Ar-Ram, Qalandiya

the day after the suicide attack in Karkur junction.A-Ram - on our way to Qalandya and back we encountered a long queue of cars northwards towards Ramallah. Every car was checked and the queue streched as far as Neve Yaakov. When we asked about the reason for this unusual procedure, we got the answer: "initiative action", a term we did not understand but translated into something like "punishment action" after the suicide attack of yesterday. Qalandiya - upon arrival a group of soldiers were confiscating IDs of taxi drivers, who parked in the area opposite the checkpoint. When we told them that this was blatantly illegal, they promised to return the IDs soon, at the checkpoint. But the IDs were not returned and the officer of the checkpoint was not ready to speak with us. We had to call the battalion commander of this unit, Shadi, 056-234057, whom we met this morning at the office of the commander of the division, Roni Numa. After some 30 minutes the IDs were returned.The lay-out of Qalandya checkpoint has been changed. The two ends of the checkpoint were moved nearer to each other -- they are now about 75 meters apart. On each side there is a prefabricated booth with 2 windows, where the ID controllers are supposed to sit and check the documents. 2 long lanes for the waiting lead up to the booths and, hurray!, the concrete booth, which was used for detaining the held-up, has disappeared! (there were rumors though, that detention is now taking place near or at the lonely house on the field close to the checkpoint - please, Wednesday group, check this out!) The fact that the northern checkpoint has been moved southward, has one great advantage. It is now positioned right under a lamppost, which gives plenty of light to do the checking also in the dark hours! That would eliminate the main argument to close the checkpoint at 18:00!! We will report this to the commander! There was heavy movement of pedestrians and cars. The fact that many soldiers and volunteers participated in the checking process of the pedestrians, shortened the wait for the pedestrians. But the car traffic to the north was extremely slow. About 20 mintes per car. When the checkpoint closed at 6 p.m. many drivers were forced to turn back or to take difficult alternative routes. One truckdriver, who came from Acco and transported aluminium merchandise and waited in the line since 4:30 p.m., was extremely worried that his expensive aluminium parts would be stolen, if he left his truck in the vicinity of the checkpoint overnight. We asked Shadi to itervene, but the commander of the chackpoint was not ready to comply with Shadi's request.At 18:10 the checkpoint was closed. Almost all sodiers and volunteers left and only two were positioned at each side. The usual pleadings and discussions by Jerusalem residents coming from the north - with very little success!We also had to deal with a lost ID of a resident of a village north of Qalandya. A woman soldier, Orly, was extremely concerned and actively helpful in trying to locate the ID, which was lost 2 days ago, but to no avail !! No one knows anything and no one, of course, takes responsibility. But everybody is "aware" that it is strictly forbidden to confiscate IDs!!