Qalandiya

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Aug-19-2003
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Qalandya, 16.20. Many soldiers today.
They seem to be polite but very strict. Many people are stopped,
and rerouted via Surda if they are going to Bethlehem or Hebron. A
woman from Gaza wanted to join her husband from the West Bank. She
claimed to have no ID (if she is caught in Qalandya with a Gaza ID,
she goes to jail). Two women claimed they did not have the money to
go via Surda, but this did not interest the soldiers much. Soon
after we arrived we heard shooting, apparently from the fence
between the airport and Qalandya village. Later, when walking on
the main road near the refugee camp, we suddenly saw children
throwing stones from a roof on two soldiers. The soldiers were
shooting at them, aiming directly at the children. A. ran into the
middle of the road shouting at the soldiers to stop shooting. At
the same time, a soldier was hit from a big stone thrown from the
roof. Although he wore a helmet, he screamed in pain, and fell
down. Within seconds, he got up, and both soldiers ran out of
sight. We assumed that they went into the refugee camp, after the
children. We made a couple of calls, and the shooting stopped. At
the checkpoint, the commander awaited us. He told us that he was
one of the two soldiers in the patrol that "fought" the
children. The other soldier was injured, and sent to hospital with
a suspected concussion (by now he is OK, released from hospital,
and apparently, no concussion). The soldiers used "dummy"
ammunition. He accused A., that because of her shouting, the
soldiers were distracted, and this is why the other soldier got
hit. He said we put them at risk, and took A. ID
details.

Recall that the road near the junction to Jaba’a is divided into
lanes. Only the military may use the rightmost lane. This causes a
constant traffic jam in the junction. Several drivers took this
lane, and the keys to their cars were confiscated. But when we
intervened, the keys were returned. Approximately 30 confiscated
vehicles are parked at the Qalandya airport runway. They have
Israeli plates, while their drivers have Palestinian ID's.
Sometimes it is enough that a passenger does not have a permit, to
punish the driver and confiscate the car. Some of the cars are
confiscated for a week, others for up to a month. In order to get
the cars back (usually damaged), the driver has to pay a fine of
thousands of shekels.