Bethlehem and surroundings–tuesday, March 1,05 PMObservers: Yael I. and Ilana D. (reporting) Sarah, guest from Whistler, Canada We took our guest on a tour around Gilo before continuing via the Pat Road where we noted that the entrance to Beit Tzefafa from the newly constructed roundabout is blocked. At Bethlehem CP 300 two groups of tourists (about 10 people each) took the pedestrian path through the checkpoint and some Palestinian workers joined the group. Ten cars were waiting on the Northern side and were let through slowly one by one each time only after the passage of one car from the south. A bus with tourists bypassed the line. Yaniv the commander of the checkpoint had just arrived and didn’t know whether there had been any detainees during the morning shift. He asked us politely to move back. There appeared to be nothing for us to do and we proceeded south, noticing quite a few donkeys on the road.The situation at the Etzion DCO looked extremely promising, since we only saw one car parked outside. The watercooler was working and we noticed that all the garbage, which used to be on the floor, is now stuffed between the windows and the wall behind the seats. There were only four people waiting, but it turned out that they had been there since the early morning hours. Two older men had been there without food since 9:00 waiting for an interview with the General Security Services (“Captain” Afik) and two young men since 7:00 AM. The latter have been trying for the last 4½ years to obtain a magnetic card. Monthly they pay 50 Sh. for the application. We made some phone calls and the two older men finally were seen, but in the end the verdict was that they would be notified by telephone at home. The younger men at 5:00 PM were given a piece of paper inviting them for another day next week (the day of the week didn’t conform with the date!!). They were given the tel. number of Firas and actually managed to talk with him. A young woman approached the police with a request for a permit to get to work in Jerusalem where she is employed by “Save the Children”. She said that she didn’t get it because the family has legal problems with the authorities since they own property near Rachel’s Tomb. Apparently that is why there is a police file against her and until the matter is cleared she will not be able to obtain the permit. She was given the number of Adv. Ernesti.Two representatives of the basketball club of the handicapped in Bethlehem came to get permits to enter Israel where fourteen of their members had been invited to attend a match of the wheelchair basketball players in Hadera the following night at 9:00 PM. Their participation had been sponsored by the Peres Peace Center and all had been issued with papers allowing them into Israel between 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM. However, those documents were useless since the match only starts at 9:00 PM. After a lot of telephone calls back and forth they had come to the DCO in the morning and were given permits for 9:00 PM until 2:00 AM early the next morning. Since the match starts at 9:00 PM and they have a long trip and were also invited to dinner beforehand the hours on the permits had to be changed again and this proved a major hurdle. One of the men was on crutches and managed to approach the windows. The other in a wheelchair who had come along to translate (he had been injured at his job in a mini-market near Pat) was not allowed inside, nor were we allowed in to help and explain the situation. The Peres Center had told the boss of the club that it had faxed the new request to Beit El, but from there it had not been transmitted to Etzion. Meanwhile it was almost 5:30 and the soldiers were clearing their desks while we were frantically calling everywhere. Finally at 5:45 the humanitarian desk of the army got back to us with the message that they could get the permits at the Etzion DCO in the morning. Maher came out to talk to us and was fishing for compliments that all is now so much better organized. He told us to have a look at the situation of the DCO in Hebron for comparison. A commander came out to receive a well-dressed Palestinian notable and after hearing the story of the wheelchair basketball players promised to bring up the matter with Moti in the morning.On our way back a suspicious object stopped all traffic at the Etzion roundabout and we had to wait for half an hour for the arrival of the robot and the explosions which followed. It was too late (and dark) to continue to Beit Jalla and Wallaje