Date: Monday PM, 4.10.04
Observers: SS, DH (reporting), guest
Al Khadr 14:40: Some 15 transits waiting. Listless drivers pacing about. Not enough passengers to fill even one car. No army in sight.
DCO Ezyon, 14:50. Under a tree, an old man and his son are having what appears to be a picnic. Wrong. The son has been summoned the son. They have been waiting since 7AM, they say. About 15 men pass the time in the waiting facility, a bare structure with fixed chairs facing large glass windows. A lone soldier on the flat roof opposite monitors their every move. As names are called, he operates the revolving metal barriers outside so that the person called is trapped for an instant inside the revolving doors. He does so repeatedly with each and every person called. One person waiting has a year-old bullet wound in his foot. His leg seems badly infected. The man wants to get to a hospital in Jerusalem. He is sent packing back to Beit Jalla. Our efforts to help fail. He gives up and limps back home. Another person only wants a certificate attesting that he has no criminal or any other record, so that he can marry his Swedish partner. He has been asking for one for the past 10 years, to no avail.

Efrat CP, 15:45. Unmanned.

Bethlehem CP, 16:00. The road to the CP is packed with parked cars. These belong to Jewish pilgrims visiting Rachel's tomb. They are shuttled by the busload to and from the tomb.

Date: Tuesday AM, 5.10.04
Observers: YE, DH, NG (reporting)
06.30 Bethlehem: Quiet
06.45 Al Khadr: Children on their way to school. The PA has also changed to winter time. We hear complaints that the Container CP which once was open 24 now opens only 05.30-22.00. If you are late, you spend the night sleeping at the CP.
07.25 Ezyon: No army presence. Likewise 2 hours later.
07.30 Beit Ummar: We stopped at the home of the shop owner, which had been taken over by the army. They were there 06.00- 21.30. The soldiers herded all 14 inhabitants into one room, which they could not leave, not for school, work or to open the shop. To go to the toilet they had to ask permission. The captain would not speak to the owner of the house and told him to shut his mouth.
08.45 Hebron-Halhul bridge was open for pedestrians (in the Hebron direction only), for the first time since the terrorist attack in Beer Sheva.

Date: Wednesday AM, 6.10.04
Observers: NB, RM, HI, VS (reporting), guest
06:25 Bethlehem CP: Closure. No pedestrians. Three cars lined up, all denied passage.
07:00: Beit Jala: Opened at 07:15, Pedestrians pass freely, cars are allowed to pass TO, but not FROM, Beit Jala.
07:30: Al Khadr: No army or police going one way, but upon returning we saw a jeep.
07:40: Ezyon: Closure. The soldiers say nobody can pass to Jerusalem except physicians, but a group of 5 physicians were not allowed through. The soldiers said they didn't have physicians' ID, but we asked them for them, and gave them to the soldiers. They were allowed to pass, and suddenly so were all the students.
08:15 Ezyon DCO: 10 people waiting, fans and cooler working. 3 windows open, including the police. They open today till 10 (holiday hours).

Date: Thursday PM, 7.10.04
Observers: EG, NS (reporting), guest
Bethlehem CP. A few cars pass, but the place is almost empty (closure).
Ezyon CP: The checking was moved from the usual place to the big traffic circle just north of it. No vehicles but buses were allowed to travel on the road between Ezyon to Jerusalem, as there had been some shooting a couple of days before. The circle made it more convenient for those turned back to do so.
Al Khadr: The area in which the buses and taxies usually park was closed off with barbed wire. A large crowd of people waited on the road for buses which came pretty quickly to collect them. The driver of a taxi, furious, showed us a flat tire. He pointed to the jeep across the road saying one of its soldiers had punctured his tire. The soldiers were also very upset. The claimed the taxi had bypassed the CP at Ezyon and would not stop when they called after him and shot into the air. They had chased him, assuming that he had something to hide. They also suspected that he was carrying a “wanted” passenger who had jumped out and disappeared into the crowd. They punctured his tire with a rifle bayonet to stop him. The driver insisted he was not the guilty taxi. He was very upset about the price of the tire (1000 NIS) and was determined to complain and get compensation. The argument with the soldiers got very heated. Eventually the situation calmed down. As onlookers, both sides seemed to us sincere. It was baffling.

Date: Friday AM, 8.10.04
Observers: RW, MH (reporting)
Bethlehem CP. No pedestrians. One soldier checking cars from both sides. Cars and tourist busses waiting one hour already. Many other soldiers around, but not helping the checking soldier. 3 people, possibly detained, standing too far away for us to inquire.
Al-Khadr. Too quiet. Nearly no Palestinians, the market empty, no busses or yellow taxis and no busses. No soldiers. On route 60 many Palestinians walking with their loaded donkeys.
Ezyon CP. Stationed at the north exit of the traffic circle. Here too no traffic.
Abu-Dis checkpoint and environs

Date: Sunday AM, 3.10.04
Observers: DR, ID (reporting)
Ras El Amud police station. We drove there via Abu Dis (no BP at the Gate). The license investigator there told us that the Region Commander ordered that all car owners who cannot be traced if necessary (”and they will never pay the fines otherwise”) have to leave their licenses until they can show proof of payment of the fine. He admitted that during closure they were unable to get to his office and thus could not make a living (for almost a month). His position was that the State acts very kindly towards them by fining them only 500 NIS, not 2000 NIS
Like Israeli Arabs, and anyway probably next Sunday they will be able to get their documents back.

Date: Sunday PM, 3.10.04
Observers: TE, DM, JS (reporting)
15:00 Container – Almost empty. At the side was a fully loaded lorry. Some of the goods were already checked. The driver said he is waiting since 06:30 (the soldiers say 7:30), because he wouldn't download the whole lorry – 12 tons of sweets and chocolate, from Bethlehem to Nablus. The driver agreed initially, but once he found out that he'll have to open all of them, one by one, and ruin the packages, he rebelled. The CP commander explained that randomly chosen lorries must download all goods, and he has no intention of giving in. They finally negotiated that a third will be downloaded. Boxes opened, and sweets were rolling down the road. When everything was done and re-loaded all that was left for the driver to do was to go back to Bethlehem — it was too late for anything else.

On the other side of the CP, in the little area dedicated to detainees, a handsome young student and his mother were waiting for a GSS interrogation, apparently since morning. We made futile phone calls. When it grew dark, the mother went back home, and the guy, exhausted and terrified, asked us to stay with him. We did, until the GSS jeep arrived and took him away, handcuffed. We later found out that after 2 hours he was sent home. Yes, there sometimes is smoke without fire. Between the driver and the young student, groups of mainly young people were detained for inspection and sent away after a couple of minutes, and traffic moved efficiently.

Date: Monday AM, 4.10.04
Observers: CS, JO (reporting)
06.30 The gas station was deserted, and only a single soldier at the hotel. At the Gate people climbing over the wall as usual – no soldiers.
No CP at the usual place at the entrance to Al Ezariya.
07.00 Container – 17 detainees standing under the shelter. Still no drinking water. The soldiers were uncommunicative, even aggressive. Long lines of vehicles waiting in both directions and the soldiers were in no hurry. Eventually they were let through with only a few being carefully checked. Pedestrians passing through the turnstile were allowed through after paper checks. Passengers were occasionally taken out of taxis and joined the detainees. By 8.15 there were about 40 detainees. The soldiers made an effort to phone in ID numbers for GSS checking, but despite repeated phone calls, they only received an answer at 8.50. Then most of the first group of detainees were released. The others only at 9.15. One student was kept back for questioning. At one point two jeeps arrived at great speed with sirens wailing and music blasting. The BPs who emerged were loud and abusive. They eventually left.

Date: Wednesday PM, 6.10.04
Observers: NR, AF, TF (reporting)
14:15 Abu Dis. At the Gate, active traffic of pedestrians and taxis. No presence of police or military. Concrete cubes still blocking passage.
14:35 Cliff Hotel – No soldiers, policemen or detainees in sight. No one disturbs the scarce traffic of people passing through the mound behind the Hotel. It seems that someone has compressed and flattened the road going from the Hotel along the Wall.
15:10 Container. A large BP vehicle and more soldiers than usual. Change of shift. Passage stops while the soldiers greet each other. A long line going southwards, a shorter one towards Jerusalem. No detainees. When the shift change is over a policeman starts making gestures for everyone to pass without detaining anyone, while talking on his cell phone and walking to and fro. Now and then another soldier stops a taxi or an ambulance, speaks to the driver through the car window, and lets them go on. Outside the CP, on the road to Kedar, there is a temporary barrier: 2 barrels with boards on top.
15:42 Two taxis are detained. Three young pedestrian detainees are sent to the detention shelter. A bus stops and a soldier mounts. All the passengers hand in their permits and IDs, and the bus is sent to wait with the taxis. A passenger tells us that the bus is transporting workers returning to Hebron because of the holiday. Immediately, a soldier forbids him talking to us. A soldier is copying the names from the taken IDs, for “control” purposes.
15:48 Within a few minutes from each other both taxis and the pedestrians are released. The bus is still detained. The rest of the CP traffic moves along. Sometimes there is no traffic at all.
16:25 The bus is released. Five new detainees are sent to the detention shelter.
16:35 Five passengers are taken off two different taxis, which continue southwards. More are taken off another bus, which is sent to wait on the side. The number of detainees is now 12. A representative of the village inhabitants beyond the temporary barrel barrier approaches us. It has been arbitrarily decided that no cars may pass through the barrier from one side of the village to the other. He explains the difficulties this causes (not allowing children transport to pass, nor building materials). He complains that orders change with every soldier's whims.
16:55 All detainees are released.

Date: Thursday AM, 7.10.04
Observers: NE, HB (reporting)
Abu Dis: Lively movement at the Gate – children on their way to school and adults rushing to their daily chores. No BP. The area is extremely dirty and the passage narrow and dangerous.
Container: Very quiet – probably as a result of the holiday. The CP commander agreed to talk to us, but tried to shoo us away and did not let us speak to the detainees. A bus was parked by the roadside and all passengers – presumably students – were detained for checking. Two detainees standing with their backs to the soldiers were waiting in the enclosure. Smoking was forbidden by the women soldier in a very aggressive manner. One of the two men had a blue ID, on his way back from “forbidden Bethlehem”. 30 minutes later their IDs were returned. Some were asked for their private phone numbers. Others were given forms summoning them to appear at the DCO. The checking of cars on both sides was quick.

Date: Thursday PM, 7.10.04
Observers: DG, MB (reporting), guest
Container, 16:00. A quiet cool holiday afternoon. Little traffic in either direction, moving along almost unchecked. Some pedestrians. The soldiers did not reply to our greeting, but neither did they shoo us away. Towards the end of our shift, a couple of yellow taxis were pulled over, for ID check of the passengers. A few pedestrians in the opposite direction were similarly detained.
Abu Dis: Lively movement at the Gate. No BP, and the drivers said none throughout the day. The hotel was so deserted, that nobody even came out to chase us out of their parking lot.

Ar-Ram, Qalandiya and environs

Date: Sunday AM, 3.10.04
Observers: DR, ID (reporting)
06:30 Shoafat CP. No detainees, all pedestrians proceeded without any checking outside the 'cage'. The line of cars was relatively short.

Ar-Ram Very few schoolchildren and buses were left and the line was short. No detainees. The closure still in force. Only blue IDs passed. No checking of northbound traffic.

Qalandiya – Very few openings left in the wall, and they are far apart. At the CP all turnstiles were in use and there was hardly any line. A lady with an American passport newly issued in 'the West Bank', but no other papers, was begging to pass. She was initially turned back, but continued nagging till success. The line of the cars was mercifully short and the wait only ten minutes.

09:00 Anata No BP-presence at its northern exit. We drove in to test the exit time — 20 minutes. 4 detainees, who claimed to have been there since 6:30 (an exaggeration, we think). A man one year after a heart attack claimed he was summoned to the hospital last night for a check-up today, was refused for lack of any proper document. Only blue IDs passed, no exceptions. The soldiers said that this CP functions only at certain hours, which vary, so that people will never know when. All cars entering Anata had to produce valid car licenses. The detainees received their IDs and were sent back into Anata.

Date: Tuesday PM, 5.10.04
Observers: AK, TB, IH, RH (reporting)
Qalandiya – The street vendors are now almost completely forced out from the CP area. One fruit vendor in the south who has not yet given up moved his stall to the road to Ar-Ram, and one in the north keeps trying to sell shoes in the middle of the road, between the passing cars. The southbound car line stretches endlessly along the Qalandiya camp road. Drivers prepare themselves for a 2 hours wait and get out of their cars to move their legs and exchange some words. Only one lane is being checked. In the checking area we discover a new sign-board, warning that we are “about to enter territory under control of the Palestinian Authority”.

Date: Thursday AM, 7.10.04
Observers: RE, AW, RY (reporting)
Anata. Traffic flows. Even the vehicle line is short.
Ar-Ram. A few pedestrians and a few cars. The CP commander orders us to the other side of the road, because we “disturb” the order in “his” CP. We don't, but we move off.
Qalandiya. Few vendors, quite far from the southern entrance to the CP. There is the usual traffic jam, though cars are checked superficially. Pedestrians line is very long. A woman says she waited an hour; another says 40 minutes. Just one soldier checking documents. Soon after, another checking post is opened, and the line becomes shorter in minutes. The 2 soldiers who monitored the “humanitarian” lane looked indifferent and worn out.

Tulkarm – Qalqilya

Date: Tuesday AM, 5.10.04
Observers: LR, M, S (reporting), guest
06:20 Irtah – Gate 700, Tulkarm. No action, one lone semi-trailer waiting at the gates, not a soul in sight.
06:30 Jubara. This CP is “softer”, the soldiers helmet less and less officious than outside Nablus. It is busy today with plenty of agricultural workers (olive harvest?) passing to and fro. A busload of schoolchildren speeds by. The coffee/tea man is doing a brisk business His table in the shade is a center for endless discussions.

Beit Furiq – Huwwara – Nablus area

Date: Tuesday AM, 5.10.04
Observers: LR, M, S (reporting), guest
Beit Iba, 07:30 The line moves quickly. Only 2 detainees, but the overall air heavy. The punishment meted out to the Palestinians seems to be meted out to us too.
07:40 A man is sent to the back of the line; not unusual, but the command is barked. A soldier lets all the women through in one batch – not checking their IDs at all.
07:50 A sick woman arrives with her 24 year old son. He is detained, but she cannot go alone to Nablus. “The GSS will check him out. It may take 30 minutes, it may talk three hours”. A young soldier standing by says out loud, “What's the difference? They're all animals?”
08:15 The number of detainees grows.
08:20 A heavily veiled woman shows a US passport. The DCO rep looks puzzled and questions her. Only then does the woman pull out her visa.
08:30 The sick woman still waits for her son on the Nablus side. 15 minutes later he is sent back to Nablus. His mother joins him. It's quiet, there's a respite to the waiting people, but there are still some detainees, one with a horrific story of being stopped and beaten on a road inside Israel. A student approaches with the familiar Al Najah University student card. He is refused passage. “But I'm a student.” The soldier relents.
09:10. Still two detainees. The soldier is deliberately slow to deal with them.
09:40 Shavei Shomron. Outside the settlement, the usual 2 soldiers on the road, a long line of cars, trucks and buses (this is one of the main roads to Jenin) in each direction. A bus driver gives a soldier a pile of ID cards for his passengers. The soldier asks three to disembark – all young men who pull out student cards. The soldier is angry that the cards are not inside the ID folder. In the “parking area” a group of ten men has been detained for many hours in the sun: the exact number of hours is in dispute, but clearly near the 4 hour limit. We remind the soldier in charge of the time limit. Reply: “I know my job”. A driver from a medical supply house is being held because he has no pass for his vehicle. He claims to pass a number of CPs every day: it is only one soldier now who refuses him passage. A group of the men say that they were stopped in the orchards at 03:00, compelled to leave their cars and walk several kms to the CP, behind the jeep. They were with women and children. One pregnant woman was forced to expose her belly to prove her condition. They were concerned about their vehicles and the IDs held by the soldiers. Two of the men say they were beaten by the soldiers, and they show fresh bruises and footprints (!) on their shirts as evidence. The soldier in charge contends that the detainees have only been here since 07:30. Since he didn't stop them, he is not responsible and knows nothing about their cars. He promises to check but his tone suggests he just wants to get rid of us. There's little we can do. The soldiers are adamant in not wanting to facilitate anything for anybody.

Date: Wednesday PM, 6.10.04
Observers: EK, NW, NS (reporting)
Beit Iba, 15:00. Horrendous traffic on the way – Wednesday queues. About 500 persons were queuing to get out of Nablus, all the time, until 17.15 when the queues started dwindling. The soldiers were trying, but there just were not enough of them. The huge queue was worrying. The people, mainly the women, were pushing against the turnstile, which caused it to jam. So at times, nobody could go through. We timed one girl, and it took her 50 minutes to pass. One Palestinian girl fainted, and the female soldier S., who is usually helpful and efficient, was just that today. When we arrived there were about 25 detainees, all young. They were released 2-2.5 hours later. Our repeated nagging did not help. Towards 5 pm additional soldiers arrived to help in the checking. Here and there we were able to help ill people and parents of young children to bypass the queue. When the CP commander arrived, he made the detainees sit down inside the enclosure. They knew the drill and crouched on the ground. We managed to persuade him to allow them to stand, if they wished.

Tarqumiya and Hebron Hills Area

Date: Sunday AM, 3.10.04
Observers: AB, EL (reporting)
06:30 – 09:50 – The new CP near the turnoff to Sinsana is becoming ever more solidly established. It is placed precisely on the green line. The old CP at Shim'aa is gone. A truck in a field near Samoa was trying to find a way through the dirt barriers newly raised along the edge of route 60.

Dura-al-Fawwar crossing. The gates on both sides of the crossing are closed to vehicles. 3 soldiers on the Dura side, and heavy pedestrian traffic in both directions. IDs of women were not checked. Other checking was rapid. No detainees.

07:30 The southern entrance to Bani Na'im is open

Shuyukh- Hebron crossing: No soldiers. Taxi drivers said there had also been none earlier. Open to pedestrians. Many high schoolgirls were coming from Dura.

Ras al Jura CP – the humanitarian gate: Closed. Only one car waiting. When we returned later, it was manned by 3 soldiers. About 10 vehicles (including trucks) on either side were waiting to pass. Inspection was very slow, but 2 ambulances with flashing lights which arrived from the Hebron passed after the briefest of inspections.

Halhul-Hebron bridge. Open to pedestrians. Much traffic. No soldiers on the bridge but apparently there was one in the pillbox. No one tried to get us off the bridge. The ascent from route 35 is open but any car would be stopped by the newly erected dirt barriers.

08:05 Idhna CP: The gate was open. No soldiers.

The CP on route 3536 (under route 35). This road is in Area A and links Beit Kahil village to Hebron. Many Palestinians and cars waiting to pass. Two soldiers stood above the CP on route 35 covering for the soldiers doing the checking below. One told us that residents of Beit Kahil or Hebron were allowed through, as were humanitarian cases. About 70 people, including women with babies, were standing about 20 meters from the soldiers. As soon as we arrived, they began to be checked at a reasonable pace. The soldier summoned them one by one. A Palestinian man acted as organizer. We saw noone turned back, or any detainees. Pedestrians and vehicles kept on arriving from both directions.

08:45 A little after the alternative crossings between Halhul and Hebron was a flying CP on route 35. No detainees.

Zif junction : The gate is closed. No pedestrians.

At-Tuwani: The entrance to Yatta from the village is still closed.

A CP manned by BP and army on the turnoff to Arad (from route 60). No detainees.

Date: Tuesday AM, 5.10.04
Observers: N., C. and D. (reporting)
An uneventful morning.
Shuyuch and Sheep Junctions open for passage, no soldiers.
Halhul bridge was open to pedestrians, although they were watched by the soldiers in the pillbox.
Dura-Al-Fawwar junction. Pedestrians passed freely, without checks.