Beit Ummar, Bethlehem, Etzion DCL, Mon 9.2.09, Morning

06:45 AM, Bethlehem - Checkpoint 300:  people dribbling out. Four open positions, sometimes not a single Palestinian at a checking point, and they wait for comers. Outside, on the Palestinian side, considerable crowding. They did indeed open shortly after 05:00 till 05:30, then closed until 06:00. Between 06:00 and 07:00 1280 people passed according to the count of an international volunteer. Usually according to them 1790 cross in the same time span, so today was very slow. A group of Austrian tourists asking to cross to the Israeli side at 07:00 did not succeed by 07:20 when we had to leave. 

08:00 AM, Etzion DCL:  the DCL opened, 30 people waiting. They have put new chairs into the waiting room, still covered in nylon, seem better quality than the ones that broke, and they now fill the room. 

08:30 AM, Beit Ummar:  we delivered vouchers to one man, and returned to Etzion. 

09:00 AM, Etzion DCL:  meanwhile 10 of the people waiting have gone in. Today is a short work day, only till 12:00, and then the closure starts because of election day. There is a notice about it on the door of the waiting room.