Bethlehem, Al Khadr, Halhul Watchers: Yehudit E.,Yael I., Dorit M., Ronit S., Ronny P. (reporting), a guest: Ruth Fruchtman, a journalist from Berlin At Bethlehem CP 300, we were immediately greeted with: “Would you, please, stand away from the checkpoint.” It didn’t help to tell them that we have been told by Safadi that we can be in that area. We saw that there was no flow of pedestrians out of Bethlehem and so we went straight to Al Khadr. Al Khadr was very busy with buses coming and bringing and loading passengers. We also saw a crowded bus from Jerusalem on its way to Hebron. A jeep with Border Police arrived, checked IDs for 5 minutes, and left. They were “guarded” by 2 lone soldiers with pointed guns on the hill above the busy path, full of buses and taxis and people and, I assume, that even the soldiers (officers) must have felt quite irrelevant to the busy scene of people traveling and going home, selling, buying, rushing.On our way to Halhul, we noticed how peaceful all looks without checkpoints and lines. For us, who usually go to the busy checkpoints of Jerusalem, the scene looked very pastoral and beautiful and calm. Only at Halhul, traffic past the sign: “No entry for Israelis” was quite busy.