Bethlehem and vicinity, Wednesday PM, 22.3.06Observers: Maya BH., Daniela G. (reporting)Route 60: More than usual military vehicles along the way, most of them posted by the side of the road. Ezyon CP: Manned but the soldiers don’t stop anyone.Ezyon DCL: Still inoperative, nobody there.El Kahder: An army jeep parked on the hill.Bethlehem CP (17:15): Quite a long line of cars waiting to cross over to Bethlehem. Lots of tourists coming into Jerusalem at amazing speed and ease. All they have to do is hold up their passport, unlike the Palestinians wishing to go back home to Bethlehem. It takes much longer to screen and check their papers. A soldier making rounds in he open area above the booths holding a threatening rifle in his hand, demands that we leave the premises saying we need a permit to stand at the door. Not wishing to create a scene we step outside but he insists we move further away, which we refuse. He lets us be. As we leave we encounter a group of about 7 men standing on the sidewalk outside. Their IDs had been taken at Tantur and they were told to go to CP 300 and wait there. Where exactly? Till when? We tried to get an answer but the armed soldier back inside would not respond, the girl in the booth checking vehicles retorted that she was not allowed to talk to us and there was no reply from any of the phone numbers we have. The Palestinians seemed to know more than us – they were caught because there is still closure and from past experience they knew they would be waiting there for some good hours.