Ar-Ram and Qalandiya 6.30. Reporting: Marit Few people and cars. Crossing is fast.Right after the checkpoint the northbound lane has been demolished. We couldn’t see how one gets from Ramallah to Jerusalem.At Qalandiya, the parking lot can be reached only by driving west (the end of 442) and then back. Next to the roundabout, what used to be the road to Jerusalem, became a place for detained cars, 5-10 at any time we were there. There is a lot of confusion and unrest. Drivers are not familiar with the new road arrangements, the BP’s, very young, function mostly as traffic police, try hard to look authoritative. We asked them to be a bit more considerate, but hardly got any response.A young man was detained for not keeping his parole regulatins as not to leave home before 7.00 am. He got some job in Talpiot, and was worried he might loose it for not being there on time. We called Safadi’s office. They promised to see if they can help.The Qalandiya checkpoint was exceptionally empty. Very few people, the electronic gate enabled fast checking. The soldiers, though, were rude and couldn’t stop cracking jokes while checking ID’s. The commander in charge promised us to look into the matter.Back at the roundabout, the young man had just been released, and releasing the detained cars looked better. Has our phonecall helped?We decided to find out in what way one can get from Ramalla to Jerusalem, by following the cabs that go from the hill opposite the ToraBora. We took the way to Jericho, turned right after one KM, through the streets of Ar-Ram, till we hit the main road, next to the checkpoint.Waiting in the queue of 8 cars took 25 (!) minutes, and another 5 for checking our driving license etc.