Bethlehem and vicinity, Friday 3.11.06, morningObservers: Efrat B, Tirtza L (reporting)9:00- Bethlehem Checkpoint number 300Relative to the usual on Friday’s there was quite a lot of traffic. Only one post was open. At first there was a line of about 10 people, each time someone arrived, wanting to pass from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, and it became very crowded, since those who were going in the opposite direction had to pass through the same booth. After several minutes the line of those heading to Jerusalem became longer- there were about 30-40 people queued up. A very old and almost deaf man wanted to get to Jerusalem and pray at the Temple Mountain. The soldier wouldn’t let him pass since he didn’t have a permit. He begged but was still refused. He insisted on staying there until they let him pass. They called a soldier from the BP that is in charge of the passage, to take him away. He begged the soldier but she answered him in Hebrew. He couldn’t hear anything and he wouldn’t move. We asked her: Won’t you let him pass? And she answered that she won’t let him pass since he doesn’t have a permit. We called the DCL- they too explained to us that without a permit he can’t pass; they said he should first get a permit at the DCL and then pass. An officer arrived- he wouldn’t let anyone pass. Efrat asked the old man to give her his ID so she could write down his details and help him try and get a permit next week. We saw the date of birth: 1914. He is 92 years old. The BP commander called a BP soldier that was in the building to come and take the 92 year old man since it was “a sterile zone”. Two BP soldier came out and we asked them: won’t you let him pass? But they said that they were only there to help the BP soldiers that were managing the checkpoint, and that they had no right to decided. They argued with the BP soldiers, asking them to let the man pass; the BP soldiers refused once again since he didn’t have a permit. The man kept begging, his voice was broken. He waited, he said he wouldn’t move. In the mean while some men arrived, they had permits (permits as contracters and commerce permits). They came with their children – one had three daughters of the ages 8, 6 and 4, another had two sons, also around these ages. Since it was Friday they wanted to take their children with them to pray. The commander and the officer, told them that they couldn’t pass. With all due respect (the soldiers said to us) these are working permits; what will these men do with their children while they work? The men answered that the people on the other side said it was alright; they asked the soldiers what had they come all the way for? The answer was that they won’t pass. They returned home. In the mean while the BP soldiers told the 92 year old man that he may pass, they opened the passage and he passed. A person who lives near Erez checkpoint arrived with permits, he needed to get back to Erez. The only way to get to Erez is through this checkpoint. But the soldier said he couldn’t pass with the permits he had, and told him to go and ask for a permit that enables him to come into Israel. The man told the soldier that these were the permits he received and that with them they are supposed to let him pass. The solider started to argue with him while other people that were in line intervened: “look, it says on his permit that he may pass into Israel and even spend the night there”. After several minutes like this they let him pass. We asked that they open one more post. The commander said that according to her orders she can’t, but in a little while the shifts with change and then they will open another post. At around 9:50 another post was opened. There were about 100 people standing in line. On our way south-We went through Beit Jala. The passage seemed completely open. 10:00 – ETzion DCL:A person who was summoned to the court in Jerusalem arrived. He had been at the DCL a couple of days before asking for a permit to enter to Israel so he could appear at court. On this day he came to pick up his permit. He didn’t know that the DCL was closed on Fridays. He has to be at the court on Sunday, in two days. 10:15- Beit OmarA number of people had approached us: several people wanted to ask us about their traffic tickets, a couple needed a permit so that they could appear in court for a hearing on a case they had filed, and there was also someone how needed a permit to get to Hadassa Hospital for an operation. 11:00 – El Nashnash:A person who seemed to be in shock came to us, he said that a house in Bethlehem was under siege, he wanted us to do something about it (an hour later we saw on the news that there was a house Bethlehem that was under siege and that a woman had was killed). There were also some people that came to us about their traffic tickets and others who needed a magnetic card.