Bethlehem, Tuesday 18.4.06 PM 14.00 – 16.30 Observers: Liat D. Ruth O. (Reporting) CP 300, Etzion DCL, El ArubWe decided ahead of time to make this a short shift because of the holiday’s eve. In retrospect it was a right decision since there was hardly any activity in both the Bethlehem CP and the Ezyon DCL.CP 300 – Rachels crossing: On our arrival we saw three men sitting on the fence at the entrance. One of them told us he lives in Jerusalem and his wife in Hebron. He is waiting for his wife, may be they will let her through. Usually she is not allowed to come and he visits her and their two children.A group of African tourists, who probably came back from a visit to Bethlehem walked through the terminal. Apart from them only very few people were seen. One of them told us he lives close to the wall on the other side and has a constant passing permit. No workers were on their way home, probably not only because of the early hour. No detainees were seen by the wall near the old checkpoint.Ezyon DCL: The place was closed, outside waited a few men. Three of them answered our questions and told us they are waiting to get permits in order to attend medical problems of their relatives. We asked the four soldiers at the camp’s gate if any body could help them but were told it is the holidays eve and all activity has stopped. The time was 15.00.One of the people we spoke to told us he lives in Beit Jalla and has to take his mother who has cancer to the hospital in Ramalla, he needs a passing permit. The other two, brothers in law, told us the father of one of them has to undergo open heart surgery the next day in the mekased hospital in east Jerusalem. They claimed he is all by himself there and they ask for a permit for his son to be with him.Since there was no one to talk to we called Dahlia Bassa, who although it was the holiday’s eve, answered the phone as usual. After she heard the story she asked us to wait until she could find out the details. She phoned a few minutes later to tell us she spoke to Eyal, the DCL commander, who (supposedly was not there) will join us soon. In the meanwhile, according to her advice we suggested to the man from Beit Jalla to get the needed papers from the hospital where his mother is and call back Dahlia.Eyal actually came out to us and a loud discussion started with the two brothers in law. They claimed that they had waited for their permits at the DCL for the last two days and had not been treated. He claimed all requests were dealt with. Dahlia’s next call strengthened his point when she told us no surgery was planned at Mukased hospital for the coming days.We are not in the position to know what the truth is. The only thing we criticize is the fact that no answer was given to a civil population for their humanitarian needs, unless we were there by chance.El Arub: As usual in the passed weeks Military vehicles with armed soldiers were standing at both entrances of the camp. There were no pedestrians seen near them. When we stopped our car two soldiers approached to ask how we were. One of them was embarrassed when he learned who we were the other was friendly and greeted us with “Happy holiday”.On our way back we joined a very long line of traffic from El-Hader to the tunnel crossing. The checking was probably very thorough the day after the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv.We drove along Beit Jalla’s outskirts wondering how much more land will Har Gilo bite off Wallage.