Afternoon

Qalanya South 4.20 PM. - Many pedestrians, checking is swift, quick, a short wait, quite surprisingly there are three Transits standing harmlessly in front of the checkpoint, waiting for elderly passengers, we are told, we ask the 'dispatcher' how come it is allowed today, 'who knows' he said and blessed the lord Qalandia North 4.30 PM. - Two detained children, 12 and 13 years old crouched on the hill next to the watching tower beside a very serious looking upright soldier, hugging themselves to keep warm. These children are among the peddlers hovering around the checkpoint with their pathetic framed pictures with a Koran verse or some other thing, trying to sell them for a shekel or two. The reason for detaining them being 'bothering' the soldiers. What do you mean exactly by bothering we ask, 'running here and fro' explained the soldier. 'They are children' I. said, 'children can throw a stone as big as this' answered the soldier while creating a big circle with his arms to give a picture of the enormity of all this, 'did these children throw stones?' asked I., 'no they haven't' agreed the soldier not finding this fact thought provoking...A stray dog looking for warmth climbed up the hill towards the soldier, the soldier kindly bent down and patted him with tenderness, the freezing children were a meter away. Time passed. A girl soldier amazed at the sight asked the soldier what were the children doing there, I couldn't hear the answer but the girl soldier seemed to be satisfied with it, 'oh' she said and walked away.We all tried something, words, reasoning, pleading, anger, all to no avail, passersby were stopping too, very distressed at the sight, very resentful and bitter, 'then you wonder why people blow themselves up', and 'what do you think this sight evokes love?' but mainly them and us kept on saying to the soldiers 'they are children, children'.The children and many other people said they had been detained since 1 PM, that they hadn't eaten, Itzik said they had eaten, he also said he'll free them when he wanted to, at six o'clock, which turned out to be what happened, because no one seemed to be able to seep through this 'kingdom of evil', not the Moket, or Peter lerner (who said he was trying, and maybe he was....), Tali from the civil administration, nothing changed the verdict, and only at six o'clock they were released.It seems that lights turn on automatically at 5.30.Qalandya South - The dispatcher told us that the problematic soldier was there the day before beating people, banging on cars with his rifle, when one an approached and told us that he had stopped by the checkpoint to let off an old woman and the soldier had slapped him on his face.Someone came up to us, a lawyer, the day before he had witnessed an incident of a woman losing consciousness on the North side, he yelled 'doctor doctor', but no one listened or cared, it was late and he had an urgent meeting in Ramalla so he rushed off, when he came back he asked around what had happened in the end, he was told she died there. And showed us her photograph in a newspaper. She was 32.