Bethlehem (300), Tue 23.10.12, Morning

Bethlehem, 06:40

The hall is crowded, noisy, and full of people who want to pass. The soldier positioned in work-station number 1 stops checking, stands up and demands that people line up in order. Another work-station soldier joins her demand. The guards express support in the soldier’s demand and ask the people to stand in order and in a straight line. They repeat the demand several times. There are many men, merchants, waiting to pass at seven AM.  They and others were loud and noisy. The humanitarian station is open. One of the guards takes a Palestinian to the wall where we are standing in order to investigate him. The guard tells him to sit down. The man sits down, but then stands up, the guard does not insist on his sitting on the floor. Within a few minutes the Palestinian is on his way to Jerusalem. By seven thirty everyone had passed. It has been a long time since we saw such insistence on an orderly queue at the crossing.