Afternoon

E-Ram – 15:45When we reached E-Ram checkpoint there was an ambulance of the Red Crescent with Palestinian license plates trying to get a bleeding pregnant woman to Augusta Victoria hospital in East Jerusalem for an emergency procedure. The soldiers kept the Ids for about 20 minutes with the excuse of checking and then the paramedics grabbed back the Ids, made a U-turn and rushed back either to Ramallah or to find another checkpoint where they could pass to East Jerusalem. Southern Qalandya – 16:15There are 2 female soldiers manning the car lanes and 2 more female and one male soldier at the pedestrian checkpoint booth. The ones checking the cars don’t want to talk to us and threaten to complain that we are bothering them. They actually pick up the phone and begin to complain at a hearing distance. They seem very unwilling to make an effort to ease things up. A very old lady in a wheel chair is pushed by a middle-aged woman who tries to go through the car lane where there is asphalt and where there are not as many puddles as in the pedestrian lane. The female soldier signals from far that they should go back, that she will not allow them through but after she sees us watching intently this event (we cannot hear what suggestion methods the women themselves used), she lets them through. Then we meet two truck drivers who tell us they have Jerusalem Ids and invoice for their merchandise and that they want to get through to Ramallah but these same soldiers won’t let them go on. We try to talk to them but they say they have been forbidden to talk to us. After several calls to the Moked and the Civil Administration we find Ariel - the officer in charge of the checkpoint and we point out to him that these drivers have the necessary permits and conditions to go through and we want to know why the soldiers are preventing their passage. He says he will deal with it and the truck, which had been detained for about an hour, goes through within 3 minutes.Then we see a great number of people waiting at the pedestrian checkpoint in the North and attempt to go there but are told by the soldiers and by Ariel that Shadi has given orders that “Jewish citizens cannot go through to Ramallah, period”. We tell him that we have been assured by Roni Numa (Commander of the Binyamin Region that includes Ramallah) that our presence at the checkpoints is welcome but Ariel insists that he receives orders only from Shadi (mefaked Ha Pluga). We talk with Numa’s deputy who promises to see what is going onAt 17:30 we realize that there is a total blackout at the checkpoint. The southern check booth is lit by the street light but all the connection between North and southern checkpoint as well as the northern check booth are pitch dark. Of course the checking has been stopped and we are told it will be continued when either flashlights are brought in for the soldiers or the electric generator is filled with gasoline and starts to work again.