Qalandiya

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Oct-22-2003
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Ar-Ram , 1600.

A young man confined in a narrow space, eyes very red. We were not
allowed to speak to him and he was obviously nervous about
answering us. About 9 men were waiting. They were released after
about 20 minutes. We were approached by a young man whose ID was
taken from him earlier in the week, and could not be found. Several
times jeeps drove off with people's ID cards, and even though the
people had the number of the jeeps, our phone calls were fruitless.

Qalandya is a catastrophe. We were unable to do anything
to help. We heard firing in two directions. None of the young
soldiers, nor the volunteer would take any responsibility. Our
phone calls also did not help. Taxi drivers complained that the
mornings are terrible. University students are allowed through on
their way to Abu Dis, but when they get to Ma'aleh Adumim they are
turned back. One of them said to us "You can do little for us.
To your own people you are heretics. Another man who spoke to the
commander asked why there could not be separate lines for children
and the old and sick, as everyone is on top of one another. A young
girl who had been waiting a long time said that the volunteer had
detained her friend, who we could see waiting and who was near
tears. The volunteer had apparently claimed that it had something
to do with her "eyes". He refused to tell us what the
problem was. But after we intervened, he gave back her ID so that
she could pass.

Back at Ar-Ram we found the young man still standing in the same
place with no way of sitting down. It turned out that the young man
had been caught driving without a license. Normally one is given a
day in which to bring it to a police station, but he was detained.
The owner of the vehicle was summoned and his papers taken. The
blue police had been there to check. We phoned them and were told
that they had told the soldiers to release both men, as they had
not the time or the manpower to deal with it. Nevertheless the
captain had seen fit to keep both of them there since 4 o'clock. He
wouldn't let us speak to him.