Abu Dis, Ras Abu Sbitan (Olive Terminal), Thu 21.5.09, Morning

 

The cargo of a truck headed towards Bethlehem is checked thoroughly.  Cardboard containers are disassembled.

 

During our stay many vehicles were checked, in some cases only documents, in others cargo as well.  Detention time was between 2-10 minutes.

 

6:30

 

The soldiers order a young man to descend from a truck headed towards Bethlehem.  He goes to sit in the shelter.  A while later he is moved to "isolation" quarters in the concrete building next to the shelter, where we could no longer see him.  At some point one of the border-policemen agreed to show us that he had not come to any harm and that "all is proceeding according to the law."  We came up to the entrance, and Sh. gave him a drink of water.  Unable to help any further, we left some 30 minutes after his detention.

 

7:45

 

Traffic at this hour is sparse.  Both checking positions were active.  I stood in the line to the first, with 5 persons ahead of me, and left 5 minutes later.  The pace, evidently, is slow: 1 minute per pers