morning

28 December, 2003. Morning – Aram, Qalandiya, HizmeObservers: Judy S., Dalia R., Ada G. and Ilana D. 6:30 A-Ram – no queue of pedestrians or cars. A steady drizzle was just ending. The young bagel-vendor located on a small traffic isle in the middle of the road from Jaba was complaining that the officer hadn’t allowed him to move his cart under the awning along the passage of people coming south. We promised to inquire. The soldiers appeared all very friendly and it expired that today is their last day, after a three-months’ stint in Qalandiya. They will be off to another Checkpoint. One of the volunteers had a smile and proved extremely efficient in moving the queue. Even when the pressure was at its greatest the wait was not longer than ten minutes. Dalia was amazed that no body searches were carried out and that there were no metal detectors. The reply that ‘suspicious’ persons are checked thoroughly apart didn’t really satisfy her. We noted that the pedestrian lane had been moved around a big rock on the right, thus forcing people to walk outside the awning. The explanation for the ‘detour’ was that it enlarged the sterile area behind the checking soldiers at the checkpoint. Our request to move the bagel-vendor was met with another security-based reply, namely that if one were allowed to move his merchandise into the area of the checkpoint others would inevitably follow immediately, thus creating havoc. The number of transits ‘parked’ on the runway seemed to have increased to almost a hundred. The taxi-drivers beyond the checkpoint seemed happy and reported that Surda was open. A huge and very deep puddle hampered southbound traffic. Apparently this is an annual recurrence whenever it rains even slightly. The Jerusalem Municipality shirks responsibility, since the puddle starts two yards beyond the separation fence and of course the Municipality of Ramalla is too far away. Cars had to wait in a long line for about half an hour, but it all seemed somewhat more relaxed than usual. The idle taxi-drivers around a bon-fire invited us to sit and chat with them about the ‘situation’. Jaba was open and we drove along Tora Bora where we spotted two men jumping down from and through three layers of coiled barbed wire. We proceeded to Hizme and inspected the checkpoint under Pisgat Zeev with its tall observation tower. Traffic moved smoothly. The friendly soldiers who thought we were lost gave us (wrong) instructions to get to the Anata Checkpoint which we missed and will have to explore at our next shift. We returned via A-Ram where our Id's were investigated meticulously. Ilana D.