Abu Dis & Wadi Nar Tuesday 15 February 2005 AMObservers: Yael L.A., Hanna O., Ora K. & Michaela R. (reporting) 06:30 to 09:15Summary: no special events, no hitches at all. The Occupation routine.06:30 – Al Ezariya – no lines.06:45 – Wadi Nar – Very little movement, three or four cars from Bethlehem. Nothing at all from Abu Dis. A few vehicles were rapidly checked. No detainees,06:55 – A stream of cars arrived from Bethlehem. All crossed through quickly without any checks at all. Traffic then resumed its normal pitch for that time of day. Checks were rapid.07:20 – Al Ezariya – A long line – at least half a kilometre - hampering movement in the opposite direction, and creating an awful traffic-jam. We’d never seen anything like it. At any given moment, three to five cars were waiting at the side for people’s papers to be checked. For the first time, we saw cars with Israeli licence-plates being delayed for some ten minutes. Within twenty minutes, the gridlock had disappeared. We decided to leave, but to our surprise as we got further away, the line of taxis grew. Discouraging.08:20 – The former-Pishpash-gate – Border Police soldiers were sitting in a Jeep by the barrier. When we arrived they came out and starting checking the papers of passers-by. Checks weren’t consistent. One guy was sent back. Non-Israeli IDs were sent to be checked at the Jeep, which took a few minutes. The peasant women with heavy burdens on their head were generally ignored.Most people crossed through a wide break in the fence, in the monastery’s courtyard.We met a Transit van driver whose vehicle-license had been confiscated yesterday, and he as given a summons to court. He has a piece of paper entitled “Confirmation of confiscation of a vehicle license and summons of the driver to a police officer.” The offence specified in this form is “transporting passengers in return for payment: pursuant to Article 57(A)(a)(2) of the Transportation Ordinance, in accordance with the offences detailed in section A of the Seventh Addendum to the Transportation Ordinance”. No translation into Arabic, of course. It may be a new method of aggravating the Transit Van drivers. We had a nasty feeling that they feel they must work in our presence. And in fact, when we left, the Jeep climbed up the hill after our car.No words can describe conditions at the Hotel – fenced and barricaded from every side. The embodiment of evil.