Bethlehem, Al Khader, Etsion, Sunday, July 3 AM>Observers: Sylvia P, Ofra B, Chana A (reporting)Guests from a Hong Kong newspaper and TV station (Suzannah and Patsy) with camera man.6:50 Bethlehem CP 300: On the way, at Mar Elias, we see a flying checkpoint. We do not stop and check. We meet Sylvia with the journalists at the checkpoint. While we are waiting for them, we speak to an officer in a jeep who tells us the new checkpoint, much further in, is about to be opened (was supposed to be opened in February). There will be six pedestrian lines and two for cars. It’s close to the wall.After a few minutes, we are approached by Jamil, a blue ID carrying Jerusalemite whose truck, with a valid permit, is stuck 200 meters inside the checkpoint, full of furniture. The truckdriver, an orange card carrying family member from Bethlehem, was arrested the night before at 18:00 with two nephews. The nephews spent the night sleeping on the benches in the shed on the Israeli side, their uncle was taken for interrogation/incarceration. They don’t know where he is or for how long (a month?) The nephews and the Jerusalem relative, who came in the morning, tell the following: in the morning, the truck was allowed to cross by a GSS investigator, but then the commanding officer of the CP refused to let them through.Ofra marches up to another jeep, just arrived, with a high officer inside. She tells him the whole story and he promises to call the GSS and try to get things moving. When we call after an hour and a half, the problem has been solved, at least for the truck, which was allowed to cross.7:30 Al Khader. The usual bustle. We speak to Tarek Bargut, worked in Israel for years. Has two wives, one a Philipino whom he met in Tel Aviv where he used to live, and altogether eleven children (the Philipino wife has two). No work permit and no future. He opened a basta at Al Khader. Since he has no sponsor on the Israeli side, we cannot help him.8:30 Ezyon. The shed is full of people. We take petitions to have the “refused for security reasons” removed from record for eight men. After we fax the letters from our home to Legal Counsel Yair Lothstein, Sylvia is told they will only take the originals. They are duly copied (for our records) and sent off by mail. We will follow up.In the evening I got a call from Salem, of Bethlehem, whose wife, born in Khan Yunis hasn’t seen her mother, in six years! The mother is now in hospital after an operation and she wants to see her daughter, who wants to take the whole family along to see the grandmother. However, Salem’s wife has a “refused for security reasons” on her record. After a call to Dalia Bassa (it’s almost 8 PM, but Dalia is still on the job), Salem gets instructions to have the hospital in Gaza send him a fax and to call Faris about the security GSS matter for his wife. Will be continued.Addendum/correction to the earlier report:Sunday morning, July 3, Bethlehem: The driver of the truck was detained possibly for a month, his whereabouts were not known at the time. The truck was NOT released, but rather impounded for a month also. All we managed to do was to release the goods in the truck for transport to Jerusalem.In order for the relatives to know the whereabouts of the detained driver, we gave them the Moked card.