א-ראם, ג'בע (ליל), קלנדיה, יום ד' 28.11.07, בוקר

On the main road of Shuafat and Beit
Hanina the building of the train is continuing and it makes crossing the road
very difficult. The checkpoint of A-Ram was empty. With difficulty we found
another hold in the wall as A-Ram is slowly being sealed  and
blocks our way to Qalandiya

6.00 – 7.45 Checkpoint of Qalandiya.

As far as the general handling of
the checkpoint is concerned there was nothing to complain
about.

While we were there there was brisk
movement, firstly of the workers and then more and more women and from 6.40
pupils. About 7.30 the relations of the prisoners began to gather on their way
to the prison. They came from the West Bank in
three buses.

In the beginning there were 4
checking posts open and at 6.30 a fifth opened. Now and again
there were short line. If a person got stuck as a result of more careful
checking the people piled up behind him but this was never longer than 5
minutes. The voice from the loudspeaker again and again informed people that
there were 5 checking areas open and that there was no reason to only stand at
the first two. A soldier who was praying with his talis covering him left the
outside turnstile open  almost the whole time. Only once he locked it when no
one was arriving and it took  only a few seconds for him to notice that once
more there were people waiting there. There were no delays passing the
turnstiles but had the soldier also opened the other two exterior turnstiles it
would have saved people looking for that which was working.

A Palestinian with American
citizenship was not allowed to pass through to the American consulate in East
Jerusalem because he did not have a permit allowing him into Israel.  He was
surprised that his foreign passport did not help him  but at last understood
that he had to adapt himself to local conditions.

So what was not in
order?

As could be expected the day after
the meeting in Anapolis pointing to the checkpoint, "Is
this the peace?" and "What? Tomorrow they will take down the checkpoint and the
wall?" There was a hostile tone in their words and it sounded as if they were
trying to provoke us but there was truth in their words. There will not be peace
while people on their way to work have to take off their belts, while women will
have to run from turnstile to turnstile according to the voice of the
loudspeaker in a vulgar bark, while children on their way to school have to go
through the heavy turnstiles, while old people make their way off the buses with
difficulty to visit their children in prisons.

At Lil ( Geva) and at Hizma there
were no lines. After Hizma the settlers jammed the road on their way to work.

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