Bethlehem, Thursday morning, 19.1.2006Observers: Netta I. Tamar A. (reportingNatanya translating. 6.00 On the way to the Um Tuba and at the checkpoint at the end of the village Nuaman we only saw a few Palestinians from the village and the rest back on their way to work in Jerusalem. When we went down we saw two young women on the road on the other side of the fence. The one waited for the other probably because the women here are scared to pass the border police on their own. 6.55-7.40 A rolling checkpoint at Mismoriah: When we came up to the checkpoint we saw an army border jeep leaving the entrance to the fence. A few minutes later a race started of about 3-5 men from the village El Has on the bank of the other side of the fence and the security road towards Jerusalem. They did not use the tarred road to Nuaman but climbed the hill quickly and disappeared into the fields. About 6 men from Bethlehem were left who work in Har Chomah from whom the border police had taken the ids. The jeep came back about 10 minutes later and when the Palestinians saw them they gestured to their friends from El Has to stay where they were. The jeep 22-538-מ stopped first at a man who left Nuaman and sent him on his way after checking his id. The other ids were also returned and the men went back to El Has. The jeep then waited and two men without being told to do so went up to it and showed their ids and after two minutes went on to Jerusalem. The workers who did not have permits waited for the jeep to leave but even though we went off at a distance thinking this would encourage the jeep to leave it stayed in its place. The soldiers have the time to wait until the Palestinians should find that it is not longer worth their while to try to get to work and make a living.