Afternoon
E-ram: long lines of cars few pedestrians.We took a taxi to the checkpoint ,and were not permitted to pay. A man paid for our trip and we couldn’t convince him to withdraw (!!)Qalandya South - Lots of pedestrians going through the checkpoint . Only one volunteer reservist checking very roughly the ID’s. Everybody was allowed to cross.Qalandya North - The checkpoint was ideally clear, no long lines ,quite clean. Two soldiers and two women soldiers stood on the side. Two volunteer reservists checked with a smile the Palestinians crossing…..We approached the soldiers and they came toward us: we were greeted warmly (it happened, believe me!!!) It was the district commander's aide). He introduced to us the 2 women soldiers that are writing an item about the checkpoint (for “BaMachane” – army magazine). “How wonderfully the checkpoint works”, they said. They took photos of the Palestinians crossing as well. The district commnader said: Our presence in the checkpoint is the clear sign that all works perfectly (!!!!!)Tora Bora: very busyAround 17.30 two border police jeeps appeared in the south part of the checkpoint. Border policemen checked the ID’s and there were lots of detainees for short periods of time .