Christmas Eve in Bethlehem

Dear Friends, Dear Family, Dear Reader,

A Happy New Year to all of you. I hope you have survived the holidays!

On Christmas Eve, Trine (that is my girlfriend) and I went to Bethlehem. I don’t really know why, because there is nothing really to see there in the middle of the night, but we went there. It is about a 5 to 6 km walk from my house, just down the road, through the security checkpoint and then up the hill to the church where the Jesus man was supposedly born.
So we started walking at around Midnight and arrived at the border crossing / checkpoint an hour later. At that point I realized that I had not brought my Passport, just another photo-ID. I asked my girlfriend about her Passport, and she told me, that all she had on her was her VISA Credit Card. So, we thought about turning around and getting our passports, but I thought we might give it a try. We went to the checkpoint together with a German Christian group. They all showed their passports and everything was fine. Then it is Trines turn. The man ask for her passport and she puts a VISA card on the desk. He looked very puzzled at her and told her, that it did not cost anything to go the West Bank, but that she needed a passport. She gave him the VISA card again, since her name was on the card. He starts laughing, makes a joke with his colleague, then picks up a phone and calls his commanding officer. Two minutes later she is clear through the checkpoint. She did not sign anything, not did she leave the VISA card, nor did they want any further information. So far I am still looking for the infamous tight security control at the border-crossings, since we were able to cross with a Credit Card as ID.