Abu-Dis 9/5/2004 Watchers: Rivka S., Yael Y. (reporting) We drove to Wadi-Nar via Keidar. No closure. Trucks, cabs, vans and pedestrians are allowed to cross. Private cars — even with permits! — are not allowed. We were greeted by sourpusses: Don’t stand here, don’t talk to the Palestinians being checked. Our presence is superfluous anyway. A long line of cars; the examination is slow and sluggish. While the shifts change, there’s a 20 minutes hiatus. When cars cross from the South, no cars from Abu-Dis are processed. Only ambulances pass relatively fast. A problem arose regarding pick-ups. The BP soldiers claim that they are private cars, not commercial vehicles, so they refuse them passage. Among them was a Coca Cola truck from Atarot with a permit for commercial vehicle. The pick-up trucks waited, hoping for the best. But the new shift did not allow them to pass either, although they had all come from Bethlehem earlier without any problems. We made a few phone calls, and BP headquarters promised to investigate and even wrote down the license numbers and ID cards of the drivers. Eventually the CP commander must have received an order from the command and allowed the pick-up trucks (and some private cars) to pass. The wait lasted about an hour. In the meantime the line from Jerusalem got longer and longer. There were at least 50 cars, cabs, trucks and buses. The vans were loaded with passengers, but the soldiers took their time. Because of the oppressive heat, the passengers got out of the vehicles and some gave up on the ride and walked down the path. The narrow road was congested, so even the lucky cars that were allowed to pass, had trouble driving around the big trucks. Eventually, the CP commander found this too much and allowed 20 cars to cross without checking them. He then wrote down their numbers and waived the personal check-up. After 6:00 the line got shorter and we left.We went back to the Pishpash gate. The atmosphere was relatively calm. A jeep with 2 BP soldiers stood there. They joked with the passengers and checked their IDs quickly. We went up to the hotel. It was empty. The new settlers’ house stood out like a sore thumb. It looked uninhabited: just an outpost for guards. 2 BP jeeps arrived with a car with red a license plate. We asked them if their people were guarding the settlers, and they said no, the guards are paid for by Moskovitz.