Morning

Abu Dis – 8.10. am. At this early hour on Fridays, there are very few people around and no soldiers at the wall. We show our guests around, go to the hotel in construction and see the tire-marks in the mud going in circles, mentioned in a previous report. We climbed over the blocks near the University gate, which is closed, and take a transit, asking to go to Wadi Nar. The driver misunderstood us, and took us to the old road through Azariyeh to Maale Adumim. We explained that we wanted to go the checkpoint that is between Sawahre and Abadiya - he said that it is called “Contera”, but that it is closed today, “because of what happened in Haifa”. Our driver finally took us to the checkpoint at Sawahre, where there were some cars and transits waiting in line (and many transit drivers facing in the direction to Abu Dis, probably hoping for passengers that don’t seem to be coming). The barrier gate was indeed closed. Four border police were having breakfast on the blocked road to Kedar. We asked them why the checkoint is closed – they say that usually it is open and everyone can pass, and they only check suspicious looking young men, but today, they will let only people who live in Bethlehem through, to allow them to go home. They claim that it is not a punishment because of the attack in Haifa but rather because of warnings of possible attacks in Jerusalem.At Abu Dis we saw the mini-market mentioned in a previous report, and crossed over the dip in the wall. A jeep with 6 border police arrived just then, and they began to check all the people going over the wall. We stood at a distance, watching, while a bulldozer moved around. Then we were approached, aggressively, by one of the BP, (his name is Lutfi Hir of platoon B, Jerusalem border police) and asked who we are. He demanded our ID’s. It looked as if he wanted to take them away. He said that since we have no ID’s with our pictures from our organization, we have no right to be here and told us to leave. We said we are leaving anyway, and moved away. When we turned around, we saw a bulldozer carrying one of those concrete dividers approaching the dip in the wall, and placing it right there – returning with more rocks and concrete blocks. Our shocked guests documented this ‘scoop’ with their cameras, while we listened to the comments of the indignant passersby: “Did you see what they just did? Azariya has always been quiet, but this is only creating hatred”. A Palestinian photographer who works for Reuters, documented the closing of the wall – saying to us that he appreciates what we do, but it does not always help.