Bethlehem and surroundings, Monday PM, 17.10.2005Observers: Shlomit S., Yael S. (reporter)Bethlehem CheckpointOne day after the shooting at the Ezion intersection. We met a Palestinian with an Israeli I.D. who was summoned to an interrogation in order to receive the keys to his car, which were taken from him a month ago. A Border Police jeep stopped beside us and the Officer said to us: “Where were you when we waited for you?” It turns out that an incendiary bottle was thrown on him earlier and he was adamant that the Palestinians have such “hate that is bred into them with their mother’s milk”. We continued southward, and it was clear that the situation will be bad (and this is the reason that it was so important for us to go on this watch!). When we arrived at El-Khadr, we discovered that cement blocks were placed on the road in order to prevent any vehicles from driving on the road. This road was full of taxis and buses two days ago. Also, there were tens of people that were being prevented from entering as well. With no other option, we parked near Hossan. We then saw a pregnant woman with three small children and an elderly woman that were looking for transportation in the direction of Hebron, where they live. We met two taxi drivers that told us that at Neve-Daniel there is a roadblock (10 km. south of El-Khadr) and that the soldiers there are very aggressive…We called the hot-line; there they looked into the matter and about an hour later, we were told that at 16:25 the checkpoint will be opened for south-ward traffic. The public Palestinian transportation was very sparse. The drivers were going off road no. 60 in order to try and find passengers, and we arrived after a few minutes. Meanwhile, in El-Khadr, the pedestrians were being detained, although their ID cards were not taken from them, and after 10-15 minutes, they were all released together. This situation caused a sudden large pedestrian traffic flow of about 60 people crossing together the road and going up to their villages on the western side. When we went down to road no. 60, we met a driver and his family who arrived In El-Khadr but he was very fearful of the roadblock In Neveh-Daniel. Since the Humanitarian Hot-Line told us that that checkpoint has been removed we told them that they could drive behind us and if there would be any problems, we would assist. We were surprised to see that all the way to El-Arub was free of roadblocks, including the Ezyon checkpoint, which was manned, but no public vehicle were being detained. We were informed by the Humanitarian Hotline that all traffic is permitted to pass within the district – however no inter-district traffic is permitted. We were also informed that there should be no problem in permitting public transportation to go between El-Khadr and Semaah. At the entrance to Beit Omar a military jeep was standing in the middle of the road and the soldiers were directing the traffic. Behind them a shovel was working full-speed near the road. We waited a few minutes and then drove to the grocery store. Ahmad, who is always a bit distant, was very happy to see us and even came and gave me a kiss. Afterward, his son, who broke his arm at a karate class, said hello and then also Najleh, whom I have not seen for a long time, and then Abed, my good friend and Ibrahim (it is now Ramadan and they are not allowed to give a kiss) and Kais, and the mother of the family. In the kitchen, the women were preparing the fast-breaking meal. Wapa, who has taken off 8 km., was preparing knafe – the best I have ever eaten. We were obliged to stay for the meal, but at home, Shlomit’s family was worried and asked her to return quickly and the taxi driver whom we met earlier, said that the Neveh-Daniel roadblock has been put up again and they are being detained. We left all the good food behind and drove to Neveh Daniel being given some knafe for the way.There, we found two taxis being detained. As we were getting out of the car , I heard the officer saying to one of the drivers: ” Yallah, Yallah, Shut up!” I told him to “Shut Up yourself!” and came up to him. When we found out that one of the drivers had no identifying papers, we gave them and to the soldiers as well the knafe, and we started to talk with them. The soldiers turned out to be very nice fellows, who told us that the roadblocks were put up because of the funeral in Daniel that took place in the afternoon, and that they were shocked by the behavior of the Jewish demonstrators, and especially by Nadia Matar….When we saw that there was no way to get the missing ID, the officer decided:” Let them go where they have to” and released them. The Palestinians thanked us and we left the soldiers, thinking: “… and how the soldiers are miserable…” (a quote from a popular song). Road no. 60 was full of military jeeps that had nothing to do, because the road was empty and even the Tunnel checkpoint remained with only one lane open for all the cars that were driving to the north.