Bethlehem Cp 300, El Khadr, Beit Jala

Election Day. Bethlehem, Sunday 17:00 – 18:30 PM, 09.01.05 Observers: Danielle B., Tamar A., Barbara S. and Ilana D. (reporting) At Bethlehem CP 300 we spotted one (shivering) detainee with whom we were not allowed to talk. He was released after a short while. There were no cars waiting. Two women with some children were let off a taxi. The children had party-hats and balloons and all were allowed to proceed via the main road. However, a lady all-alone was sent back to take the detour along the pedestrian lane. Zohar, the officer in charge, came up to us and with a smile reported that everything was just fine. He said that we had missed President Carter and his huge entourage, but we saw many taxis with yellow flags and the letters IO (International Observer), which were whisked through immediately and were even allowed to overtake other cars. We met Rachel M. and Shlomit S. who were just finishing their stint and updated us a little about the pleasant atmosphere everywhere.Our two German-speaking watchers went up to Yoav, a Border Policeman equipped with 27 kilo’s of army-gear, who hails from Berlin. He has already been serving for over twelve years and definitely feels quite at home in these surroundings. We proceeded to Al Khadr. At the tunnel CP there was hardly a line. It was dark and we decided to approach the school area from the West fearing the rubble and the puddles. There was no army presence and the barbed wire coils were moved to the side near the pillbox. At the entrance to the girls’ secondary school a polite Palestinian policeman didn’t let us through. However we noted streams of people coming in to vote, by taxi, on foot and in private cars. One of the bystanders told us that all day long this polling station had been extremely busy. Most of the day observers had been around. The majority seemed to favor Abu Mazen. All were in a festive mood and were laughing and joking. The CP’s had been virtually non-existent all day. An army-jeep with two Nachal soldiers (also in a good mood) met us on our way back. We went down to the taxis and the buses and there too met with happy drivers who joked with us and thanked us for having ‘abolished’ the CP’s! They told us that there was no army presence whatsoever in Etzion, El Aroub and Beit Ummar and almost infected us with their ‘high’. There was no need for us to continue South. Many people showed us the paint as a proof that they had voted. We felt almost superfluous, it was just too good to be true. We continued to the CP of the Beit Jalla DCO and talked to the two Nachal soldiers who were pleasant and talkative and told us about the large numbers of international observers who had passed during the day. No car was held up and all were politely greeted. We met a young Greek lady, expert on International Law had been in the country for three weeks and been attached to the same driver from Beit Jalla all along. She had been chosen as a representative of the European Union and had had experience in elections in the Balkans, Indonesia etc. already. This area compares very favorably. ‘It is really quiet,’ she said.