Morning

Etzion checkpoint around 7.20 AM, several busses parked in the checkpoint's compound. On board were drivers and older passengers; lined outside stood the majority: men between the ages of 16 and 55, waiting for the soldiers to carry out their check. Only holders of permits to work in the settlements or in Israel proper are allowed to cross from the Hebron district to the Bethlehem district. The 8 or 10 soldiers are members of the same team from last Sunday. As usual, there is no officer, the obnoxious sergeant Shabi is in charge. Shabi communicates by orders,shouts, threats and chasing after those who dare not to obey. "Yallah Habaita", he roars, with a grin. The team follows suit.The lined-up Palestinians do not attempt to persuade him. The exceptioms are punished. These are very young, inexperienced, extremely talkative, and somewhat restless men from a village, tired of sitting at home with no work. Their IDs, are immediately confiscated. Now they are doomed (who knows how long they will be held). One of the boys starts walking away from the checkpoint, but we persuade him to return.Some of the men who were ordered to get lost and have distanced themselves from the checkpoint, make an attempt to bypass the soldiers through the thin forest to the east of the compound. Shabi chases them, gun pointed. He catches the slowest among them, takes his ID and orders him to sit outside the fence. His name is Rami, he is a fourth year student at the Open University (the Bethlehem branch), and is on his way to take an exam, scheduled for 10.00AM. Our attempts to assist him fail. He will miss the exam.