ABu Dis, DCO ETzion Efrat CP, El Khadr, Beit Jala, Wallje

Abu Dis, CP 300, DCO Etzion, Efrat Checkpoint, El Khader, Beit JallaTuesday PM, 30.11.04 Observers: Yael I. and Ilana D. (reporting)From 1:30 till 6:30Since we were curious after having read reports re the disappearance of the Bawahbe (pish-pash) we first went to Abu Dis and drove up to the hotel where a huge caterpillar was digging in the road presumably to put in sewerage pipes. We proceeded to Kidmat Zion and noticed a newly asphalted sidewalk along the road constructed parallel to the wall. There appeared to be no one living in the settlement. At the Bawahbe there was no BP-presence and people passed freely through the various openings via the court of the Monastery. All the shiny new barbed wire coils had been moved to the side. A taxi driver told us that our ‘friends’ had just crossed to the East via the Monastery, but we didn’t wait along and continued to Bethlehem CP 300 where quite a long line of cars was waiting to pass.As we got closer we saw two fancy cars one of which belonged to the district commander, “Mem-Peh”. There were VIP’s visiting, so all Palestinians had to wait. A UN minibus was motioned to turn around, but when we were spotted the order was changed and all passengers were ordered out to proceed on foot. But then the commander of the CP interfered and just waved the vehicle through. His deputy asked us to move back, since we were disturbing and when engaged in conversation volunteered that he was always humane and conveyed this message to his soldiers. Near the investigation booth three men were waiting. They had been summoned for 2:00 PM ( it was 3:00 PM) to retrieve their cars which had been confiscated for a month after they had been found to transport illegals. They had also been fined 5,000 Shekels and were awaiting a trial where they would probably be sentenced to 90 days of community service. We asked the soldiers to inquire and were told that the police investigator was on his way and would come within twenty minutes. When we later checked it turned out he had arrived at 5:30 PM. Two of the men had left by then. They had both married women from the territories. One of them had been married twelve years and has five children, but his wife is a prisoner in her own home in Shuafat. They were given a Moked –card for whatever it is worth. On our way to the Etzion-DCO we noticed that all the buses and taxis had been moved from the entrance to El-Khader to the opposite side of the road and decided to investigate later. There were hardly any Palestinians waiting for service at the DCO. Three windows were manned and even the policeman was on duty. Not one of the people who required permits left with a pleased expression on his face. When asked why it was so empty one of the men said: “Why come here, if the results are nil.” A Jewish couple with a baby from a nearby settlement came to look for the police. They wanted to report a theft, but were politely sent away.We wanted to inspect the Efrat Checkpoint and took the road leading to Tekoa and Nok’dim (towards Herodion) wanting to get to Za’atra. The CP, a fortified installation, was deserted and all vehicles and some cattle passed freely. We continued on the well-constructed settlers’ road passing some villages, which were inaccessible by car. We saw a few BP-jeeps, but no more checkpoints till Tekoa where we turned around since it was getting dark. When we wanted to cross the CP again on our way back 15 minutes later there were three soldiers who had held up a taxi and were checking the papers of its passengers. We waited for ten minutes in the line of Palestinian vehicles while settler cars crossed the white line and whisked past us unchecked. In El Khader we saw no taxis nor buses and when we asked one of the soldiers from the Nachal he explained to us that El Khader is under curfew, since there had been an ‘incident’ and the man involved had fled there. Therefore all vehicles had been removed from the entrance. Only inhabitants of El-Khader were allowed in (which explained why we had spotted some pedestrians and a taxi at the entrance to El Khader-South near Solomon’s Pools). We could not remain there and went to Beit Jalla.There is a new group of soldiers at the CP and the drivers didn’t complain of long lines like last week. A man complained that he had not received a permit to visit his son in jail and was given a Moked card. At the Checkpoint we met with a young Jewish American soldier who had come to Israel for fourteen months to volunteer in the army “to defend my country”. He told us to move back.In Wallaja the concrete slabs have not been moved, but a taxi by-passed them easily. There were no soldiers.