Morning

A beautiful sunny winter day which stood in painful contrast to the events....About half a kilometer before the checkpoint (wall) 7 border policemen standing nearby a jeep caught few old men and women on their way to J-lem. The people were walking probably because holding green and orange I.D.s they couldn’t get on a taxi, they were turned back. Same happened nearby the wall were people with green and orange I.D.s were standing with heavy goods for sale, hoping to make some money in J-lem, while no taxi drivers was willing to take them.... After so many weeks of sanctions and threats the army has succeeded in its efforts to make Palestinian taxi drivers police their own people...The situation by the wall was the usual disaster described in previous reports.... Wadi Nar -no presence of army at Sawarche. At Vadi Nar 4 Border Policemen were stopping all cars, checking mostly young people. A group of about 7 detained men were standing nearby a taxi. The soldiers said they only detained the younger ones. The taxi was filled with carpets for sale, we wondered how all the 7 passengers fitted in. Two of the soldiers were trying to be friendly with us and this irritated their commander. After a while he forbidden us to speak to the detainees. Two other men were held separately. He also forbade us to speak to them. The soldiers said these two were a different story and will be taken by the Security Services or police for investigation. Eventually after about 40 minutes and with some repeated intervention on our part, all were released including those two. Two ambulances passed by and were allowed passage after a quick check....Sawahre - this time there was a Border Police checkpoint there. The driver asked us to explain to the soldiers that they have just been checked at Wadi Nar... the soldiers didn’t like the intervention but allowed the taxi through anyway. On our way back, we found out that the University gate was open.