Bet Omar, ETzion DCO Beit Jala, El Khader, Bethlehem Cp 300

Bethlehem Area, Wednesday PM, 29.12.04.Observers: Maya BH, Daniela G., Laura S. (reporting)Bet Omar -15:00: No military presence, just some local taxisEtzion DCO - 15:15, When we arrive there are no cars at all, just two or three people waiting inside. A young man tells us about his 9 year old son who is sick and receives medical ambulatory treatment in Hadassah. His wife is very busy with the younger children so he is the one who takes him there. Treatments are very frequent and each time he has to ask for a medical certificate, then to apply for a permit, first at the local authority in Bethlehem (there he has to pay 50 shekel ), then to the DCL. He complains that this is very expensive and takes him a lot of time. In a few minutes he receives his permit, so do other two people who were waiting and we leave the place.Beit Jala - 15:45: We see quite a long line of cars and talk to the soldiers. They are cooperative and explain to us that this is because of the holidays in those days. We observe cars passing through and realize that people have to show their ID and a "fattura", meaning any kind of bill showing their residence. A Palestinian is sent back because his electricity bill is written only in Arabic. We try to convince the soldier that we can ask for some help for translation but he says that those are his orders and only bills written in Hebrew or English are accepted. We keep arguing with him but it doesn't help.A bus with many children inside is waiting but in two minutes they let it pass through. Traffic flows.El Khader - 16: 20: No army or police. There are many taxis and buses parked thereBethlehem Checkpoint 300-16:30: As soon as we arrive two Palestinians, one with a blue ID and the other without a permit, tell us they are detainees and are now waiting for the last 2 and a half hours to be interrogated. The taxi driver (the one with the blue ID) is extremely worried they would take his car because of what happened. While we talk to them a border policeman tells us to leave the place and stop talking to the detainees. We argue, keep waiting there to see when they will do the interrogation. Two other people are waiting, an Israeli and a Palestinian, same story, the Palestinian had no permit and now the two are detainees.We stay there for almost an hour, try to talk to the border police but they are not cooperative at all. There is not much we could do, when they start the interrogation we leave but give one of them our phone number.