Abu Dis, Wadi Nar (Container)Friday, Nov.11, 2005 AMObservers: Rita M-F, Mikhal Z, Barbara S.guest: Susanne from Germany (ex-machsom watcher)First anniversary of Arafat’s death, one day after the killing in Issawiyye.Appalling behavior of CP commander in Abu Dis.Massive deployment of BP at Damascus and Flower Gates.Former pishpash: people manage to climb over the concrete blocks, and appear to be passing freely in spite of BP and soldiers standing on the other side of the street. As we go down the hill to the new gate, a German man who had been showing the pishpash to a group of visitors comes running after us and asks us to return and help some women who have been stopped. A woman aged 55 asks us to intercede on their behalf, but the rule of the moment is that noone except for Jerusalem (blue) ID holders is allowed to pass, and after the lenient approach of only a few minutes ago, this is how things are handled. According to the BP responsible for the pishpash, there is a strict closure because of the killing in Issawiyye.”New Gate”: A big mess. The aggressive behavior of the BP checkpoint commander, E. D., causes an extremely unpleasant atmosphere. He constantly yells at people and says that nobody will pass unless they form an oderly queue (an understandable demand coming from a commander in the security forces of Israel, the Land of Orderly Queues). Three very young woman soldiers who were totally new at the job look at the scene but do not interfere at all.M. calls Eli Gabai, the area commander, twice, to alert him to the intolerable situation, and he promises to come.Meanwhile, a jeep is parked by the gate in such a way that it blocks part of the opening.Suddenly, a group of about 20, mostly elderly people, are allowed in but told to stand aside while all their IDs are taken away. After a while, all of them are sent back to go through the whole procedure of waiting in line and presenting their IDs once more.Two elderly people, a man and and a woman, whose IDs are taken away for checking wait and wait to get their documents back, but nothing moves. Finally, M. approaches a BP man in a jeep to point this out to him, and indeed, they get their IDs back within moments.Apart from us, there are two Ecomenical Accompaniers from Norway and Sweden observing the functioning of the checkpoint. The young man from Norway tells us that whenever E. D. is around, the situation is awful.When M. ignores D.’s order to stand back and get out of his way, saying that after all she is not interfering in his work but only watching, he takes away her ID but returns it after a few minutes.At some point, E. asks to be given stun grenades but ends up using them only as a threat. He chases people away from the gate and makes them stand in horizontal lines at a distance of several meters. There is no end to his educational efforts (“If you stand nicely, you’ll be allowed to pass”). Rather than calling people according to their time of arrival, he singles out both, individuals who, in his opinion, wait in an exemplary way, and the elderly, pointing at them and yelling, “You!”. Several times he stops processing people altogether because somebody stands in the “wrong” place.Meanwhile, I (B.) tried to go down to the open place where the Palestinians line up, in order to meet a friend whom I need to sign a document. D. forbids me to proceed, even after I explain to him with all the calmness I can gain under the circumstances that all I need is a signature on a document, to help a handicapped child. After my third unsuccessful attempt, R. succeeds at slipping in unnoticed and getting the desired signature. When our friend, the child’s father tries to get closer to the gate to say hello to me, E. yells at him to stay where he is and pulls out a pair of handcuffs, so that we give up on a closer encounter.At 11:00, an hour after the conversation with Eli Gabai, his deputee, Amal shows up. M. and R. tell him about D.’s behavior. He takes him aside and the latter promptly shows that he can behave differently. He acts much less aggressively and announces that from now on, the minimum age for the privilege of passing westward is 50.11:30 at Wadi Nar , there isn’t much traffic. An ambulance which approaches the checkpoint from the one way street North of the checkpoint is allowed to pass only after one of the passengers returns to the barrier near the little shop on foot and closes it all the way (he had not done so properly in the eyes of the military police at the checkpoint).A private car whose Palestinian-born driver has a Dutch passport and is travelling with a man with a Palestinian ID, is made to wait 50 minutes but then gets to go North, the driver opening the barrier for himself. M. tried to help, but the man with the Dutch passport apparently felt unconfortable being seen talking to us.Back at the New Gate (12:15), things have calmed down considerably: no more queues, E. D. is gone, and the replacement of one BP man and two woman soldiers act calmly.At the pishpash: now that Friday prayers have started and it’s no longer of any relevance to people to pass, there is no longer any BP presence at all.On our way back, as we try to go around the Hebrew University buildings on Mount Scopus, we find the road blocked outside Bezalel: there is a barrier, and behind it a patrol car in the middle of the street, obviously because of the horrible incident in near-by Issawiyye