Ar-Ram, Qalandiya, Thursday morning, 6.4.2006Observers: Netta E. Tamar A. (reporting)7.00 – 9.30Confusion, fear, bitterness. Ar-Ram. 7.00 A short line of pedestrians and about 40 cars. From the checkpoint to the wall a fence has been put up. Only at the crossroads at the back of the checkpoint has an opening been left and next to this stand four border police checking ids of pedestrians and drivers who wish to pass to the Jerusalem side in the direction of the checkpoint or Atarot. There is a traffic jam because of the cars which are returned to the side of Ar-Ram. At the side of Ar-Ram a teacher is standing. His school is opposite on the Jerusalem side and he has been told that he cannot pass here but only at Qalandiya. “ There is order, The checkpoint is over there. Everyone passes there. Nothing can be done.” This the border policeman says and the teacher says he will go home.We pass in the car to the Jerusalem side to see if we can get to Qalandiya that way and take the road which is parallel to the wall behind a short section which turns left. As we continued we saw giant signs on the road “Ramallah” as if we could go that way freely. In the opposite direction signs to Jerusalem and that also is not logical because according to the definition the municipal border of the area through which we are travelling …Beit Hanina, Atarot…is already Jerusalem. The road which is designated as the new main road Jerusalem – Ramallah does not look exactly like that… a narrow and neglected road, full of holes which is on the borderline for the passage of a normal car. The end of the road leads back to the wall where there is still an opening to Ar-Ram . In other words we could have travelled the normal way and it is advisable to do so. Here also border police stand, one of whom has his gun pointed at the passers-by and they are checking ids. A police car is parked at the side. We carry on along the Jersualem side of the wall and so arrive at Qalandiya. This part of the road is pleasant and we see mainly pedestrians. The turning to road 443 has been opened again and that way one can also reach the checkpoint.7.30 – 8.45 – We park the car next to the road leading to 443. At the back of us sits a resident of the Old City in his car. He is waiting for his son who is coming from Kufer Akab. The son asked him to pick him up there. He passed the checkpoint in his car in the direction of Hufer Akab but when he wanted to go back with his son was told that only the driver could pass in the car and the passengers have to go through the pedestrian lane. There his son is still standing and the father waiting. Already at 7.30 he was supposed to be at work in Rishon Lezion. Where the wall has been closed with a fence soldiers are standing. Pedestrians who have passed the checkpoint continue their way along the Jerusalem side of the wall. There is no public transport, not buses, not taxis. From what we can see on the other side also at Ar-Ram there are none. On the way to the checkpoint are two small children, standard a or b , who are looking around confused and frightened and not sure in which direction they should go.At the checkpoint there are four posts for checking the men and each one has about 30 people waiting. The women’s post is practically empty.The checkpoint for cars travelling northward to Ramallah has been cancelled and on the road there is a steady flow of traffic. At the new checkpoint for cars there was no line when we arrived but by 7.47 12 cars were waiting a relatively short time. The 12th car took 6 minutes to pass. A truck which evidently did not have the correct permits is sent back. Each car has to pass two checks. The first check is to show the id from the car, the soldier looks from his window in the direction of the fence. Then the window has to be opened so that the soldier can be handed the id . Usually the baggage compartment is not checked. A car with four passengers passes with all inside. For the first check there is one post for all and for the second three different posts but only one is open. A man with a green id approaches us. He has a document from the Ministry of the Interior stating that he has put in a request for permanent residency. But this is not enough to allow him to pass and he cannot get to his home in Shuafat. On the side a Palestinian car is parked which somehow managed to get into the Jerusalem side and three soldiers are standing there. When we go back to the checking area of the pedestrian lane the first one for women, children under 13 and men over 45 is fairly empty and at the second a line of 20 men and in the third and fourth 10-15.The soldier standing at the first post is not impressed by the fact that it is written that men over 45 can pass there. He shouts through the microphone: “Everyone to go. You have nothing to do here. I won’t open for you. Only women and children. I don’t care what is written.” Later he announces that only men over 60 can pass there. 2 pupils of about 16 who try to pass here are sent back even though they have passed the first carousel. One who has a green id turns to us. He does not understand what is happening. He is on the way to his school in Atarot and is not allowed to pass. He stands there not knowing what to do. Suddenly he sees that his friend with the same id has managed to get through at a different post so goes there and succeeds. A man who has a permit to visit a sick relative in hospital is not allowed to pass. Netta phones the DCO representative who comes out to check and allows him through. A man suffering from diabetes, the owner of a blue id and who is over the age of 45 has to go for treatment but is not allowed to pass in the fast line. “What? I should die here?” he asks bitterly and says he will send a complaint through B’Tselem.The man’s line stops and for a few minutes no one passes. 16-18 pupils are crowding together before the checkpoint posts. They want the closed post to be opened so that they should be able to pass quicker. “Go back. Go back” comes the voice of the soldier through the microphone. “Go back. I told you this is closed. Even if you press on the communication.” A woman soldier is heard “Children to go to line one.” But these are not exactly children. In the end they pass, some through the men’s line and some through the women’s. In the last line passes a blind man who cannot find the opening for his id. “To the right. To the right”, the women in the line tell him. In the meantime eight women are trying to pass together. The soldier does not agree. He says they must come one at a time and not two. They have to give in. Then one woman does not notice that the light is green and this is also not right and she is shouted at. An older man does not understand exactly what he has to do and bypasses the electromagnet. He is ordered back and a woman shows him how he should go. At the exit people are still looking for the way to go.9.03-9.23 Checkpoint Ar-Ram. Few pedestrians and at least 15 cars. We wait 23 minutes. A few hundred yards further on in the direction of Jerusalem is a rolling checkpoint.