Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Sun 24.6.12, Afternoon

Translating: Ruth Fleishman

Qalandiya checkpoint:

It was just after two o'clock, said the cab drivers and the peddlers, a man who was driving his son to be hospitalized in east Jerusalem was beaten up at the vehicle checkpoint. They didn't know why the man wasn't permitted to drive on, they stood by the wall that surrounds the parking lot and saw a number of civil guards attack the man: "They let him fall and hit his body and head, with their hands and the cane attached to the rifle they beat him, his women stood near b and yelled". They also said that an officer that arrived pulled away one of the attackers but that didn't end the burst of violence: "it went on for ten minutes, maybe fifteen… had there not been a wall here we would have gone in and…". They talked not only of the physical violence, those who observed were verbally attacked: "why did they slander my mother? Is that right?" a young man asked with insult.

In preparation towards the Ramadan Fridays?

At the exit of the vehicle checkpoint there were deep holes with metal bars- infrastructure for a mechanism that allows the checkpoint to be locked with the press of a distanced button, we had already seen it used in El-Jib. This will make the checkpoint more technologically progressed and as a result, as hard it is to believe, even less humane.

Jaba- Village and Checkpoint:

The entrance to the village had existed for hundreds of years, but several years ago it was closed by large rocks as it stands in front of the road leading to Adam settlement, and that can't be pleasant…

Ever since it was closed one must drive around, enter Ar-Ram and cross the main road between Qalandiya and road 60 using the bridge.

At the main hall of the mosque that was a victim of the settlers violence from last week, the mark made by the fire were still noticeable: broken pieces from the big stained glass window that was shattered were still on the floor and the inscription on the outside wall: "Ulpana- War- Price Tag", had yet to be removed.

The people from the village who are happy for any solidarity visit, told us of organizations that sent delegations, diplomatic representatives and media networks that came and still come, to listen and document what had happened there at the dead of night. They point towards the proximity of the village to the settlements and praise the little girl that because of whom the mosque didn't burn to the ground.

The whole time we were there, from the side, on the rail of the path leading to the mosque, sat the children of the village and watched. For them especially these solidarity visits by Jewish women and me are important. Because they are the future and perhaps there is still hope.

At Jaba checkpoint which is by the village and from where one can see the mosque, one of the soldiers that took part in the investigation that the army held on the day after the vandalizing took place, told us that it is most likely that the Pogromists came from the settlement Sha'ar Binyamin. He and his friends reconstructed the way that the outlaws came through and it is no more than a ten minute walk from the village.