Afternoon

It was the most horrible Watch I ever participated in.At E-Ram pedestrians passed easily. There was a long line of cars towards Jerusalem. The drivers said the queue took about an hour. No car was allowed in the other direction. We decided to investigate further on our way back and first find out what happened to the grounded taxis.Our driver did not know whether they had been released, but told us that in the morning the passage had been extremely easy and everyone had been in a happy pre-holiday mood. However, just some time ago all cars had been stopped in Jaba. We decided to continue with him and took a musician (and his instruments) who had been travelling from Ramalla for over an hour, changing cars three times, and who was heading towards Jericho to play for children. The traffic jam above the Jaba checkpoint, just across from the village was enormous. Four rows of solidly parked cars prevented any oncoming traffic. We got out and watched from above how by then private cars were let through. All passengers from taxis had to get out and identify themselves and trucks with merchandise were also scrutinized. We noted that a blue police-car (number 361) gave tickets wherever possible. Since there was no passage from Qalandia to Ramalla, cars used the (Jewish) Beth El road in an attempt to reach the city. After about twenty minutes most cars had been ‘processed’ and no people were held up.In the van back to Qalandia were a number of young girls with excellent English, students from Bit Zeit on their way home for the 12-day holiday to celebrate Eid el Adca. Their huge bags blocked the door, so we did not get off to investigate the many people who had trudged through the mud of Tora Bora where they were intercepted by the Border Police and held up. Near Qalandia the driver was told to stop, since no cars were allowed to continue. We were shocked to see that the entire intersection was chock-full of people, at least a thousand, but probably more, waiting, some for hours, in the cold and rain. The little roof gave some shelter, to maybe fifty people. All the others stood there exposed to the elements. Women, young children and crying babies.A young man on his way to Jenin, told us that at noon (it was 4:30 PM) his papers had been taken and were still not returned. Everybody pointed to the old women and young children and begged us to ‘do something’. We approached the soldiers and talked to one of the two girls who could not tell us why they were not allowed to let anyone through. An extremely nasty heavy-set reservist was doing a rain-dance on top of one of the concrete slabs with an annoying grin on his face. When asked why he was so happy to watch shivering women and children standing in the rain, he said, ‘I am pleased, since rain is good for the country’. We called the Moked, which was aware of the situation and trying to do something about it. We were told that four people had tried to run off and were shot at by the soldiers. One was wounded in his leg, one in his abdomen, and they did not know what happened to the two others. The ambulance was not allowed to leave the area of the checkpoint and when we later tried to approach the soldiers to inquire, they had become extremely nervous and panicky and with drawn rifles screamed at us and at the angry crowd. We were afraid that one impatient youngster might hurl a rock and create total havoc and much violence.Two of us went towards the airstrip and found out that the taxis were indeed being released (for the time being!). The others walked to Tora Bora where only the jeep with the BP was left. We frantically tried to call other Machsomwatchers in order to get the press or a photographer, but did not succeed. Y told us to get in touch with Roni Numa. He replied immediately, told us that no one is allowed to leave Ramalla, but that everyone can enter. He was informed of the situation and promised to deal with it. Ten minutes later the crowd was allowed to proceed through the checkpoint (without being checked). The rainwater had risen above the sandbags on the ground of the passageway, but everyone was already soaking wet anyway. Only the men whose papers had been taken (about thirty) stayed behind. We saw that the ambulance was allowed to leave for Ramalla and then noticed how the Border Police arbitrarily sent the cars into different directions until an officer interfered and all were allowed to continue through the checkpoint without hindrance. There were no more lines in Aram, but at an impromptu checkpoint near French Hill we saw a number of detained Palestinians who claimed to have been there for three hours. The soldiers said that they would let them go soon.I called Roni Numa’s secretary and asked her to convey our thanks.