Qalandiya, Sun 6.5.12, Afternoon

Date: 06/05/2012 ,Afternoon

Observers: Roni Hammermann, Nurit Yarden and Tamar Fleishman (reporting)

Qalandiya

three kilometers south of Ramallah, in the heart of Palestinian population. Integrates into "Jerusalem Envelope" as part of Wall that separates between northern suburbs that were annexed to Jerusalem in 1967: Kafr Aqab, Semiramis and Qalandiya, and the villages of Ar-Ram and Bir Nabala, also north of Jerusalem, and the city itself. Some residents of Kafr Aqab, Semiramis and Qalandiya have Jerusalem ID cards.

A terminal operated by Israel Police has functioned since early 2006. As of August 2006, northbound pedestrians are not checked. Southbound Palestinians must carry Jerusalem IDs; holders of Palestinian Authority IDs cannot pass without special permits. Vehicular traffic from Ramallah to other West Bank areas runs to the north of Qalandiya.

Click here to watch a video from Qalandiya checkpoint.

Close description

Translating: Ruth Fleishman

A man who was missing an arm stood and looked over through the fence at a police car.

"Stand away from the fence!- don't come near the fence!- don't you understand Hebrew?!..." the tower yelled. The man who was missing an arm stayed by the fence, supported by a traffic sign indicating of a parking spot reserved for invalids alone, and waited. He didn't seem sad or miserable. He just stood there and waited.

Two days earlier, when he was returning with his daughter from the Friday prayers at El-Aqsa, a police officer took his identity card from him. On that day he came back. Perhaps, and he didn't actually know how or by whose hands, they would him his ID back.

"That's him, over there, behind the fence, the man who is missing an arm, over there… "We explained to Moti the police officer. "He could be also missing a foot", said the BP officer guarding officer Moti as he was handing out traffic tickets to those heading out of Palestine.

Moti listened, he spoke on the phone with Nadim Asi who had his ID taken from him by the policeman, and concluded that they wanted to punish him because his daughter did have her Kushan (=birth certificate). But he, said Moti, couldn't help, it might be at the police station behind the checkpoint, maybe at the border police base in Atarot, or maybe at the police station in Nave Ilan or perhaps they simply shoved into one of those boxes… (he was referring to the complaint boxes on the side of the winding roads of Qalandiya passage).

We followed his advice and headed to the military entrance. Avi the police officer came towards us, he wrote all the details, and then he went away and came back, he said that the ID wasn't there, at the police station. He said that Nadim should go to the DCL on the next day to ask whether they had a solution to this problem.

Nadim, the man who was missing an arm, was probably an innocent victim of the overreaction of the security forces to the demonstration supporting the hunger strike of the administrative detainees that was held on the Palestinian side of the checkpoint. The remains of the tear gas still stung in the eyes, steaming fumes of sickening stenches from the skunk machine, rose from the puddles that had accumulated inside potholes on the defective roads and as remains of the fire that had been shot, on the ground laid the empty casing of a: grenade that is used against protesters known as a RARNAG, it is place on top of the rifle's barrel and shot with a blank cartridge that thrusts the content of the "can" with grate force forward. The can contains small metal balls that are covered with rubber, there are strict orders regarding the use of this weapon. *

*I received this information from an interviewer from Breaking the Silence.