Abu Dis Friday 25 March 2005 AMObservers: Marina H. & Avital B. (reporting) 09:30 – The Container – the checkpoint was quite busy, in both directions. Random checks were carried out in the Bethlehem-bound lane, and on all cars bound for Jerusalem. One detainee was waiting in the hut – for five minutes (?), the soldiers said. We twice asked when he would be released, and this happened twenty minutes after we arrived. 10:30 – The former pishpash gate – Many Border Police soldiers were trying to enforce the closure declared ahead of (the Jewish holiday of) Purim. Crossing over the fence was not allowed, and people going through the pishpash were checked. The new checkpoint wasn’t in place. In theory, passage was permitted only for people with blue (Israeli) CDs, but we saw cases where Palestinian with permits were permitted to cross through after checks were performed via the computer-terminal in the Jeep. An hour later, the numbers of soldiers in the pishpash area decreased; and once they were brought their lunch they stopped checking people at all, and we felt we could leave.