Sheikh Saed, Cliff hotel, Zeitim CP-DCO Monday, 08.01.2007, AMObservers: Anat T., Rina R., Edna P. (reporter)Sheikh Saed: 07:30 – The hill of Sheikh Saed wellcomes us with piles of garbage on the slopes (The municipality probably does not collect the garbage and a very severe sanitary and environmental nuisance). All around us is mud and puddles, the checkpoint is deserted, and the soldiers welcome us nicely, and tell us that they try to ease the flowing pass of the villagers.Cliff hotel: 08:00 – Two women-soldiers come towards us with bright faces – one is BP woman, the other is in a course for youth guides. Both of them are very interested in our activities and ask us to try and help those passing in the process of giving them magnetic cards. We explain what we do and can do and are very impressed with the two humane girls who, undoubtedly, are behaving accordingly in their job.Zeitim CP-DCO: 08:45 – A crowd of about fifty people waits for the DCO to open. When we arrive a group of about 15 people are sent in simultanuously. The main problem is the line – who decides about the line. We were told contradictory facts:1. The line is managed by those waiting, and the guards let people in according to that list. The commander of the checkpoint, a policeman, claims this to be the rule.2. The Palestinians tell us that the DCO officer comes and lets people in according to his reasoning.There is no necessary contradiction between the two, since A., the DCO officer told us that he tries to let in humanitarian cases, women, children and grown ups before the younger people. But definitely there is a problem here. Some people claim that they had arrived there five times, had waited for hours and did not enter. No doubt the move of the DCO to Zeitim CP disrupted the DCO work, and everything is still organizing, but the problem of the waiting line has to be solved in a rational and efficient way. In contrast to the threatenning and frozen stand of the private company guards that we saw on other occasions, we have the impression today that the current guards are trying to act beyond just keeping the order, they try to consider things and talk with those waiting. It is pretty successful. One of the guards speaks fluent Arabic, talks and asks very patiently to keep the order, and is ready to hear the peoples’ complaints, and the other guard is also patient and cooperative. We leave and hope that all those waiting will make it and enter today, or, at least, will get a report about their chances to be accepted, so they do not waste all the day just waiting with no result.