Sheikh SaedSunday, 20.08.2006, AMObservers: Judith E., Dalia K. (reporting)Sheikh Saed – We stayed in Sheikh Saed for two hours, 7:00-9:00, near the CP and in the village.When we arrived we saw a group of detainees at the CP. They told us they had been waiting since 04:00, some from later. According to the soldiers at the CP, they were all caught a short while ago. We also learned from the soldiers that there is no closure today, nevertheless we did not see many crossing in the direction of Israel as usual.We entered the village. One of the residents hurried towards us in his ancient car and told us agitatedly that tear gas had just been hurled at him. Within seconds we too could smell the gas.In the winding alleys of the village we met men of different ages, some locals others from different parts of the West Bank. All had one complaint: they must work to support their families but have no permits. One instance: A doctor from Nahlin who is not allowed to cross to his clinic in Ras-al-Amud. We promised to seek the assistance of “Doctors for Human Rights.”A house-painter awaits a permit to cross to Ma’ale-Adumim. A taxi driver from Housan has a particularly intricate story: he holds a pile of old penalty alerts, he says, for tax payments adding up to NIS 2500. He wishes to and indeed must pay these penalties in order to reclaim his taxi permit, but is not allowed to cross the CP.No less intricate or irritating is the case of another Palestinian whose salary has long been awaiting in Bank Ha’poalim but he cannot draw it: he holds a non-transferable check made out to him but has no permit to enter Israel.In the wadi opposite the village we saw a narrow ditch being dug. Is this preparatory to construction of the wall (“mivtzua” in army slang) prior to a Supreme Court decision, or intended for telephone and electricity cables? There are contradictory rumours in the matter. Retrospectively, it transpired from the lawyer that the matter of the fence in Sheikh Saed will be decided only after the Supreme Court ruling for the wall in Ar-ram, and in the meantime the army is allowed to build the wall between Sheikh Saed and Jabel Mukaber, namely along the route plotted by the army.We returned to the CP in the rickety car of one of the residents, providing him thereby with some small income. The detainees we saw earlier were still there at the CP, but now in a line and forbidden to converse with each other. We were happy to succeed in persuading the junior commander that allowing detainees to sit does not endanger the state’s security. While talking to him, the senior commander appeared, and we talked with him too. After the numerous complaints of the villagers, we were infuriated with this commander, and inquired why so much tear gas and stun grenades were hurled in the village. There was nothing new in the explanations he gave us; but alongside the routine security reasons and the familiar mixture of arrogance and racism, we also heard tones of a sincere wish to help the villagers. He says he knows every single one of them, and allows them to cross for humanitarian reasons even when they have not permits. On the other hand, he will act forcefully (pursuits, stun-grenades, gas) against workers from the West Bank trying to cross through the still-existing break in the wall in the Sheikh Saed area.Life is indeed complicated.