Bethlehem, El Nashash, Ezyon Sunday, July 16 AM Observers: Sylvia P, Ofra B, Chana A (reporting)6:15 Bethlehem CP: Many workers waiting outside on the street for their employers to pick them up. We are told the CP opened at 5AM, on time! Inside there are three booths open, the computers are working, the lines are short, no shouting on the other side. Everything is efficient and operating well on this cool, overcast morning. It seems things CAN go right. Our guess is that the smooth procedure is directed from above so as to appease the Palestinian workers and to prevent the opening of a third front from the West Bank side. Outside someone complains to us about long lines in the evening when the workers come back home. 7:00 El Nashash: Lots of taxis, few petitioners. We meet some of our acquaintances, watch the expanding market stalls opening. The place is becoming very much like the El Khader pass it is replacing.8:00 Ezyon: No numbers have been given out. This procedure begins only at 8:30 and the numbers are given at the back gate with the army officers safely inside the military area. At 9:00 the waiting shed is full, the turnstile is still closed, the fans are not on and the toilet stinks to the heavens above. We call and the fans are turned on, but the DCO opens only about ten or fifteen minutes later. The story of the day: First one and then three more men from Wallaje turned to us with the same problem we reported on last week: On Friday, July 14, at 05:00, on their way to work, their work permits were confiscated (or stolen) at the Wallaje CP. A BP jeep (#22-794) came driving up, the driver was Druze (we have his name) and told them there was closure (seger). He jumped out and took the permits by force, kicking one of the men in the shins. They were told to pick up the permits on Sunday at the DCO. After some time three of the four indeed had their permits returned. The fourth one did not. Our telephone calls were not answered. In the meanwhile, two days of work had gone down the drain.