Afternoon

Surda checkpoint is a long route about two Kms long serving as the only passage for dozens of villages and for Beir-Zeit university. Passage is only for pedestrians, cars can pass only in exceptional cases like ambulances or special permits for Israeli Palestinians. So the taxis drop their passengers somewhere at the begining of the route and they walk the 2 Kms on foot. The checkpoint consists of IDF jeeps blocking the road for cars. Today there were two jeeps with 8 soldiers. There was an enormous quantity of people, about a thousand, and the soldiers were checking only men. Checking was slow and the queues were very long, the men lined in two big groups approaching the soldiers one by one. Occasionally the soldiers shouted at them to keep order in the line. It hurts to see how obedient the Palestinians are. The soldiers hardly glimpsed at the ID or the man checked. People we talked to said that it was like that everyday all week long.An ambulance was let through to in the direction of Beir-Zeit after a very brief interrogation. The soldiers were new at their job and were nervous but not abusive. The Palestinians said that the soldiers behaved better due to our presence.