Abu-Dis, The Container, Zeitim CP Wednesday, 07.02.2007, AM Observers: Shulamit N., Tzipi E. (reporting), Noa D. (translating)7:15 – Ha’Neviim St. on the way to the circular road in the direction of Mt. Scopus. We saw a police vehicle for dispersing demonstrations. We saw there BP’s in the junction bellow. The tension could be sensed in the air. Possibly, due to the excavations in the Temple Mount, near Al-Aktza.On our way to Abu-Dis via A-Tur we saw many school children on their way to school, as well as many cars heading in the direction of Wadi Juz and Jerusalem. Abu-Dis (the narrow gate): 07:30 – The place is now “decorated” in colors of white and green, the colors of the unit. Also, a netted gate has been added and some more standard metal police fences that stretch further behind the wall, westward. There are now places to queue, as well as enough physical restrictions to keep the people approaching the checkpoint a fair distance from the BP/soldiers. Two soldiers were standing on the West side of the wall. Two children passed through on their way to school. A BP jeep stops and parks and an officer steps out of it and asks us if he can help us. One of the soldiers comes nearer and asks who we are. Possibly, only Shulamit has her badge on. Behind the jeep, a construction vehicle, working on the wall, urges the jeep to clear the way and let it pass through. The officer moves it. We tell the soldier who we are and he offers us some marshmello from his breakfast kit-box. We ask about the passage and the soldiers reply that only according to the lists. When we inquire who colored the cubicle and the cement strips up to the height of a raised arm, one of the soldiers says it was him. Zeitim CP: 08:00 – Many taxi drivers haunt the place, awaiting customers. We stood at the top, outside the entrance to the turnstiles area. Occasionally, women or men came out, some of them buttoning or zipping up their clothes. Were they made to take them off for closer scrutiny, or merely asked to remove the belts for the sake of the metal detector? They greeted us and hurried down. The Container: 08:30 – Several taxies with a green number are parking in front of the convenience store. The drivers/passengers are waiting to receive their ID’s back from the soldiers. When we arrived, a driver from a transit told us he was from the Palestinian Health Office and that he came from Ramallah, on his way to Bethlehem, but because he was driving opposite the direction of the traffic, he was forced to return and was asked to come back in the right lane. New traffic signs have been added. The road heading for Zeitim CP is now single lane and in order to get to the checkpoint and proceed in the direction of Bethlehem, one must pass through Sawahre and Abu-Dis on the east side of the wall. There was a lot of traffic in the checkpoint. There were no particular problems.