DCO Ezion, Beit Umar, El Khader, Bethlehem Wednesday, 25.08.04 Observers: Julia W., Rina H., Nurit S., Rahel W. (reporting) DCO Ezion. We arrived at the DCO at about 4:20 p.m. and found about 8 people there. There were two windows open to serve the people . The police window the was closed. We tried to intervene for three people: The first was a man who was denied a magnetic card because he owed money for a traffic violation. He had proof that he had paid the traffic fine, but still did not get the card. Thanks to M.’s intervention, there was limited success. He was told he would get the card next week.The second case involved a woman who lives in Bethlehem and works at a church in Jerusalem. She had a magnetic card, but not a permit to get to work in Jerusalem. Again, limited success. She got an entry permit to Jerusalem, but not the work permit. She was told she would get it next week.The third case was that of a woman who was trying to get a new magnetic card (the previous one expired) for her mother who was suffering from skin cancer and needed treatment at Hadassah hospital. She had a document (in English) from Hadassah and other papers, but was told she had to produce a Hebrew document from Hadassah. We tried to contact Dahlia Bassa, but she was already gone. We told the woman to 1) contact the doctor at Hadassah and try to get them to fax the document to the DCO; 2) to contact Dahlia Bassa in the morning. Beit Umar. We went there because we had heard that there had been some disturbances and mistreatment of the residents. We did not get any corroboration of those allegations, but we did speak with a green grocer whose 22 year old son had been shot and killed by the Israeli army for apparently no reason. The father told us about his recent meeting with other Palestinian and Israeli bereaved parents in Rehovot [an Israeli town, south to Tel Aviv]. El Khader. There were about 50 detainees when we arrived. One of the border police told Nurit that they had been stopped because the army was looking for someone. Within minutes, all IDs were returned. Some of the detainees thanked us, although we had nothing to do with their release. Bethlehem. Very little movement. Almost no vehicles in either direction. A tour bus from Bethlehem came through after a cursory inspection. Three young people, Italians working with the Palestinians in Gaza, crossed over and spoke to us about the awful situation in Erez. They complained about the case of an old man with a cane and a metal brace who was detained and not let across. Nurit very tactfully reminded them about what happened several months back when some soldiers took pity on a young woman with a metal implant in her leg who then blew herself up. They said that they were pleased to meet some Israelis working toward lessening the hardships of the checkpoints.