Morning

A fairly full closure, because of Orthodox Easter celebrations in the OldCity, and continued high alert.Abu Dis: At 8am there were 12 detainees with a BP jeep; West Bankers were turned around as they lacked the permits, and were told to pick up their IDs elsewhere later on (Beit HaShofet?), time unspecified. We tried to help several humanitarian cases by calling around (Safadi, Kravitz, Physicians for Human Rights).The jeep left (with all the IDs), leaving three BP behind. Two were especially nasty to a sick woman and her tearful daughter, who pleaded to either get the ID back here and now, or be allowed to take a taxi back to the "wall" as the woman had a bad heart and couldn't walk that distance. The female BP seemed to enjoy mocking the Palestinians and to a certain extent us, too. There is now another (inner) row of concrete blocks on the open space, with old paintings by Dudu Gershtein, originally painted at Gilo.Wadi Nar: No checkpoint at Sawahre. Down the valley where about 10 BP and 2 large jeeps in full control. At least 4 of them were looking out on the hill, with 4 checking IDs, so the wait was only 10 minutes. Some vehicles and about 30 people waiting. We checked two ambulances in the queue (had to get special permission to do this, against the instructions of a BP who said "It's not allowed") but they were both empty. Apart from this, the BP were decent, civilised and polite - the commander was very open. He had called in extra men so the checking was more efficient, and presumably they felt safer with the increased presence.