Bethlehem. Monday PM, 11.6.07 Observers: Yael I. and Ilana D. (reporting) From 2:45 till 5:45 PMNew Road, DCL Etzion, Rachel TerminalPoster and banners announced the pilgrimage to Khomesh on Tuesday all along Road 60. Since we actually had wanted to pay a visit to Nuaman, but also needed to be at the DCL, we decided to drive via Herodiyon on the newly paved highway linking Tekoa and Nokdim to Jerusalem. It is wide, has lighting and freshly painted signs and cuts through the landscape as if it would serve at least the amount of cars using Highway 6. Mountains have been moved and valleys filled to make for smooth driving. When we passed Al-Khas we saw a lone soldier at the CP underneath an enormously high yellow brick wall separating Nuaman from its neighbors. The soldier called the village Mazmoriya and asked us to return. He became suspicious when we asked who is allowed to cross and insisted. We left. We only saw one woman trudging through the valley and up along the new road to reach another part of Al-Khas. Etzion DCL:Twenty-two men had been waiting since 3:00 AM in vain to get a magnetic card. Apparently the machine had broken down already at 10:00 AM. When numbers had been divided at 8:00 AM they were told to wait, since new numbers would be given out ‘soon’. At 4:00 PM they reluctantly were on their way home. We called all possible numbers and finally got hold of Tadessu who promised that if he received a list of those having waited all day, he would deal with them first thing on Tuesday-morning. There were only few people at BeThlehem CP 300. A tourist kicked over one of the turnstiles which had apparently already been broken beforehand. Checking took place at the far end where no hand-machines had been installed. We were told that the mornings are much worse. An acquaintance from Wallaje called very upset. He had been held up at CP 300 because of a police file. It turns out that apparently details of people who had once signed forms (in Hebrew) admitting that they had entered ‘illegally’ and promising not to do it again, have now been entered into the computers and the men are refused entry. The choking rope around their necks is being pulled even tighter. Another friend from Wallaje has been trying to receive a permit for him and his wife to enter Jerusalem to visit her terminally ill brother whose leg was amputated and was infected by a virulent bug while hospitalized. Strong recommendations from a social worker and a doctor proved insufficient.