Bethlehem area, Thursday, 20.10.05, AM Observers: Dafna, Rama, Dalia (reporting)7:00, Bethlehem, CP 300 The barrier’s commander givesus information unwillingly: there is closure; buildersand sellers are not allowed passage, only people withpermits. The commander kept pushing us behind thebarrier’s railing. In contrast with him, a highranking officer, who arrived later, was morecommunicative. According to him, humanitarian cases(people and goods) were allowed through, but notworkers of all kinds.Very few cars pass the barrier. There are manypedestrians (most of them students) waiting on bothsides of the CP. Checking is very slow. There are 4soldiers inside the check point, but only one does thechecking. People do not pass from both directionssimultaneously, and the result is long lines. Thesoldiers are rude. Students who were waiting on ourside of the PC told us that while waiting they aren’tallowed to sit on the bench inside the shed, and sometimes, not even to talk or laugh! 7.40, Tantur Police car blocks the track towardJerusalem, checking cars.Beth Jalla – Gilo Junction Soldiers inside the checkpoint.8.00, Ezyon DCO Two happy Palestinian at the parkinglot — one of them received a magnetic card, and theother got a permit to enter into Jerusalem. Because ofthe closure, only few people arrive for officialactivities.8.30, Al Khadr New concrete slabs block the entrancefrom road 60 to Al Khadr. Last night, people told us,the army had destroyed all the peddlers’ platformswhich had stood along the way leading to the village,up to and behind the “old” soil and stones barrier. Inaddition, soldiers enlarged the path and the soilbarrier. Many pedestrians expressed their pain andanger about these brutal actions.