Abu Dis & Sawahre Tuesday 1 February 2005 AMObservers: Michaela, Hanna O., Yehudit S., Yael L., & Ora K. (reporting) 06:45 – Anata – Two lines for vehicles. Straightforward, fast checks. Pedestrians were checked outside the turnstiles. Random and rapid checks.Az-Za’ayyem – Pedestrian lines, including children and students, were moving freely in both directions. We didn’t observe any checks being performed.07:20 – Wadi Nar – A Border Police flag was flying over the sentry-booth. Vehicles were being checked in two lanes, hardly any waiting queue. No pedestrians. Two cars and two taxis had been detained. A few minutes later, one drove off towards Bethlehem (returned?) and the taxis continued on to Abu Dis. One detainee in the shack (on a bench!). Now and then more taxis were detained.R. was the checkpoint commander. Things got worse as time passed. One line was closed down, the line of cars extended right down to the wadi, and people got out of their cars and started crossing on foot, without using the turnstiles. The detainees’ hut filed up, and between 3 and 5 cars were detained at any given moment.Passengers in one taxi were a mother and son on their way to Ofer Camp where another son was due to be tried. The son was taken to the shack and detained for quite some time. The mother went up to the soldiers every so often and asked for him to be freed, but to no avail. When we left, he still hadn’t been released.On our arrival a blue van was parked by the grocery; its driver was detained (for over an hour). It turned out that his papers were forged. The driver parked the van and was taken to a jeep to an unknown destination.During our shift we tried to phone several commanders – Avi. B. and Eldad S. were on holiday, Shlomi didn’t answer. At one point, we were connected to the operations officer, who – while on the line with us – spoke to the checkpoint commander and explained that according to instructions, the traffic should flow freely. Then the other lane was opened and the line of vehicles melted away in a few minutes.When we left at 08:50, the checkpoint commander stopped a cab and checked all the baggage inside, one by one, in a prolonged, meticulous process.09:20 – Abu Dis – the monastery gate was open, no Border Police, people crossed both ways unhindered.