Abu Dis, Wadi Nar (Container)Friday 18.11.05 AM(9:15 – 12:00)observers: Mikhal Z., Barbara S.No closure, no prolonged detention, a “quiet” shift.Cliff Hotel: Two BP in the backyard. The Hotel is in a horrible state of disrepair, but to make things more homey, there are new (at least to us) containers marked as “Dog Kennel Office”, Control Office” and “Soldiers’ Lavatories”. No detainees to be seen anywhere.At the former pishpash: two military police men (with blue berets) and a BP. While people’s IDs are being checked, nobody seems to be turned back. Up at the nearby monastery, there is no checking whatsoever.By the New Gate, there is a BP jeep , five BP and an military police man. Even though the CP commander tells us that 40 is the minimum age today and even though there is some random checking of IDs going on, nobody seems to be denied passage, even considerably younger people, both male and female.Some elderly women with buckets full of produce are waved through without even having to show the contents of their loads.At the Container (ar. 10:50), the ten southbound and five northbound cars pass within three minutes of our arrival, all at once and without further delay. Only three BP are manning the checkpoint, the booth by the lane for northbound traffic not manned today. Apparently, because there is no closure and subsequently there is less “work” to do. Due to the “understaffing”, one of the three runs back and forth between the booth and the actual checkpoint. Every now and then, cab drivers (but not their passengers) going north are requested to present their IDs and have them checked, but most vehicles, including a bus, pass unhindered.On our way back, the driver of our cab, a man from the village of Deir al-Assal, tells us about the hardship experienced by the people in that area: how the Machsom at Beit Awwa has been cutting off of the villages of al-Majd, Deir al-Assad and Sikka from all traffic for the past five years, to such an extent that not even ambulances can get in. He says he has never seen machsom watchers there and will be glad to talk about his observations and experiences to the ladies in charge of that area. Many people from these villages used to work in Beer Sheva and are now unemployed, and those working in agriculture are suffering the catastrophical consequences of the land confiscations for the fence.Back in Abu Dis, we find things more or less unchanged – sporadic checking of IDs, no detainees.On the way back to Jerusalem, near Gethsemaneh, we see a transit being checked by a blue police man and a BP, but nobody is detained and the transit continues its journey.