06:45 AM, Bethlehem CP:  four checking posts were openand almost no lines. People coming out kept complaining about the unbearablecrowding on the other side. A volunteer with the ecumenical group told us thatthe humanitarian line opened only at 05:47, so that the only line that didfunction was extremely crowded. A police officer explained that since the DCLrepresentative was not present the humanitarian line could not be opened. Thiswas news to us. A couple with two toddlers and a baby in his mother’s arms cameout. How long did they wait? An hour, they said. And it was a chilly morning.

A man in his fifties came stumbling out. He could hardlystand on his feet. Someone trying to skip the crowding to the head of the linehad jumped over the high fence in the line area and landed right on the man’shead breaking his glasses. He had a bruise on his eyelid, and he complainedabout pains in his leg too. The man was badly shaken. Finally he consented togo back home; the volunteer accompanied him.

08:45 AM, Etzion DCL:  empty.