morning

Aram & Qalandia, Wednesday December 31, 2003, Morning Watchers: Neta E, Rina R, Sylvia P Visitors (?) Marit and Yehudith General: There was no rain yet but it was freezing. The whole area was quiet and open. Aram: We were there for a few minutes. People moved quickly and the queue was short. A soldier with a baby face came to us and asked what we are doing there. He was amused to see five grown up ladies standing near the checkpoint in a freezing morning. Neta explained who we are and he went back to his “work”. Suddenly a special vehicle (from the Police?) called with a loudspeaker not to park Ford Transits in the place they used to park and wait for passengers. Two Ford Transits that were there continued picking up passengers. The Police car left. (I suppose that it is connected with the will to change the Ford Transits for Buses after the opening of the Central Bus Station in East Jerusalem. I didn’t see Palestinian buses yet.) Beit Hanina: We walked into Beit Hanina, to the place where soldiers use to “hunt” people who try to avoid the checkpoint. There were no soldiers there. Too cold. We went back and it was an opportunity for our guests to see roadblocks with their own eyes and to climb three of them to make our way. Qalandia: There was a lot of movement: people, vehicles. There were many orange taxis and this morning I read in Haaretz that “The Orange Taxis Come Back to West Back Roads”. It was true in Qalandia. The checkpoint was manned in a place closer to the Palestinian side and the people stood under a shed. While we were walking to the checking point, a man made a sign that there are problems there. There were two men that looked imploring the soldiers to let them pass and the soldiers didn’t. We neither asked nor showed any interest in what was happening with these two men and moved to a place far from the checking point. The rest of the people moved quickly, like in Aram. An old soldier greeted us and told us that he is there – we can go home. ,/p> We stood where people crossed in the direction of Ramallah. Many people passed us. A very old woman, hardly walking, crossed with a young man who was carrying a heavy basket. A young lady carried a baby and a very heavy suitcase. Two of us carried the suitcase to the other side of the checkpoint where there was a family member waiting for her. Then a group of many women with many packages stopped there and two of us helped them carrying the packages. Suddenly one of the soldiers was seen holding the orange ID of one of the two men that were not allowed to pass and tried to attract him in the direction of Ramallah (like you do to attract a dog to some place with a piece of meat). It didn’t help to get rid from the imploring man. But, a few minutes later a soldier was seen brutally pushing the man in our direction. This time he gave up. He passed near us but he didn’t say anything and we didn’t say anything. After passing the checkpoint a lady came to us as if she needed something. She said thank you, in Hebrew, and left. It seems that people mistakenly think that the relative freedom of movement in the checkpoint is connected with our presence there. When we left, after a short while, the other man was not in the checkpoint anymore. It seems that he was allowed to cross.