PM

Abu Dis, Monday afternoon 4.1.04 Watchers : Ora A., Iris B., Haggit S. At 1:15 p.m., near the gas station in Abu Dis, there is activity towards a visit by the Interior minister Tzachi Hanegbi. And sure enough, in another half hour the train of honored visitors will pass here and at their head the minister for internal security who is accompanied by Miki Levi, the commander of the Jerusalem police.It is no wonder that they came to observe some of the areas surrounding Jerusalem, that stand out for their violence on the western heights of Sawahre. The commander Aouda in one of two jeeps of the border police who reconnoiter the area, looks like he is responsible on the site, explains that the force is spread out over the whole area towards the visit. We are told that this morning, between 5 and 8, some two hundred people were concentrated near the gas station and they are detained for investigation. Nobody can give us any more information on the subject. The owner of the grocery store who usually keeps us informed, has left on a vacation, and our sources have dried up. (This morning I heard a news item on the radio that at some places, among them Abu Dis, wanted persons have been caught – possibly there is a connection between the two). One of the people who saw the dozens of detainees from the window of his house is an elderly man, whom we met while waiting for the lawyer Dahla who takes care of the matters concerning his property. The border policemen who are here now do not know anything, the watch has changed. Border policemen who are stationed near the gas station will from time to time check identity cards, and from time to time they threaten somebody who tries, within their sight, to climb over the fence in the direction of Jerusalem. Up the road which leads to the hotel, two border policemen oversee without any interest those passing by, mostly women at this time of day, who try pass to the other side of the fence through a gap in the wall. For the size of most of the adults, this gap is too narrow, and they must go up the road to another place where they will succeed to pass. The soldiers examine from time to time papers from those who pass in the direction of Jerusalem “only if he looks suspicious, according to the instructions”. They bar passage to those with orange or green identity papers. Next to the reloading ramp there is no presence of border police, many light vans and taxis are present. Apparently passage there, at least today, serves many. We traveled to the Mount of Olives. At Beth Paghi we saw nothing. A blue police checkpoint on the main road near Azzariyah. We reached the container in Wadi Naar via Keidar. In the container four border policemen, two female soldiers and a blue policeman. Many vehicles, trucks and vans, and taxis, especially in the direction of Sawahre, but traffic is moving and waiting time in the line is ten minutes. Checking of passengers occurs at random. Some of the passengers of some of the vans alight and hand in identity papers for control. When we were present checking of nine passengers who were ordered to get off the vans took some 15 minutes. The vans waited until the permits were returned in order to let the passengers continue their journey, which they had already paid for. Some of the passengers who were detained were asked to lift their shirts. Yigal, the commander of the checkpoint, who noticed that we watched the examination, gave orders to stop the lifting of shirts. A jeep arrived and ordered that Afik receive us with friendliness and demands that we make our observations – which he honors and values etc. – from a distance. He tells us that he has been posted for seven years at A-Ram and Qalandiya and knows us. He invited us to listen to the briefing he gives to the soldiers who are about to start their watch. The essence of the instructions that we heard concerned an attitude of honor to the VIPs like Abu-Ala who apparently lives in the neighborhood and who passes or will pass the checkpoint. Two buses passed without delay or examination in the direction of Bethlehem as they carried relatives who travel to visit prisoners. The buses are arranged by the Red Cross.