Afternoon

Ramadan, no curfew in Ramalla, fast is due to be broken at 4.45 PM, warnings..Aram 3.30 PM A long line of about 50 vehicles checked in a one minute pace approximately, an easy enough flow of pedestrians. A special lane for ambulances with permits has been created by splitting the lane with a cement barrier but that means that there is no place for the service Tranzists to turn around or make a u-turn therefor they are waiting further down, way after Jafer.Qalandya south, 3.45 PM, tension in the air, compressed, suppressed impatience slowly and ominously emerging as time nears the end of the fast, it feels like something might explode....Yellow taxis in the Transits parking place. No special taxi hunting is reported ('only' ten were chased to the north side to be released into the wilderness of no possible work in the morning), 'thank god/barooch hashem' a relatively peaceful day reported a driver. However very few are seen.9-13 soldiers around the cars' lane, many reserves, The checkpoint commander comes forward, there is a warning, he answers an unasked question, a flux of people hurrying, so it seems, probably to make it to their homes to break the fast within the embrace of their families, the pedestrian lane is flowing smoothly, quickly, people are allowed to pass swiftly, the car lane though extremely long, slow, dense with overt tension. Immediately we see on the left of the drivers' lane 13 men standing in a row, their faces towards the rocks, as close as one can stand to the sand without being burrowed into it, their backs to the checkpoint. Unquestionably an abuse with no other possible reasons other than humiliation and punishment.It turns out it is a Detained Transit, has been detained since 3.15 half an hour before we arrived, the men were told to step out of the car and stand as we found them, their IDs taken, they work in Atarot and were on their way home (as every day) to Karavan Bnei Zid (??) somewhere near Halamish, an hour and a half a way, green and orange IDs. To our question as to their position the soldier answered that nothing is done with out a reason, when we press him to disclose what the reason was, he quite readily explained that in that way they cannot watch the soldiers talking, cannot look at them. The soldiers by the way besides the two who were checking the cars were giggling and talking amongst themselves about quite conspicuously unmilitary topics. But in spite of the resolve with which he proclaims the validity and morality of making them stand in this position, 5 minutes later, like magic, they are told to go back into the car and wait.Unfortunately this 'upgrading' is as far as their improvement goes.In the meantime a truck came 'too close' or 'too quickly' following the car before. The girl soldier stops him, orders him to go back, which he can't because the minute he approached another filled up his space, she insists, he should be educated, the other soldiers watch impassively, the flow is stopped, not until he goes back will she allow others to pass she explains in a patronizing educational tone, which he can't, precious time crumbling away, more honking, shouting, but the soldiers with their obtuse condescending arrogant cruelty won't relent, somehow he manages to squeeze back, upsetting the others, then another truck comes forth, I couldn't detect any conspicuous sin, however the soldier found fault, 'go back' a different soldier orders rudely, there is no way back, but the soldier insists, the driver and his wife and four small children look helplessly at us all, the soldiers won't relent, time passes, aggression surfacing, the whole line of cars, probably a kilometer long, is forced to back, the driver yells towards us: 'the blood is upon their hands, how won't we explode, how'?A car driver explains to a soldier why has he come forward, 'he is in a hurry' he says, 'speak politely' the soldier barks angrily sending him to the side (laamod bapina), more random cars asked to go back or stand on the side for misbehavior, a Palestinian maybe two come forward from the end of the line to help speed things up, one starts collaborating with the soldiers, informing them of: he who passed from the side, and so forth, helping them trace the 'sinners'.... Most of them did not make it in time to break the fast with the family as custom calls, they hold the theory that the soldiers purposely slow down the pace with which they check when the crucial time is getting closer, I agree, this definitely seems to be a pattern, at least with some soldiers.We keep on reminding The checkpoint commander of the detained men, one of them tells us he can see the IDs lying futilely on a cement block, that no one is really checking them, then some sort of real action seems to take place, 4.22, The checkpoint commander and Morris seem to really do something, one is called out, then sent in.Finally it is 4.45, we can hear the prayers from the mosque, the men are hungry, thirsty and growing impatient, imploring us to hurry this process, why don't they shoot us and finish it all one says with a quiver, we bring them food, drink and cigarettes which they devour, with no happiness.5.15 PM, one asks shyly if we could ask them whether they can be allowed to pray, The checkpoint commander says alright just that they should stay close to the car, the soldier next to him (later we will learn he is an officer) frowns, The checkpoint commander obviously sensing his reluctant criticism changes his mind and says, no, tell them that in any case we are finishing all this in a few minutes, will they be released? yes, probably. The soldier can't hold in his righteous disbelief of my 'uncanny' behavior, 'you want a bunch of terrorists to be allowed to pray', he lashes at me?I, unfortunately didn't hold my tongue, I turned to The checkpoint commander: 'tell him' I implored, 'say something', then to him I said that this is a terrorist' way of thinking (meaning that assuming a priori the guilt of someone just because he belongs to a particular people....to see one guilty of another's actions, and not to make that distinction is how the suicide bombers think... how the army does too... when the other is devoid of a face, a name, a private identity... in both cases one commits the crime but others pay the price as substitutes, perceived as guilty for belonging to the same people... someone needs to assuage the need for blood.. I didn't manage to complete my thought but that was the overall meaning...)The Moked who contacted the Civil Administration were told this is nothing but a routine check.The checkpoint commander says the soldiers make the effort not to eat in front of the Palestinians because of Ramadan.There is a new sign in Arabic which The checkpoint commander has written, it says, that he who will enter without a tasrich will not be able to return.5.30 PM a soldier gives the Transit driver the car key and orders him to drive through the checkpoint northwards. We rush to the north as well.While all this was happening on the south side, Daniela and Ruthie who were on the north side encountered and extremely problematic very right winged soldier, Yossi, a bearded monster from the kav-tefer group, they also complained to The checkpoint commander who went and scolded the guy, all in vain. Qalandyanorth, 5.35 PMTwo conscript/sadir girl soldiers, two kav tefer grown men soldiers.Orange and green IDs not allowed. Randomly a more thorough checking occurs and the whole bag is rummaged.Yossi is a mad kav tefer monster who reigns the north, he stands outside the military zone, on the path, and after people have been allowed to pass (from north to south) he stops some and rudely sends them back, he also stops some who have already been allowed to pass southwards and checks their IDs again, one being is a Spanish reporter. 'You sold the country' he says to us after having spoken to the reporter. he is very vulgar, aggressive, hateful, and dangerous.He comes up to us, 'you said that an officer in the IDF is a terrorist' he says aggressively, 'move away', his body close, forcing us to move back, 'garbage, bitches, mitromemot, you are not allowed here, Arab lovers, filth'.The detained men placed in the enclave, are allowed to go one by one to 'relieve themselves', they are freezing, crouched together, a kind Palestinian brought hot coffee, we are not allowed to come close, to speak to them, the Moked doesn't seem to manage either, the Matak says he spoke to the checkpoint people who claimed they aren't any detainees, The checkpoint commander whom we finally find on the telephone says they are all to be taken for interrogation.6.40 we leave Qalandya north, we forgot to take a telephone number from the detained men, so we will probably never know what happened to them.