Bethlehem Sep. 13, 2004 AMWatchers: Anat T., Sylvia P. (reporting)CP 300 – Bethlehem Checkpoint 6:30Sparse traffic. All the vehicles in either directionswere allowed to cross, including a UN bus withPalestinians going to Jerusalem. There were also a fewpedestrians. The BP officers were polite, but sent usto stand outside the CP. We obeyed and a few minuteslater made our way to El Khader.El Khader, 7:30No soldiers present. The closure is hardly felt.There’s less traffic than usual but it moved freely.A coffee vendor was standing at the entrance with akettle (with little pieces of wood to warm thecoffee). The smoke from the kettle drew our attentionand we approached. He told us he was 31 years old anda father of 7. In the past he used to work at GivatShaul, but then he was barred from entering Jerusalem.He has to wait 4 more years- at age 35- to be allowedinto the city. In the meantime he earns about 50shekels a day selling coffee because there’s no workin Bethlehem. The town’s economy is based on tourism.We left the dirt mounds that block the road and movedto the place where cabs to Wadi Nar park. The littlemarketplace was almost empty. Was it too early? Is itthe closure? The drivers say that Wadi Nar is open butthere isn’t much traffic. They complain that there’sno work and nomoney…DCO Etzion. 7:30No sign of yellow cabs on Route80 to Etzion.We didn’t expect to see anyone there, but there were35 people. 2 little signs in Hebrew and Arabic on theglass wall. The windows were supposed to be open from8:00 to 10:30, including the police window.The windows for magnetic cards and permits opened at8:05 and the police opened at 8:20. A father of 7 told us that he was denied a magneticcard. He had paid all his debts, but was afraid hewould be denied again. We wrote a letter for him, justin case. He did not use it, because his request formagnetic card had been properly stamped and he wastold to come back in a week. Let’s hope he gets hiscard…2 people from Abadiya have police records and theyneed a lawyer to have those records expunged. Their”crime”: they were caught in Jerusalem without apermit. The usual story. One has a magnetic card butcan’t get a permit because of his record. The otherone does not even have a card.El Khader. 8:45A jeep with 2 soldiers doing nothing. There wastraffic with buses and cabs from Hebron loading peopleand parcels. It did not look like a closure.