Al Nashshash, Beit Ummar, Bethlehem, Etzion DCL, Nabi Yunis, Mon 20.7.09, Morning
07:00 AM, Bethlehem - Checkpoint 300: five open positions, many people waiting on the Palestinian side. They say that passage is closed for twenty minutes and reopened alternately. At one position, a woman soldier sprawls, almost lies down, so she cannot be seen through the window, and talks on the phone. The position seems empty... We approached her, and asked what was happening, why she doesn’t give service? The answer was: “You’re Jews?” A discussion developed. A woman representative of the DCO came to her, or our, aid and tried to straighten everything out with the excuse that there was a computer problem. We explained that this wasn’t the problem, and asked the soldier’s name in order to submit a complaint.
07:30 AM, Al Nashshash: here too we had a discussion with a reservist officer. Chaya photographed new announcements. A jeep drove up to us. The officer said that the soldiers on lookout had called him so that we don’t cause uproar and “fermentation.” Chaya explained that we are entitled to take photos, and he should explain this to his soldiers.
08:00 AM, Etzion DCL: about 40 people waiting for opening. When we returned there at 10:00 there were more than 80. Many needed to renew magnetic cards, medical passes, etc. We haven’t seen so many in a long time.
08:30 AM, Beit Ummar:
09:00 AM, Nabi Yunis: the usual problems and requests.