Afternoon

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Jan-20-2003
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Qalandia south - very quiet. There were few vehicles and there was a stream of people passing with few being stopped .However, the paths were muddy and full of water. 3 volunteers from the "Kav Hatefer" and 2 female soldiers who behaved correctly.Qalandia North - many people waiting. Most people were allowed to pass without problems.We spoke to a group of taxi drivers who complained that on Friday, the 17th of Jan. 2 female policewomen appeared, under the auspices of the army and gave out very heavy fines to most of the taxi drivers. For example, a fine of 250 sh. was given to a driver who did not fasten his security belt. Another driver was fined 700 sh. for various reasons. It was impossible to decipher what had been written.(he got 3 different reports that summed 700sh.) Others complained of the situation. They said that there are so many barriers that they are frightened to send their children to school."Tora Bora" - we didn't see any Palestinians trying to pass. However, we met a taxi driver who pointed out a building (it stands in front of the cars checkpoint in the south part ) where he said people who are detained are put, sometimes for many hours. We approached the soldiers who were there checking the vehicles and tried to find out . They said it was empty while we were there and offered to let us check.(It is not easy to get to the building, it is quite inside the road)They confirmed that the place is used for temporary detention, sometimes for long periods of hours if it is necessaryE-Ram - The entrance to Aram was organised and quiet, though there were long lines of cars waiting. When we returned we saw a man who was being detained. We asked about him and were told he was being detained on the order of the "Security Services", had been waiting for 2 hours and would wait as long as necessary.We phoned the "Moked" and reported to them. The soldiers and their officer (Boaz) told us to move away immediately and were very aggressive and rude. The man was released shortly after that