'Anata, Qalandiya, Thu 14.2.08, Morning
When we arrive we see a teenage boy, his face is
all swollen and so is his arm and he is covered with mud. The other boys tell us
that the army hit him. As we continue to walk a Palestinian tells us that a man
was hit by the guards at the CP. As we get there we see the BP officers, who
apparently just arrived, and told us that he was not there and did not know
about the incident we reported, but seemed quite worried and apparently inquire
about them. The head of the Va'ad meets us and tells us that there was shooting
a few minutes before (two shots were fired,) and the man who was hit was in the
military jeep. When we inquired about him the jeep already took him and drove
away.
The traffic at the CP is very heavy, mainly
children, and the line of the cars is very long. Checking is quite thorough,
there are many BP soldiers and civil security and like last week the checking is
done in two rows. Still, the line moves slowly and the pressure is quire heavy.
We counted three BP officers who came to the spot.
When we turned to find out bout the man who was
hit, a Palestinian told us: "You don't move from here, the moment you move the
traffic will be jammed." The pedestrian traffic was, indeed, flowing. All of sudden two soldiers
started chasing two young guys, but came back when those ran up the hill.
Apparently they threw stones. One of the soldiers made the astute observation
when he said "they don't like us". The civil guard argued with the soldiers that
chasing the stone throwers was not warranted, but was in a minority of one.
We left at about 7.50 , when the traffic dwindled.
8.15 Qalandiya
Many prisoners' families in the waiting area and
many people crowded at the external turnstiles. One man said that he was there
since 6 am. The magnometer at the fifth entrance that broke down last week had
not been replaced, or repaired, yet. While we were there one the turnstiles also
stopped working, perhaps because of the ressure of the people who crowded at the
turnstiles. The lines at the entrances barely moved. The pressure was unusual
for that time of the day.
A young man approached us and said that in
the last two weeks the soldiers find all kind of ways to slow down the checkup.
That was quite evident to-day.
We called the Matak, and Hussam the officer came
out and was very helpful in letting sick people and mothers with babies through
the side line, but there was no relief for the "ordinary" people. The pressure
was lifted on at 9.25.
The prisoners' families had to wait till there
will be no lines and only then let through. This was because the shortage of
magnometers.