Abu DisWednesday PM, 28.9.05Observers: Laura S., Mika G., Neta BP., Daniela G. (reporting).Abu Dis DCO – 13:00: The guard is still at his post in the watchtower and opens the turnstile immediately. E., the DCO commander came up with a creative solution for the discrepancy between the sign announcing cold water and the absence of a cooler underneath it – he simply erased the sign. Two major problems arose: 1. There is still no efficient coordination between the Palestinian DCO and this one. People are still being sent to and fro. 2. Amongst them a man trying to renew his permit for family reunion. The pleasant young soldier at the window says “No can do. There’s a closure”. We insist, for the man says he is experienced and closure does not apply to cases of family reunion. The soldier’s superior comes to the window with the same verdict. In the meanwhile, a woman with a similar problem arrives. What are they to do? They will not be able to go through the CPs so as to reach their homes in Jerusalem. We call E. He is somewhat impatient, whether at us or because his hands are tied. Orders from above. At the Human Rights Center they confirm that closure does not apply to family reunions and refer us to someone else who is unavailable. We try the head of the Civil Administration and end up with their spokesman. Very kind and polite, he explains at length that since Saturday the severity of the closure was raised and as a result it includes cases that usually are not, such as family reunion. We encourage the two people to go back to the Palestinian DCO as E. promised he would at least see to it that they stop sending people back to the Israeli one since it was decided that the requests should go through them. The Container – 14:30: E.’s deputy from the DCO is just leaving and very rudely ignores our “Hello”. There is quite a lot of traffic because it is changing shifts time, but once that is done the lines vanish. A transit with a yellow license plate from Bethlehem has been detained for two hours because the soldiers maintain it should never have driven through Area A. The passengers have different versions as to where they entered Bethlehem (Gilo, Bethlehem CP, Bet Jallah) but now know they should have gone back the same way. There is another detainee in the “cage” but it is difficult to find out why and for how long he has been there as our conversation with a nice cooperative soldier is terminated by another soldier asking us to move away.Abu Dis – 15:30: A BP jeep at the Pishpash, the officer instructing two soldier girls new at the job. They check IDs and there are no detainees. Bin Laden tells us that in the mornings the BP do not let workers with permits through, only those with blue IDs. No security forces at the “new” gate and people pass freely. A religious looking soldier can be spotted on the roof of the Cliff hotel, and when we go back to the Pishpash, the soldiers have all gone from there as well.