Ar-Ram, Qalandiya 13.04.05 A.M.Observers; Rahel M, Mia B, Rina R, Anat T (reporting)7:00 Crossed the Ar-Ram checkpoint in our car. No detainees. 7:15 At the Qalandiya circle, a water pipe that led to the new terminal had burst. It burst because of the fire that was set by the peddlers and the soldiers reported this to the Jerusalem municipality. The rubbish around the checkpoint was floating on the water, and the filth extended half-way up the passageway leading to the checkpoint. The checkpoint itself is now cleaned by a worker hired by the army. Mia told us about her meeting with the mayor of Jerusalem and the bureau chiefs in which she raised the issue of the cleanliness of the Qalandiya circle and the areas around the checkpoint. They promised to do something. Mia is following up on this. The humanitarian lane was very crowded and once again we were witness to children sqeezed between the pushing adults. We spoke with the commander of the checkpoint and he immediately sent another inspector to the humanitarian lane and within minutes things moved quickly. We spoke with the new representative of the DCO, Uzi, about expanding the number of personnel at Qalandiya in rush hours, and he asked that our request be passed on to the division head, who determines personnel, in the next meeting of machsomwatch with him. The line of cars was long, even though there were two inspection sites. Yesterday, they caught a boy with explosive devises at Hawarrah and today they are doing very careful checks.8:15 Ar-Ram, On our way back from north Qalandiya to Ar-Ram the trip was totally jammed — it is not clear why. Perhaps it was because of the crossing between the lanes because of the tremendous congestion north of Qalandiya or because of the inspections of vehicles north of the checkpoint. At Ar Ram, there were, as usual, about 12 detainees, most of them elderly men. The reports were being filled out, but once again we heard the stories about the brother who went to visit his sister in Beit Hanina without a permit (heaven help us!) and other such crimes against humanity. Someone told us that the DCO in Etzion is closed for repairs and therefore there are no permits being issued in any case. We checked this out with Tzidki and with the spokesperson of the civil administration. And indeed, the repairs will go on until the beginning of May and therefore, the counter serving the public is closed. Whoever needs a permit must go to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and they bring all the requests once a day to the DCO. This arrangement sounds phony for such a large population and we asked the spokesperson to pass on to the higher-ups our complaint about the stupidity and hard-heartedness of such an arrangement. They could easily have transferred the DCO staff to another place, close to Ar-Ram or Qalandiya which would make it easier for the residents. …