Bethlehem, Monday morning, 2.1.2006Observers: Ada G. Chaya A. Malka A. (reporting)Natanya translating.07.10 At Beit Jala traffic is normal and there are no soldiers.07.15 El Khadr: Much traffic as usual but no army or police. We advise a “refusednik” to bring a letter of recommendation and a proposal of work from the contractor who had employed him. Maybe that way he can get a job and make a living for his family. We also advise a man who worked in Jerusalem for 25 years at the same place to bring a recommendation from the place at which he worked three years previously. A rather vain hope but for a man in his dark and desperate case it is the last hope. H. deals with some other people. At the crossroads there is the same bustle of trade in all the filth and little kiosks and on the other side of the checkpoint where fruit is being sold there is a tent and a drum where the seller of rags is warming himself. 7.50 We go south, the checkpint is open and at 08.00 at the crossroads of Ezyon the traffic is flowing southward but the Palestinians going north are being delayed and checked. El Arub opposite the agricultural colleges is an army vehicle and on it a soldier is standing with his rifle pointed at the road. 08.00 Beit Umar : People are waiting for us hoping for help. We have the name of another lawyer who deals with the reports which have piled up. Another man who worked for years in Israel and was fired during the first intifada tells us that his family is starving. 09.00 Nabi Yunes, No soldiers or police and cars are travelling freely. On our way back at El Arub we again see the military vehicle.10.45 At DCO Ezyon a man asks for help for himself and his four brothers. The fifth is in jail in Jerusalem. They are security and police refused but want to visit him. C. and Y, try to have the police refusal removed and the security refusal is referred to Sylvia. People come out of the DCO with notes from Maher noting how they are “refused.” It is noted whether this is from the police or the army and is a great improvement. A man from Bethlehem tells us that since the wall has been built around it the position of the people inside has deteriorated greatly. All the men who worked are now closed in by this wall, residents of Takoa, Herodia, Abadiah and many others. They had earned about 150-170 shekel a day. They have now all being marked as “refused” and there is no work and how will they feed their families? “We are like Somalia” they say. A man has been waiting 3 hours to get back papers which the soldier at the window took from him. His family is in mourning for a sister who died but they were ordered to report to the DCO today. And in spite of the mourning period they had no choice but to come. His brother went home but he is waiting. We try to contact from the captain but he says the matter is being investigated and soon the man will be freed. We ask Maher to add his telephone in Arabic numbers to the notice on the wall. This way someone who needs a reply can phone him and not have to come again after a week. On days Sunday to Tuesday between two to four what the number of the file is (THIS IS NOT CLEAR).A man, maybe a teacher, comes out with a grim face. In excellent Hebrew he told us that the soldier behind the window had spoken to him insensitively, with contempt and sitting in such a way that he proclaimed that he was lord of all he surveyed and in an indelicate way. “They should behave with more politeness….like human beings…we too are human beings.”