afternoon

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Dec-20-2003
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Qalandiya-Sat. Dec. 20, 03 PMWatchers: Rahel H., Vivi S. and a guestA Ram is quiet and there are almost no people. School children pass quickly and the line of cars is short.Qalandiya North--Pedestrians pass quickly, there are just a few, among those waiting who don't have permits. On the other hand the line of cars in the direction of JErusalem is long because each of the vehicles is checked thoroughly by a single soldier while his partner guards him. The soldiers, among them the officer Ehab and the commander Uriel and Eitan are calm and polite with the Palestinians. Outstanding are the cases of youths who are close to the age of 16 who come to the checkpoint with a copy of their birth certificate. Their passage is denied because they do not produce a student card, some of them are allowed to pass by the descretion of the officer Ehab. WE called the Humanitarian Center of the army and left with Royie a complaint about the lack of manpower for the checking of vehicles and the problem with the youths who were not allowed passage. Today we found out that one of the commanders of the checkpoint, Uriel, is a graduate of the course for checkpoint commanders. There was an article about this course in Yediot Ahronot this week and I am using this place to bring a quotation from the newspaper because many of the watchers do not read that paper. In an article written by Roni Shaked on the international aid organizations in the occupied territories on page no. 22 on Fri. Dec. 19:On one of the army bases of central command a course for checkpoint commanders is concluded, a relatively new progession in the IDF, the trains its graduates in dealing with one of the weak points of Palestinanian suffering in the occupied territories... equiped with a diploma, the new graduates are placed as commanders of checkpoints in an effort to ease the passage of Palestinians without compromising security. The checkpoint commanders are guided by eight officers of international organizations who are distributed throughout the occupied territories, they all speak ARabic and their task is to respond to humanitarian problems promptly...officers of the organization affirm that recently there is significant good will among the higher ranks of the IDF for cooperation and more efficient action. The problem, according to Peter Hanson (representative of UNWRA) is that the good spirit does not reach the actual checkpoints, the officers in the field and to the soldiers.