Mornng

There were more border police in the Machsom than last week. 6 soldiers this time. When we arrived, there were some Palestinian men sitting on the side blocks, their ID's being checked. They said that they were waiting for the ID's 30 minutes. Within 5 minutes after our arrivial their ID's were given back to them and all left. the soldiers were OK (nothing remarkable either way), and the movement of people was quite smooth. Cars were stopped randomly, most were not checked, but there was a jeep of the border police about 100 meters up the road, and they were looking at the cars. The commnder of the unit (an arabic-speaking, calm, non-aggressive guy) asked a person who was standing near the Machsom (on the side) to go away, and when we asked why he said that such people can be seen as collaborators by other Palestininas and may get into trouble. A Danich woman who lived in Abu-Dis told us that last week a man in a wheelchair had great trouble passing from one side of Abu-Dis (through the "wall") to the other side in order to get medical care.There was much police, but no special tension.