afternoon

Qalqiliya, Tulkarm Observers: T R, E A, T R13:45 There was free passage for pedestrians and cursory inspection of motor vehicles. There was a large area apparently set aside for back to back transfer of goods.A colonel by the name of Halabi arranged for two Palestinians with blue IDs. but without permits to go into Qalqiliya. There was a brigade commander, Eli Morad stationed there. Morad stopped three locals who were travelling by horse near the checkpoint road down down the road at a quick pace and made them come back because he objected to the speed at which they travelled. At the checkpoint was a Palestinian by the name of M.A., who had a blue i.d. and permit to go into Qalqiliya. He was allowed to go by foot, but not by car, and parked his car on the side of the road near the checkpoint. When he wished to return, his keys were taken from him. We got several different versions of why his keys were being held (he was said to have commited traffic violations, there were security concerns, etc.) However, as it turned out, Morad did not like the fact that he parked his car near the checkpoint, and that he was bothered by the fact that he came so frequently to Qalqiliya. As a result, he wanted to punish him by taking away his keys. He said that from now on, he had to park at Nebi Alias, some distance from the checkpoint. Asaf, one of the soldiers stationed there said that from the time Morad had been there, soldiers who tried to ease up on the treatment of the Palestinians were reprimanded, and as a result, A., a Palesitnian with a wife and children in Qalqiliya was denied entrance to the city. Iris got in touch with the humanitarian hotline and was told that he would have to go to the DCO in order to get an i.d. saying that he was a resident of the West Bank. At 15:10, we arrived at the Tul Karem checkpoint. The officer there was On and he requested that we speak only with him. There was another first sergeant there who refused to tell us his name and who was extremely tense. He forcefully grabbed a Palestinian who was on a donkey with a cart, handcuffed him, and took him aside. There was a 13 year old boy with the man who tried to find out what was happening, and On screamed at some Palestinians who were watching what was happening that if they did not control the boy, he would. (On speaks fluent Arabic). The handcuffed Palestinian was with 9 other detainees. When we tried to find out what was happening, the sergeant told us that as long as we were there, he would not do anything about checking out the detainees, and what is more, he would call the police and tell them that we were disturbing him. Some 20 minutes later, he started making calls (at the urging of On). Five minutes later, the handcuffed man was released. It appears that his crime was having grabbed the arm of the sergeant when he was told that he was blocking the passageway with his cart. The other 9 detainees were accused of having been in Israeli territory illegally. They contended that they had been there since 8:00 a.m. without food. On said that they were waiting until a vehicle would come to take them for interrogation. At 15:55, 3 police vehicles arrived to investigate the complaint made against us by the sergeant. The police were very pleasant toward us and interested in our work, but asked for our i.d.'s because they said that they had to do so because a complaint was made against us -- even though they saw the complaint as being unwarranted and a waste of their time. Before we left, On asked us to inform him by phone before we come so that he can take care of our security while we are in the area. We said that we would try, but gave no promissed. We then went to Jabarra to see the children's gate (closed and empty). On the way back to the Tul Karem checkpoint at 16:25, we saw that the 9 detainees were still there. Iris called to find out what was happening, but never got a call back. Food was then distributed to the detainees (perhaps because we were there).On the way home, we stopped at Klansua at the coffee shop in the industrial district. When A., a local teacher saw our Machsomwatch tags, he ordered juice for us and asked that we give his telephone number to all machsomwatch members who go to Tul Karem so that we can be in touch with him if we need any help.