Abu-Dis, Container Sunday, 24.10.04, PMWatching: Tzipi E., Ronit S., Judith S.At about 3 pm we arrived at the Cliff Hotel. We parked the car in front of the hotel and next to a BP jeep, and went out to look at the wall. Since there were no detainees, we were just about to carry on. We went into the car and turned it around, when one of the soldiers gave us a sign. After sliding towards him, about 1.5 meters, we were asked to hand over our ID cards. While waiting, we mentioned that this investigation is a kind of provocation. It was pretty clear that both – the 2 soldiers within the jeep and the one outside it – were not really admirers of our activity, and sure enough, one of them came up with the idea to give us a ticket, and the idea was taken enthusiastically by his friend. We got a ticket for Ronit, who was sitting behind, not having a safety belt on while we were sliding along 1.5 meters. There was no one to talk to, and all that was left to us to do was to refuse to accept the ticket.The “pishpash” (3:30 pm): Although the security forced blocked the passage, someone knocked down one of the concrete blocks in order to allow people to pass through. And indeed quite a lot of people are passing, and there are no soldiers around.The container (4 pm): New revolving doors make the place look like a sophisticated cowshed. About 25 detainees are waiting and will be released only an hour later. To our question, one of the soldiers explains that the long waiting time has to do with the Shabak – there might be change of shifts or it might happen that one problematic name will cause a whole group of people to wait. Later the high BP commander will also admit that 1 hour waiting time is 20 minutes more than “normal”. But for us, laymen when it comes to bureaucracy, even the “normal” 40 minutes seem to be a riddle, when all there is to do is to cross check a name on a computer. An experienced team is working in the CP – none of them is going out of his way to make things better, not worse. Every now and then people are asked to go back and approach the counter one by one. After all detainees are released (at about 5:30 pm) the place becomes quiet. Because of the Ramadan, traffic stops earlier than usual.