Abu-Dis

Watchers:Y.I. and R. P.

We arrived at the wall at 3.30 and it was amazing to see a group of
people milling around a big opening in the wall and the view of the
beyond...But ,of course, the reason is that after long negotiations
the Army allowed work on electricity and water pipes to be carried
out and that necessitated removing the blocks .. Don't worry- by
the time we came back the wall was up and intact
again.

Then we noticed new actors on the scene- private security service-
3 vans . They told us that their job is to provide protection of
equipment used in the area.

We started our shift by climbing over the wall and taking a transit
to Wadi Na'r.There we met a seren (an officer) from the Matak (DCO)
in charge and indeed while we watched many taxis, vans , trucks and
pedestrians were passing. We saw the 2 familiar faces of the Border
Police - who often wear these ridiculous sunglasses that make them
look even more like gangsters.The minute they saw us arrive they
told us off and sent us to the side- we ignored it.

That was why the scene returned to its usual appearance with
detainees waiting.

We spoke to them and they told us that on their way from Hebron
they were stopped more than 5 times and it took them a number of
hours to get to Wadi Na'r. One of the men is a guy who stidies in
Moscow- he was happy to have a chat in Russian and thanked us for
being there.

We understood from the officer from Matak(DCO) that he was sent
there explicitly to oversee and supervise so that all goes smoothly
and really at least it took aproximately 15 minutes to clear the
detainees

On the way there a number of people got off the transit before we
reached the checpoint and walked down the slope to avoid the
checkpoint.

I wondered whether some of them do so to just avoid having to deal
with the checkpoint although they hold a permit.

It is never easy to watch the checkpoint even if all is smooth and
the BP policemen check randomly only very few vans or
taxis.

On the way back we met a friendly man- he is the agent for some
French cosmetics firm. He has to perform very complex operations in
order to be in touch with clients. It was a bit bizarre to discuss
the hardship of the Palestinian population in the middle of the
squalor of the Abu Dis wall area with the noise and the dirt and
the ugly wall with this professionally smooth ,elegant and
communicative cosmetics salesman