Abu-Dis, Az-Za’ayyem, The Container Tuesday 16.05.2006 PMObservers: Julia W, Rahel W (reporting) guestWe went first to the Cliff Hotel to see if there were any changes. The border policeman there did not allow us to walk to the back of the hotel. It was a minor issue, but we called E. who came immediately and allowed us through. (He said that perhaps they didn’t want us to go through because there were big trucks in the area and we might have been endangered!) There is a new wall in front of the Moskowitz settlement, and apparently more development is taking place there.There were border police at each of the openings along the wall and very few people were going through in either direction.Az-Za’ayyem – Almost totally deserted. In the time we were there, two people (women with babies) headed toward Jerusalem, and a few school children went to the other side.The Container – When we arrived, there was a man in a suit and tie who had come out of a van with markings of a hospital in Hebron. He was engaged in a heated argument with the border policeman there. He told us that he was en route from Ramallah to Hebron; he is the director of the Hebron hospital and was travelling with an obstetrician to deliver a baby to a woman who was already in labor and wanted to go through the shortcut road (as he does each and every day without difficulty until now). The soldier demanded that he take the longer route.We tried to reason with the BP (by the name of R.- we didn’t get his number) but he said “rules are rules” and if the doctor is in such a hurry, he should stop arguing and take the longer route. We replied that common sense should trump rules, but he would not listen.We called Dahlia Bassa who knew the doctor (he had worked for 8 years in Hadassah, Ein Karem and spoke perfect Hebrew) and told him that she would arrange it. We noticed the BP’s at the checkpoint talking on the phone but he was still not let through. The doctor told us that he was sure that if Dahlia said he could go through that she had called and they were purposely delaying him. At that point, he gave up and went the long way. As he left, he told us not to feel bad. He knows that all Israelis are not like that border policeman!Somehow, I don’t feel that my security has been enhanced by having a respected physician humiliated by a 20 year old border policeman for no good reason.Ma’ale Adumim- We noticed an unusally high number of border policemen checking out workers all over town, and in each case, there were numbers of detainees. This must be a new campaign.