Abu Dis, Container (Wadi Nar), Ras Abu Sbitan (Olive Terminal), Thu 24.4.08, Morning
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Observers:
Yael Y., Michaela R., Shira W. (reporting)
Apr-24-2008
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Morning
06:50 Sheikh SAed
Children go through without being checked. Grown-ups are being checked one by one. Change of shifts a little before 07:00, a mixed group of BP men and Private civil guards.
07:20 a flying checkpoint on the exit from Sawaharra -El-Sharkiye towards the American road.
At the exit from the checkpoint, at the junction with the American road there are 3 BP men (without a Jeep). They stood and checked every vehicle that arrived from the checkpoint. The soldiers checked ID cards of the passengers of the cars and wrote them down. The waiting time there was about 3 minutes. Pedestrians were checked too. A pedestrian boy was not allowed to go through, and was sent back towards Sawaharra-El-Sharkiye. We understood from what we could see was going on between him and the BP men was that the reason was that he had no ID with him.
07:50 the pishpash
The checkpoint was completely empty. A temporary narrow passage way was built there for pedestrians, between movabels low iron bars.
08:00 Zeitim passage
A thin flowing movement of passengers.
08:25 Wadi Nar
We saw a long line of vehicles coming from the south as we aopproached the place. When we arrived the traffic jam was released a little, and then they stopped the traffic again.
We measured about 5 minutes of waitin. Vans were detained every once in a while on the side of the road. One of the soldiers approached us of his own initiative. He presented himself as the commander of the checkpoint, and "refreshed" our regulation while staying at the checkpoint. Among other regulation he asked that if we take pictures, we should not photograph the faces of the soldirs, and that we do not stand in the area of the chekcpoint. When we asked why the traffic was stopped he answered that there is some worse conditions. A., the representative of the DCO who came to talk with us said, in contrast, that everything is as usual. A few minutes later they approved of renewal of traffic, and the traffic jam disappeared. The vans were stopped for 15-20 minutes, and all the IDs were returned together.