Bethlehem Thursday afternoon, 29.1.2004 Watchers: Sari S., Nurit S. (reporting) This morning at 9 AM, there was a suicide bomb attack on Bus No. 19 in Rehavia,in the heart of West (Jewish) Jerusalem, killing 10 and wounding 52. We wonderedwhat we would find at the checkpoint. We arrived at the Bethlehem checkpoint (300) at 15:30 and found about 150 detainees who had been held since the early morning. We discovered, after speaking to them and to the soldiers, that they have been gathered from other checkpoints and Jerusalem and brought there. Their IDs were taken and sent to the GSS [Shin Bet; Israeli Security Service] for checking and had not been returned to the checkpoint when we arrived. It was a very mixed crowd of people, including a distinguished officer of the International Bank (who had never before in his life been detained and was in shock over it), teachers, construction workers, some women (young and old). It seemed that almost all the detainees had work permits. There were two Ethiopian soldiers who were rude and brutal with them. When we first arrived we were not allowed to approach them, but aftera while we did and spoke to a number of them at length. Many of them crowdedaround us and complained. There was a man there who suffers from diabeteswho had not eaten or drunk all day, another with a slipped disk who found itdifficult to stand for 8 hours as he had to today. Everybody was thirsty andhungry and wanted to use the toilet. Upon our request they were allowed toget water and the diabetic man got sugar water. In general, they weretreated with more leniency after our arrival and a number of times highranking officers came out and spoke with them. We called the Center for the Defence of the Individual, theHumanitarian Center of the army, The Beth-El DCO, the Ezion DCO, the IDFspokesman and finally Peter Lerner, spokesman for the CivilAdministration. Everybody said they would check and get back to us. Itseemed to us that Peter Lerner, who was polite and listened, was mosteffective. He called the Humanitarian Center of the Army immediately (toldme that they are the ones to call) and explained that the GSS islooking for people who aided the terrorist, that all the IDs were sent tothe GSS and that they would do their best to return them as soon aspossible. As we stood there with the detainees we heard stories about a missed dayof work, about the difficulty of returning home to the Hebron area after 5pmbecause the road to Hebron was closed and there would be no taxis or buses,about being slapped very hard by one of the soldiers and being dragged tothe checkpoint. At about 16:30 we were joined by a group of people from the Taayush [Arab-Israel coexistence] organization who had been at the demonstration in Abu-Dis today, and whose friend was among the detainees. There was also a woman (I think from Taayush) filming for about two hours. There was an IDF reservist volunteer there (Dov) who seemed very intent on getting our approval, after I complained to him about his behavior with one of thedetainees. Every time he did something nice (like giving the diabetic sugarwater) he sent the person over to us to show us that he was nice. He askedpeople who were driving through the checkpoint (traffic flowed as usualwhile these 150 detainees stood there) to tell me that since his arrivalthings at the checkpoint had improved. As it grew dark and cold, the detainees collected wood from the garden ofTantur and lit a fire for warmth. They were not prevented from doing this. About 10 people were released between 5 to 6 PM, and then, at about6, they came out with a huge stack of IDs that they returned to most of thedetainees. At 18:30, when we left, there were still about 15 men waiting fortheir papers to be returned. We were approached by many of the detainees and thanked for being there. They said that they were treated much better after our arrival.