Bethlehem (300)

9:30 to 11:30

Many people are waiting - occasionally the line gets too long. They say that there is a shortage of soldiers and only two windows are open, rarely three.

It turns out that lately more and more Palestinians are working on Fridays also, and according to the commander there is heavy traffic in the early morning until almost 8:00. In fact there was a constant flow of people until 11:30

Since the good commander was present, things were relatively calm and small problems were immediately resolved, for example:

A woman in a family that wanted to leave Jerusalem to attend a wedding had no permit and they did not let her pass. Her husband turned to the commander: in 5 days she will be 50 years old (today women pass without permits from the age of 50), he checked and let her pass. And other cases likewise.

One of the security guards who walked outside    the checkpoint saw a  Palestinian who sneaked through one of the crossings on the Palestinian side and passed the inspection on the Israeli side. He pounced on him and enthusiastically reported to the commander, who handled the matter quietly. Since the guard yelled that the man should be returned to the Palestinian side, he sent him to the place where he "sneaked in" and within 10 minutes the Palestinian was out. Presumably, in the absence of the commander, things would not have turned out the way they did.