Abu-Dis

Angela and her guest arrived earlier -
report to be very rudely told by BP Sha'alan to keep away, go stand
in the sun, not to disturb his work A Palestinian bystander
remarked that this BP is "the worst". (Jeep 617).
Demanded the ID of Angela, but she did not give it to him. Did not
let women go by with baskets full of merchandise, on their way to
market, nor someone who had to go to the hospital and did not have
the special permit.

Michal and Rita join them at 9.15 - after not being able to take
the regular route by Damascus gate - which was closed - we went
through the Hebrew University - Mount of Olives and then turn left
and downhill to a road that took us exactly to the 'new gate' in
the Abu Dis wall. We are 'welcomed' by a BP who greets us in a
friendly, but perhaps sarcastic way, saying he has not seen us for
a while - indeed we have not been here for two weeks we tell him.
So he knows us, perhaps he expects us? When we tell him they should
make a second gate, to allow people to move more easily in two
directions, he says that that soon this gate will be closed
altogether -"it is a way to slowly 'get them used' to the fact
that soon there won't be a way go across this wall" - in other
words, it is the army's way of 'weaning' the residents of Abu Dis
off the idea of crossing the wall that cuts their neighborhood in
two. We go through the gate, take a transit down the hill and then
another to Sawahre. It seems that most cars pass with no checking
at all - while at times a car is checked more thoroughly - we could
not discern the pattern, if there was a pattern at all. Perhaps the
younger men are more thoroughly checked, but at times it is also
older women. Does it have to do with the time of day, the mood of
the BP, is it a deliberate strategy of spotchecking? No, it is
totally arbitrary. There is not much of a line of cars, even when
papers are checked, the procedure goes rather quickly. Some
passengers/cars are turned back, others are let through. When we
return to Abu Dis, we find a lot of people waiting at the gate -
they are told to go away, there is no point waiting. Most are older
women with Palestinian ID's, who are usually allowed in on Fridays
to pray at the mosque. The younger men with blue ID's are let
through, but first their ID number is written down - but no
phonecalls are made to check them further. Down the road, at the
traffic circle at Ras El Amud that overlooks the Old City, there is
a roadblock - once we get through, we decide to stop and see what
is going on there. Many Palestinians are held up, in the heat, for
a long time - one complains he and his wife who has cancer were
held up for half an hour and were yelled at rudely. A woman soldier
seems to be enjoying the yelling at people, ordering them around.
The BP write down the numbers of men with blue ID's - after we
stand there for a while the line of people waiting seems to end.
Shlomi, who introduces himself to us politely as the 'mefaked' of
this post - 'concerned for our safety', he asks us to move away
from the roadblock. He tells us he lets people with Palestinian
ID's pass who are over 40 - to pray. But we tell him, these older
people were not let through at the gate in Abu Dis. He seems
surprised - it seems that one machsom does not know what the other
one is doing! Again the arbitrariness of the
occupation.

We leave at 11.45.