Morning

In El Khadr there was no presence of any Border Police. People passed freely. The drivers of the vans with green numberplates told us that their lives have become impossible. They claim that for two or three packs of Marlborough cigarettes the soldiers let the vans with orange numberplates through and that there are now 60 of those with green numberplates parked at the Qalandya-airport, confiscated in Wadi Nar. They are hardly able to make the amount (100 Sh.) they have to pay the Government for fees and do not know how buy food for the upcoming holiday. A driver showed us his windshield shattered by an angry soldier. He knows him, but is afraid to complain, fearing worse treatment another time. A bystander told us that when his (blue) Id. Card had been taken, he had been given the number of the Moked, but was afraid to call for fear of losing his life in addition to his ID Card. On the road to the school, a Border Police jeep was parked and barbed wire closed off the entrance. There were no children around.At the Bethlehem checkpoint our old friend, the vicious dark, skinny BP-soldier asked us whether we had missed him and told us to stay away from the checkpoint to where cars have to wait. We could not see how long pedestrians had to wait. A large truck was not allowed in. The driver told us “They are crazy, they say that the Palestinians don’t need our wares (Persil detergent and Hawaii-shampoo)”. A school teacher from Bet Zafafa with a blue Id. was not allowed in despite papers showing that he lives in Bethlehem and owns a house there. He said he had not been ‘home’ in three months and that the soldiers are like Nazis. If he makes similar proclamations in his school we can only blame the Government’s policy.Near the road into Gilo, another temporary checkpoint was set up. A Border Police jeep was parked on the sidewalk and the soldiers checked the papers of all pedestrians. A woman (obviously without papers) ran towards us for protection. She was sent home, but when the jeep left she boarded a van and headed towards Jerusalem.