Bethlehem, Oct. 28,04 PMObservers: Gili K. Maya M. (Reporting)Bethelehm CP300, 3:30: The commander of the CP and introduced himself and asked us politely to remain at about 20 meters distance from the CP. We got the impression that this introduction and his instructions were in accordance with orders from higher up.We stood on the side and observed. Most of the traffic was from Jerusalem into BEthlehem and there were no detainees. However we saw a huge group of Palestinian pedestrians sitting and waiting. WE later found out that there were 39 of them, all bearing a GReen or Orange Palestinian ID.According to a high ranking officer who was there this was an usual day as pedestrians appeared at the checkpoint from every possible direction, not necessarily the road. This is unusual in our experience as well. There are rarely many pedestrians at this checkpiont. Perhaps we should investigate the reason for this irregualarity.We observed for about 20 min. MOre pedestrians did not appear and there was no movement among those who were detained. We were not allowed to approach the detainees (apparently a new rule of the BP) and therefore could not inquire as to how long they waited.After 20 min. the officer approached us and stood with us for more than a half hour. We asked him why there was no release of the detainees, as he told us that the BP jeeps are now equiped with computers and there is no difficulty in checking the IDs immediately and releasing them. He indeed did give an order and within the following 20 min. they began releasing the detainees. We waited until the last of the detainees were released, at about 5Pm.