Bethlehem

Bethlehem checkpoint, 06.50. The
separation fence just below the checkpoint has taken a great chunk
out of the hillside of former olive growing land, and looks wide
enough to encompass two lanes and a dirt track. There is a new gate
on the track leading to the fence. On the main road, some eight
workers were waiting for the return of their ID cards. They had
been waiting around for half an hour, and were to wait three more.
The men had authorization to go to Mahane Yehuda in West Jerusalem,
where they had been working for the previous few days. Though they
had passed the checkpoint successfully, they were refused entry
further down the road by border policemen, who said that there was
a general closure into Jerusalem.

Al Khadr: The checkpoint was deserted, but for two women walking
back from West Jerusalem -- no taxis, no vans. A young Palestinian
was hobbling along on a crutch with bandages around his neck,
looking very hot and agitated. He said he had been in a serious
road accident nearly two years ago and was on his way to the
neurological clinic at Hadassah, where he goes once a week, but had
been turned back because of the closure. His medical papers
confirmed his story. We offered to drive him to the next
checkpoint. Wavering, the border policemen said we could take him
along to the tunnel checkpoint, and they would phone ahead to the
soldiers there. But when we got there, the reservists looked at us
suspiciously and said they had received no phone call and didn't
know anything. We drove him back, and the border policemen there
wouldn't even let us drive him up to the rubble barrier. We left
him hobbling, back where we had found him about three quarters of
an hour before.