Morning

Qalandya was much quieter than previous Saturday with much less pedestrian movement. The movement of pedestrians and vehicles was very quick. Tora Bora was active and we decided to explore its Northern side by going down on the dirt road towards quarry. A long line of transits was waiting for people who came from the South. One of drivers was guarding in order to warn about soldiers . Movement through Tora Bora was very dense -- not only young and strong but women with children were going through rubble, some people carried big packages. People who do not want to be caught run away and than there is a lot of shooting. People who are caught are kept at the area for some time and than moved to detention cage at the checkpoint. Most are released after 2-3 hr, but some stay there for the whole day. Transits also try to run away and we were shown holes of bullets in car bodies. When caught, wheels are emptied or cut with a knife. We were told that soldiers go to check the area about 4 times per day and they expected them at about 11 a.m. On our way back we were approached by a transit driver who told us that he was caught near Beitin with passengers when bypassing nearby checkpoint. An army jeep soldiers ordered him and all the passengers including women and children to go out. This driver was told to lie on his belly and than he was severely beaten, as all passengers witnessed. The driver was told that this is a revenge for a bus attack at Karkur junction. The driver regretted that he did not write a jeep number and he understood that it is difficult to complain without any details about soldiers identity, but he wanted to tell us the story.