Wadi Nar Thursday, 6.1.05. pm Observers: Maya B. Ofra BA. Drora P. Ora A (reporting).14:50 We took the old way, the one open to the locals, passed between theconcrete blocks that were used to block it and reached the Wadi Nar CP by the "Palestinian" road that was open and neglected all along.. Atthe CP only few vehicles waited and were allowed to pass quickly. Nopedestrians were seen.The commander of the CP, a sergeant, talked to us. He answered ourquestions concerning the election day, stating that he had not received anydirections and had not seen the election booklet. We told him that on oneour former visits, about a month ago, we were told that on the followingday, the CP commander was to take part in a preparation meeting for theelection and asked if he attended this meeting. He did not. He explainedthat he was not a permanent commander of the CP, that he is here today asan supervisor of CPs. He goes from one CP to the other and sees to it thatevery thing is conducted properly. Before his appointment as a supervisorhe passed a "Check posts course".Due to his "supervision", or perhaps because this was a holiday for someChristian communities, everything went on peacefully, all vehicles wereallowed to pass. There were no private cars among them. The few pedestriansthat arrived were not stopped. Un-typically, no returning laborers arrivedtoday. We did not encounter any problem of any kind during our stay.During our conversation with the sergeant, when we mentioned theunnecessary hardship imposed on the local population by the Wadi Narroadblock, that separates one Palestinian area from another. The sergeantexplained that this CP, which is quite far from the entrance to Jerusalem,is very important, as it blocks the entry of suicide bombers to the city.On our way back to Jerusalem, we were not stopped even once, not even atthe Az-Za'ayyem road block, near the city entrance. Obviously it was assumedthat the suicide bombers will be convinced by the sergeant's arguments,understand the importance of the Wadi Nar checkpoint and will go out oftheir way, in order to pass Wadi Nar on their way to Jerusalem.