Ar-Ram, Qalandiya, Thursday afternoon, 29.1.04 Leah N-G, Limor Y 15:15, Ar-Ram: From 10:00 in the morning, since the bombing, there has been a curfew. The result – the entry of vehicles has been stopoped and the passage for pedestrians is only for Israeli residents. Permits are not valid. People who arrived in their cars at the check point have been stuck here since the morning. The soldiers are not allowing them to pass even for making a U-turn. They are also not able to turn at all since, according to them, there is a policeman at the bottom of the road who is giving traffic tickets to whoever makes a turn. In brief, they have been stuck here for hours!! At the check point, the BP soldiers and a policeman, and we ask them to check into the situation. A little while later, we see that many cars are leaving the check point (there is no choice other than riding in reverse or against the direction of the traffic all the way), following the departure of the policeman from the area. There are 3 detainees at the check point who were caught in Israeli territory without a permit. They are waiting until someone comes to take them for interrogation.There is a pretty long line at the pedestrian channel. People are continuously pushing at the white line which marks the place where it is necessary to wait. For the moment, this is positioned about 10 meters from the hut. Taking into consideration the long time which passes until the person being checked arrives at the policeman who checks his documents, it is not surprising that a line is forming. At our request concerning the line, the BP soldiers answer that there is nothing which can be done about it, since they have to make a serious check. 16:30, Qalandiya: A new Unit from Engineering is manning the check point; there has been added to it a group of soldiers, male and female, from the BP Company which previously manned the check point. Listening to the soldiers, we learn that the previous Unit was disbanded. The version of the reasons for this disbanding were not entirely consistent, but it seems that the Unit was dispersed after it was revealed that there were soldiers taking bribes from Palestinians, and also were dealing in drugs. Also Shadi was not there, which also raised certain questions. According to the officer, “Shadi is not here and there is a reason for that.” Hemda, a female soldier from the previous Unit who remained, says that they were taught that Qalandiya is not a check point but a passageway, since its intention is to allow people to pass through. However, it seems that for not a few people this terminology is not helpful, since they remain stuck in Ramallah.The volunteer at the check point is rigid and thorough and macho. At some point, he stops the checking until two women whom he has ordered to return finally leave the area of the check point.The responsible officer acts like a machine. He doesn’t use any common sense. In his opinion, his common sense is relevant only when the checker doesn’t know how to decide. A woman who lives in Hizma is sent back and not allowed to pass through the check point. Also small children need to stand in line. He only allows the elderly with obvious difficulty in walking to go through New Jersey. The biggest sign of flexibility he demonstrated which we witnessed was concerning a woman whom he allowed to leave her many bundles at New Jersey and come and get them after the checking rather than carrying them the whole distance standing in line. 18:00, Ar-Ram: There is still a line of pedestrians. The line lasts more than 20 minutes. No attempt is made to hurry things along. Again, the same answer – What can we do? we have to check thoroughly.An ambulance is kept waiting at the check point for a long time. It seems that it is not registered. At the humantarian hotline they tell the commander that he should let it through if he sees that it is a critical case. The soldier complains that he is forced to use hiw own judgement. The ambulance team presents papers in English concerning the state of the patient. After Leah translates the documents for him and directs him to the conclusion that this is indeed a serious case, he allows the ambulance to pass. Limor