didn’t have the time to ask since many people came to us to ask for help. Ofra writes 7 letters – very rare in the recent past and answers questions – many many questions. I take pictures from documents and answer questions. At 9 or so a man asks for our help: he has to be in Hadassa at 10:00. His daughter is having an operation after she was scalded on her face. The permit for him and his wife are there (Peres Center for Peace took care of them) but there is a queue. I go to the turnstiles and ask the people waiting there to let this man pass. They agree. After one hour or so, the man came again and told us that NO ONE has been let through the turnstiles for permits. I sent an SMS to E. with the story of this man and very soon A. called and handled the problem. It was already 10 and almost no magnetic cards were handled either. When we leave, at 10:30 or so, only 6 magnetic card numbers entered.