Morning

We arrived at 6:30 AM to find 5-6 soldiers eating breakfast in the middle of the roundabout near the gas station. Upon arriving at the wall, after transit drivers warned us that the new batch of soldiers were much worse than the last ones. We found that the notch in the wall where people had to climb across has now been plowed over and is impassible. Instead, there is one concrete barricade in the middle of the intersection which has been pulled down, and those who wish to cross must line up and wait. Today the soldiers were not letting anyone through except children and blue ID's. One soldier who identified himself as Golan, was especially irritating. He stood on top of the barricade and sang mocking songs--seemingly to make light of the situation in front of the Palestinians. Later, after talking to him for a while, his behavior changed somewhat, and he explained that sometimes he feels very harassed by machsomWatch watchers and finds it uncomfortable to have us around.Up at the university some soldiers began checking the people who were crossing there, through the open gate. We witnessed that they let some people with green or orange ID's pass. When we reported this to the soldiers at the bottom of the hill they could not believe us and refused to comply.When the soldiers refused to let people with permits to cross, we phoned Safadi who soon after showed up! The men were let through, but after Safadi left, things seemed to tighten up again. Even the vegetable women were not allowed through. It was a very stressful morning for everyone involved.