Morning

We started at El Khadr. Walked over the hump and found a dozen taxi drivers waiting for (non-existing) customers. Some women did come over the hump, heavily loaded down with produce. Customers at last. No soldiers in sight. Only when we went back to the car did we meet border police running towards us, warning us not to leave area B. Hearing our Israeli Hebrew, they let us be.Next stop was Bethlehem. Closure. No one, except the rare blue ID holder, let through. At 7:15, a father with three young girls drove up in his transit and begged to be let through to take the girls to school. We heard the soldiers say: only the girls can go through. They can go by themselves to school. We offered to take the girls to school in our car. The school is in the Old City, and we drove them to the Jaffa Gate. E let them use her cell phone to call dad and tell him they were OK. We returned to the Bethlehem checkpoint to find a new crew of soldiers and evidently new instructions. Most cars driving up were allowed through after check of ID’s. One man with a green ID was allowed through as well. On the pedestrian side, women and older men were allowed to pass.