From: “Ilana”> > Date: Sun Apr 17, 2005 17:03:49 Asia/Jerusalem Bethlehem and Surroundings– Sunday AM, 17.04.05 Observers: Yael I. and Ilana D. (reporting) From 6:15 until 10:30 AM At 6:15 two Border Policemen were strolling under the wall of theTantur Complex across the greengrocer. Three men were signaling across the road to potential trespassers?. At Bethlehem CP 300 there was no queue for cars, two detainees apprehended without papers were waiting, but we couldn?t get close to them. The line of pedestrians entering Jerusalem was rather long, but proceeded relatively quickly. We assume that because of the number of tourists at the CP the infamous turnstiles are not installed here. We were allowed, exceptionally, to approach the checkpoint but told after a while that time was up and we had to leave. The sign informing drivers to wait and prepare documents is turned around, but everybody knows procedures we were told. At the turn-off from the tunnel road an impromptu checkpoint with a jeep was checking incoming cars, but there were no detainees. At thetunnel checkpoint four minibuses were being checked on the right (apartheid) lane and a queue had already formed on road 60 (morning rush hour) at 7:00 AM. 7:05 AM at the Beit Jalla DCO Checkpoint there were no waiting cars in either direction. Pedestrians pass without being checked. Some police cars entered the DCO compound. The soldiers told us that the building was called DCO from the time of the British Mandate and is not used as such now. 7:15 AM We stopped at Al Khadr where the number of yellow cabs was clearly smaller than in the afternoons. There was no army presence and only occasionally the soldiers make an appearance. The coffee vendor was glad with Sylvia’s video and told us that he has still no news re recommendation for work permit (or severance pay) at the printer’s in Givat Shaul where he was employed for five years. On the main road white lines (but no zebra-crossings) were being painted; three soldiers guarded the workers. 7:45 AM Etzion Checkpoint was not manned, traffic flowed in all directions. 7:50 AM Fifteen people were waiting at the Etzion DCL, which opened at 8:05. There was a note stating that Maher would not be working this Sunday. The first man in line (who had arrived at 7:00 AM) was the grandfather of an 11-year old boy who is treated at the Nephrology Unit in Shaarei Zedek. His parents live in Sur Bacher, but the boy (with his huge belly) prefers to go to school in Bitar, the village of his grandfather where he is not ridiculed. The grandfather who used to have a three-months permit to accompany the child to the hospital, now has to renew the permit monthly, but it was granted on the spot. When we observed that he was lucky to have insurance, because his parents have blue Id’s, the man said, the child would have been dead otherwise. He praised the staff of the hospital and told us they had joined the other patients on a trip to the Hermon. A man, who had been told by Maher to return in a week after having been cleared by the police, was told to return next week. The machine issuing magnetic cards was broken. Nothing moved. We called Azhar and a minute later the machine was miraculously repaired and people exited with smiles on their faces. A young mother with a baby, accompanied by her father, tried to get a permit to visit her husband who lives in Israel. A man in possession of a magnetic card, who has work in Maaleh Adumim in construction and had been helped by Sylvia said that the soldier at the window does not believe his claims. We contacted Sylvia and gave him a note that Azhar had checked his file on the computer and told Sylvia that he was clean. We gave the number of Firass to a number of young men who had been refused by the GSS. One said he was refused because he needed to change the photograph on his application, which to us looked very recent. 10:00 AM at the turn-off to Beit Jalla were two ambulances; there had been an accident. We went up and near the DCO two long tow-trucks were blocking traffic. There had been an accident between two Palestinian cars (also with wounded) and one truck took the badly damaged cars away. The other was summoned by the police, who in the process had decided to check waiting cars (amongst which also yellow cabs) and found them to have fake number plates. 10:15 AM We didn’t enter Wallaje, but saw that people were working in the fields where the trees had been cut down two weeks ago.