Bethlehem and vicinity: Nuaman, Tuesday 5.12.06, morningObservers: Yehudit A, Hana B, Tamar A (reporting) Sift: 6:30-8:00 It is now possible to get to Nuamman from Har Homa by car, since there is much progress with the preparation work for the new road leading from the settlements Tkoaa and Nokdim to Jerusalem (“Liberman road”). There have been some archaeological diggings on the hill in front of the village (The army refers to Noaman as “Mazmoria”- which is originally the name of the hill were the archeological ruins are found) eventually they will probably have to flatten the hill so that it won’t come in the way of the construction work. In the mean time, the road in that area isn’t paved and once you get to the gate that the army had placed in the entrance from Jerusalem you can’t be sure that it isn’t locked. When we got there the children (mostly girls) were making their way to their school at El H’as, some were going by foot and others got a lift with their parents. They all passed through the checkpoint without any inspections or hold ups. There was breach in the fence near the gate and the soldiers sent the cars through there. On the other side of the checkpoint one could see just how “Liberman road” is being formed- they have already paved the road by the checkpoint, there is a traffic island between the lanes, a large traffic circle not far a way and there is lighting. They wouldn’t let us pass to the other side- “this isn’t a passage”. For the last couple of weeks only the residents of Nuamman were permitted to pass through the checkpoint. Due to this, two women who had recently married two men from the village weren’t allowed to pass even though they have blue ID, since it doesn’t say they are Nuamman residents. It is very difficult to be acknowledged as a Noamman resident since the village itself doesn’t exist officially. Lately the soldiers have been working according to a list- but the person who made that list hadn’t had enough time to write down the last houses in the village, and therefore ten people were detained at the checkpoint for two hours on Thursday, since there names didn’t appear on the list. We met a person we know who works at the security company that is in charge of the fence in this area. He told us he would soon be transferred to a different region, since there isn’t enough money for the work in this area. It is hard to believe. But on the other hand, for the last couple of weeks, there hasn’t been any progress in the construction work on the terminal, they had merely managed to cover the place up with Jerusalem stones, and on that morning you could see the bulldozers idle at the construction site.