Bethlehem (300)

Bethlehem 

08:50 to 11:00

There is no sign of the repair works that were done a week ago. The partition at window 4 is again there. It is not clear what the cause of the renovation was. windows are open. Many are passing. When the line gets longer the top cop opens the gate between the windows and calls for women and children, then for men over 60 and older, and swiftly makes them all pass.

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This is the same police officer who last week said that I should not stand inside the checkpoint and tried to expel me to the checkpoint’s entrance. When he saw me this morning he said: "I checked and you were right. You are allowed to stand here." I praised him for checking.

A young woman presented her permit, like everyone else. The woman soldier in the window asked her to hand over her permit and refused to return it to her: "You are restricted that’s what appears on the computer." The young woman protested, asked her to return her permit so she could go back to Bethlehem. The soldier refused, the policeman intervened, checked, saw that indeed there is a permit for 9 months, but that she became restricted. He was restrained and down to earth during the conversation I initiated about the perversity of GSS methods but he did not return her permit. Her mother tried to intercede for her, of course unsuccessfully; the young woman tried to stand at the window and block the passage till her permit is returned and that obviously was to no avail.

She might be the next one addressing Sylvia…