Bethlehem 4/4/2004 Watchers: Haya A., Ada G. Bethlehem, CP 300. About 15 people were waiting, half of them women. They were not facing the wall! 15 minutes later, the women were sent back to Bethlehem. The men’s IDs were checked and they too were sent back. There were very few vehicles from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. In the opposite direction, a cab had been waiting for 20 minutes before it was summoned for examination and allowed to cross to Bethlehem. El Khader. A man was on his knees, his hands tied behind his back. He is a nurse from Beit Jalla hospital and has a new permit valid from April to June. He was refused passage and tried to sneak around the checkpoint. He was caught and was now waiting for the police. He had been waiting for an hour. We called the Center for the Defense of the Individual, and when we got back an hour later, he was gone. Nobody was allowed through the checkpoint. The soldiers looked and sounded new to the area. Al Arub. A cab on the way to Beit Omar was stopped, thoroughly searched and allowed to pass. Other cabs were not searched. One cab stopped to pick up a passenger along the road. The soldiers chased after it with drawn weapons. They checked and let it go. Some of the soldiers in Al Arub are reservists. They behaved aggressively and in a blatant military fashion(chasing after the cab with drawn rifles.) DCO. About 30-40 people were waiting for permits and magnetic cards for hours on end, as usual, without any results. A man told us this was his 14th time. He works as a painter at Kupat-Holim (Sick Fund) Meuhedet. He’d been caught twice crossing without a permit. N.B. I found out later that around 1:00 PM there was a long line of dozens of people and cars, most of them with permits, who tried to get to Jerusalem for Easter prayer. In the coming days, we should pay attention to the hours of Easter services for all Christian denominations. Happy Holiday!