Bethlehem, El Nashash, DCL Etzion Tue. 1/8/06 AM Observers: Shulamit N., Ruti R. (reporting)7:00 Bethlehem Checkpoint Closure. Almost no people inside or out. One wicket is open. There is no crowding. Most of the men who pass through are Christians who work for the church.7:30 Al NashashMany cabs, almost no passengers. At the coffee shop we exchange views about the situation and about the war in particular with the employees of a contractor in Bet Shemesh — workers couldn’t get through because of the closure. Everyone agrees that fanatics on both sides are responsible for all the troubles.8:30 – Ezyon DCLThe fan works and about 50 people sit under in the shaded areas, about five of them women. The first three were admitted about 15 minutes ago. One of the men tells us that he got there at 6:00, waited till 8:15 to get a number, and that he got number 29. He may well have to wait till the evening. He reported that he got there – for the same purpose — at two o’clock yesterday afternoon and that he waited there till 5:30, when he and another person who was waiting were told that the computer was down. He told us that there are people who sleep in their cars in the parking lot, in the hope of getting the first numbers.Another man told us that yesterday people got through before the curfew was declared. On their way back they were stopped at the Tunnels Checkpoint and 70 of them had their work permits torn up, so that they had come to the Coordination Office this morning to renew them. Another man, by the name of Muhammad, told us that he and another man had been beaten by soldiers at the same checkpost. I reported this to Yehudit Elkana.