Ar-Ram, Qalandiya, Mon 16.4.12, Afternoon

We reached Qalandiya at 3:45 PM.  Two passageways were open with only a few people in line in each one.  We saw no one waiting in the DCO shed.  Entry to the CP from the northern shed, controlled by the soldier in his post, was closed.  There were five people ahead of us in the line.  After a wait of 5 minutes, the soldier on duty was told to evacuate the CP due to discovery of a suspicious object inside the CP.  All those on line at the entrance retreated into the northern shed and were joined shortly by those who had been waiting in Passageway 4.  Only after 10 minutes did the information reach those in Passageway 1 (some of whom managed to get through to Jerusalem in the interim).  Closure of the CP continued for two hours.  The CP only reopened shortly before 6 PM (as reported by friends who remained).

We left Qalandiya at 5 PM.  On our way back to Jerusalem we drove through the entrance square to A-Ram where we saw that the huge concrete slabs blocking the entrance to the city had been removed.  There were no soldiers and no one was throwing stones.