Abu Dis & Sawahre

Abu Dis, SawahreTueesday afternoon, 01 February 2005Observers: Hannah G, Rina H, Rahel W (reporting), and a guest We got to the pishpash at about 2:10 and it was almost empty, perhaps because of the presence of a Border Police jeep. We continued up the torn up road to the Cliff Hotel. Since last week, another fence has been constructed. Almost all the windows of the hotel have been broken. One or two were blocked up with cardboard to keep the wind out.There seems to be no one living in the Moskowitz compound opposite the hotel, although there were several cars going back and forth.We crossed over via the monastery (the BP had gone) and went to the Container (Sawahre). Traffic moved very quickly in both directions. For much of the time, there was no wait at all. At 15:15, there was a change of guard which for some reason took a full 25 minutes during which no traffic (pedestrian or vehicular) moved, and of course, there was a buildup of cars in both directions.Once the checkpoint reopened, traffic moved quickly.Last week, when we paid our condolence visit to Ahmed's family, our driver took us to the Az Zaim crossing. We wanted to see where it was and check out the accessibility. When we got there, there was no one around except for a little Bedouin boy who lives in a broken-down bus near the tower in the wall. To get there, we had to go through a very circuitous route, down narrow alleys, and via torn-up streets. We got the impression that someone checked out the least convenient crossing place available and made that the official crossing area.On the Jerusalem side, there is a space where transits [multipassenger taxi vans] will be able to wait, but getting to that place will be yet another ordeal. Very quiet, uneventful day.