first report

Anata, Ar-Ram, Qalandiya, Thursday, 17.2.2005, AMObservers: Aviva W., Rama Y. (reporting)A bad morning.Anata. There are more soldiers than usual, and civilpolice too, including three mounted policemen, andeven a police dog. No one knows the reason for this,and people keep asking us what's going on. Later on,we ask the CP commander, and the answer: A routineoperation. There are eight detainees, five men andthree women. Three of the men are in possession ofwork permits that seem to us to be in order, and it'snot clear why they are held at all. The commander iswilling to listen, and it's clear that while actingaccording to the rules, his attitude is to the point;there are no "educational" measures against"transgressors". No one is held over twenty minutes.Those with no permits have to sign a form, and aresent back.One of the women detainees was on her way to thehospital - her three-year-old daughter had beenhospitalized the night before, and was to be operatedon that morning. The woman didn't have a permit or anydocument from the hospital. She was finally letthrough. The two other women had been apprehendedwhile trying to bypass the CP. They had to sign theforms, and were sent back. Two of the men with thework permits were soon released too. The third had togo back.Ar-Ram. Here too there were more soldiers than usual.There was some problem with the schoolchildrentransportation, and when we arrived, hundreds ofchildren were waiting, and then all of a sudden dozensof vans appeared together, causing jams, whilechildren were running all around, looking for theirtransportation. It was some miracle that no one washurt.On the way to Qalandiya, we noticed again a heavymilitary presence. Half way we got stuck in a hugetraffic jam, and nothing moved. It took forty minutesand the initiative of some good-hearted Palestiniansto un-jam the jam. Only when finally we arrived toQalandiya did we understand all the strangeoccurrences of the morning: The CP was totally blockedboth directions for an hour and a half by the time wegot there. Hundreds of people, maybe thousands, werethere, not knowing what was going on - because, ofcourse, and as usual, no one bothered to tell themanything. Why should they? And once again, peopleaddressed us. Because we are considered to be therepresentatives of those unknown forces that decidewhether or not they can get on to work or school. We called Z. of Jerusalem Envelope: There was a "hotalert"; no way of knowing how long it would take. Atleast we could communicate this information to thosewho asked us. Z. added that there were tworepresentatives of the DCO at the CP, checking andletting through humanitarian cases. Indeed, anambulance was let through after five minutes delay. We left after an hour.