Afternoon

E-Ram: 2 men with green IDs without permit were held from 15:30 and sent back at 16:20, although one of them was in need of medical treatment. Our intervention was of no help and the hotline of PHR did not answer.At 16:00 a Palestinian ambulance of the Red Crescent arrived (from Hebron!), heading for Mokassed with 2 patients, scheduled for surgery. Long ID checks and waiting for passage certificates for the ambulance. After 45 minutes the ambulance had to turn back. No entry of Palestinian cars to Jerusalem! The Moked could not help, but M. W. from PHR was trying to receive a passage certificate from the army for another checkpoint. If a Jerusalem ambulance could have met the patients at Aram, it could have transferred them to Mokassed. But to order a private ambulance is much too expensive for most Palestinians!! We will be in contact with the PHR to work out possible procedures for these recurrent situations.Qalandya: it was Orthodox Christmas Day and rather little traffic. Eran, the checkpoint commander, was on duty, and passage was smooth for pedestrians and also for cars. We heard that the violent soldier of last week has been seen again at the checkpoint.