Afternoon

A relatively undramatic shift:Qalandya South: a new volunteer tries to prevent our going North ("Jews are not allowed through") - he wants us to wait for an okay from a commander, and once more we have to insist on our right to cross, which the commanding officer at the checkpoint acknowledges. But the passage for Palestinian pedestrians going North is smooth.Qalandya North: the 'tefer' guys are on the whole lenient in letting through Palestinians who have no permit, but explain why they need to pass. One Palestinian is waiting for his I.D. (blue) and his purse, which were confiscated in the morning (8 a.m.), because he was found strolling around in the 'tora bora' area. After our involving the Moked and talking to the officer in charge of the checkpoint, the officer orders the Atarot military camp to send id and purse over by car, and it arrives within minutes. The car flow going South moves extremely slowly - an ambulance carrying a sick person to be taken for a check-up has been waiting for 1 1/2 hours. We don't know what the reason for this slowness is.Our friend A. tells us, that on Monday morning (the day before) all hell broke loose, as a checkpoint was activated near Jab'a (Adam junction): nobody was allowed through in either direction, and there was constant use of tear-gas to prevent people from moving.