Afternoon

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Nov-10-2002
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At Qalandya South checkpoint we discovered an opening in the long betonade which forms the queue to the checkpoint - this shortens the distance to the checkpoint. Pedestrians were checked exclusively by the older volunteers. At the Northern checkpoint, things were less smooth: several people carrying an orange ID were sent back and told, they should cross at Surda checkpoint. I observed 2 young women in one of the lines arguing with the soldiers for a good 15 minutes, with no result. One of them gave up and went back - the other tried her luck again by queuing up at the other line and managed to get through without any problems this time. Report of Northern checkpoint: at 16:10 a truck was admitted for checking: a woman soldier checked the load of plastic containers by tapping each of them with her rifle butt - this took 20 minutes, after which she ordered the driver to unload the entire load, and only after another 40 minutes was he allowed to load his truck again, while the soldiers told him to get lost, as he was 'disturbing' them. The driver will place a complaint at the Moked about the soldiers' behaviour. At 16:15 a patrol arrived with 12 detaineesinfo-icon caught in the fields of 'Tora Bora' and placed them between the barricades. The detainees were released after 1/4 hours, after having been exposed to extremely rude behaviour of the soldiers. At 16:30 (break of fast) a small group of Palestinians arrived with water, boxes of dates, bread and sweets which they distributed to the drivers stuck in the queue and awaiting their turn to cross, as well as to the detainees. A heart-warming gesture of solidarity.Qalandya South:The checking of pedestrians was performed by the older volunteers - in an unusually efficient and friendly manner - not a single Palestinian going North was rejected, regardless of ID colour, during the 2 hours of our observation there. We discovered an 18 years old boy from Tulkarem whose green ID and Jordanian ID had been confiscated at 9 in the morning, while trying to bypass the checkpoint. He had been to Ramallah for medical care in a hospital. The poor boy sat motionless and shivering (by then it was already dark and cold!) near the checkpoint, waiting for his papers to be returned to him. We called the Moked, as his papers where not to be found at the checkpoints - but only after we managed to trace Capt. Shadi (057-644404), who had the glorious idea to check at the soldiers' station where the IDs were retrieved and returned to the boy at 18:00. By then, it was too late for him to get back to Tulkarem. We organized a Transit driver to take him to an uncle in Jericho.