Ar-Ram and Qalandiya July 13, 2004 AMObservers: Rachel O. en Hannah Y. (reporting)Ar-Ram, 6.40.An ambulance arrived from Jerusalem, and parked just outside the checkpoint. After a short while two Palestinian women were hurried through the checkpoint. The younger woman was carriying a baby whom she handed to one of the Red Magen David people. Through the rear window we saw that several people were taking care of the child. Outside the crying mother and her companion were led to a parked car in which they could sit and wait.While this was going on, no less than five cement mixers drove into the Ar-Ram area. Where they heading for the wall, even if its construction had been interrupted for the time being? We arrived at Qalandiya at 7.25. A great many taxi’s and transits took passengers eastward. We talked to a young lady from Ramallah who was waiting for a friend to pick her op and drive her to Nablus.“But if you have to go to the north, why did you go to the south first?” we asked naively.“Because Ramallah has only one exit. There is no other way for us to travel.”“So how long does it take you to travel from Ramallah to the neighboring Nablus?”“Three hours in the morning, and three hours in the evening to go home. Enough time to fly to England.”In Qalandiya we found that the signs ‘No drinking water’ in Arabic, put up by fellow machsomwatchers, were still in place. We went to the tail end of the line, and when we wanted to walk to its head end again, a border police man told us to queue up like everybody. We complied, and when our turn came to show our ID’s we pointed to our machsomwatch tags and asked him if he knew who we were. He had no idea. We gave him a card and advised him to look us up on the internet. He said he would. We proceeded through the metal detector, and noticed that there was no sign in any language about this being forbidden for people with pace makers. We remembered having read something about this in previous reports and decided to check with the commander.However, when we asked who he was and where we could find him, Elana, who serves in the reserves, offered to help us. We explained the problem, she thanked us for drawing her attention to it and PROMISED to take care of it.We told her that our friends would be there tomorrow to say shalom to her and check what she had done. We parted on good terms. I made a note of contacting the women in question as soon as I came home.In the cab back to Ar-Ram a passenger, who said he was a doctor in political sciences at the University of Beir-Zeit, accused us, all those Jews from Russia and Poland, of occupying his country since 1948. To my satisfaction Rachel countered with: “We, machsomwatchwomen, are here to protest against the occupation of the territories, but don’t expect us to go back to Poland and Russia, for we have no such plans.”Another passenger sneered: “Who is paying you for all those favors you are doing?”I was proud (especially in the light of the ongoing discussion about whether or not to employ a salaried person for publicity) that I could honestly answer: “Nobody pays us. We are Jews and Jerusalemites and volunteers.”Back in Ar-Ram at 9 o’clock, we watched for a while how a blue police man randomly checked the drivers of incoming cars for their licenses. Although there is nothing wrong with checking the papers of any driver any place, we felt that this was another way to harrass the Palestinians as much as possible. We asked the police man how he felt standing for hours in the burning sun in such a lousy place. He shrugged and said: “It’s my way to earn a living.”Having travelled from Qalandiya to Ar-Ram by taxi, we where walking on the sidewalk opposite the checkpoint proper. A very friendly and responsible border police man asked us if we could please walk on the right side of the road, where we of course would be allowed take the path for women, old people and invalids.We asked him about the incident with the ambulance which we had witnessed earlier that morning. He told us some details: Having received a phonecall from Ar-Ram that a baby had lost conscience, he had immediately ordered an ambulance with the necessary equipment to the checkpoint, so that the baby could be revived on the spot. To his genuine satisfaction, things had turned out well, and the mother had taken her child back home.A heart-warming story within an ugly context!!!