Bethlehem. Tuesday PM, 27.6.2006 English Observers: Yael I., Ruth O. and Ilana D. (reporting) From 3:00 till 6:30 PMEzyon DCL, Solomon’s Pools (Nashash) and DCO Beit JallaMany cars and cabs were parked near the DCL. We held our breath while we walked inside past the smelly toilets. The fan was blasting, but there was no one in the waiting area. Only three men and a woman were waiting next to the turnstile. There was much noise from inside. It appeared that all had been let in at the same time.No applicants for magnetic cards were being dealt with. Had they all received their cards? Or had they been sent home to return in the morning since the machine was broken? We had no way to know. The only people applying and there was a trickle for the next two hours were those in need of a one-time permit. A girl who was marrying a Gaza physician and wanted to visit with his family was told to return with the wedding invitation. A woman who needed to accompany her husband to the bank to sign was told to return in the morning. The loudspeaker uttered incomprehensible instructions and occasionally the voice of a singing soldier. We asked a few times for it to be closed and finally someone listened. It is still a riddle how the renovations have deteriorated the situation. A Palestinians has to crouch inside the turnstile in order to be able to see the soldier on the roof and shout requests at him. Whenever we hear a loud clang of a metal door we know that the next person has been delat with and it about to leave the premises.5:00 PM At Al Khader South, we counted seven buses, but also quite a large number of wheelchairs being pushed up the (steep) sloping road. We left some used clothes with one of the vendors. Mohammed, the teacher whose son is still held in the Russian Compound (now for already 28 days without a trial), asked us to bring him some clothing and food. He insisted we accept drinks.The cabdrivers told us that the soldiers had this week not taken car keys and told the drivers to park while closing off the road, however the passage at the Beit Jalla DCO had been closed this morning for a few hours and then been reopened only to be closed again at 4:00 PM, we promised to inspect.Serious complaints were uttered re the behaviour of Hananel, the settler who owns a farm on land given to him by the State (Plia Albek). He terrorizes the Palestinian population, destroys vine saplings in the middle of the night with his tractor or incites his dogs against young Palestinian children. “He is a real criminal, but was never punished.” We have heard similar complaints about him for a couple of years already.A suspicious object (suspected bomb)had been discovered in one of the tunnels and the tunnel road was closed. Therefore we were in a long line of vehicles directed via Wallaje into Jerusalem and found that the passage at the DCO had been reopened. It must have been too difficult to keep it closed in view of the endless stream of Jewish cars using the road via Beit Jalla until the tunnel would be cleared.