Ar-Ram, Qalandiya Tues. 28.02.06 a.m.Observers: Neta E., Meira A., Mor B., Tamar A. (reporting)Ar-Ram Checkpoint6:55 – 7: 25Packed. A line of 25 pedestrians. In addition, there are schoolchildren crossing on the road. Their bags are also checked. When we left, more and more people were streaming in the direction of Ar-Ram. Most of the people, especially the children, do not look the soldiers in the face. They look at their hands, at the ground, wherever.There is a line of 35 vehicles and the inspection of private cars takes seconds (check of ID’s and trunk) and with Israeli vehicles, only a glance inside. The Palestinian buses were checked by two soldiers who went on board and took about 3 minutes per person, i.e.: a waiting time of 20 – 30 minutes in all.A, from the DCO, decided to take on the role of an inspecting soldier instead of solving problems.A women with a green ID approached him, with an infant wrapped in a blanket in her arms, she wanted to get to the infirmary and showed him a paper apparently confirming this, but without a permit to pass, he immediately wanted to send her back. The company commander, who was there, at least agreed to check out the matter, but came to the conclusion that this was not a medical emergency and the woman was sent back. The commander said to us that this was a classic case where she should have approached the DCO in Beit El, they would have checked with the infirmary and given the woman a permit. Neta reminded him that it would also have been possible to deal with this with a little common sense and that the woman was clearly not a terrorist and asked: “doesn’t it break your heart when you see her with an infant like that?” “No” he answered calmly.”Why from there, ask here”, called the company commander, who stood at a distance of a few meters from A. at the children’s passage, when a woman tried to cross there instead of standing in line. She had a blue ID and apparently another permit but A. did not recognize it and did not allow her to cross. She stood confused and turned to the company commander, pointed to her watch as a sign that she was in a hurry, and after an exchange of a few words was allowed to pass.After some time, the company commander went with another soldier to the other side and they carried out random checks of pedestrians and cars that were going into Ar-Ram.Qalandiya7:35 – 8:35As usual there was total confusion of vehicles, filth, the Wall continues in its path of enclosure, the roads are blocked, but they were concerned with putting up new orange signs that warn those coming and going about the danger of falling rocks on the road to Jaaba which is closed to vehicular traffic and “danger of skidding” on the sign that forbids entry to the dirt side roads along the Wall near the checkpoint. The stones started to fall and the skidding was created, of course, only after they destroyed the hill in order to build the checkpoint and the Wall – and they distanced themselves from responsibility for security by means of these signs. On the Wall in front of the checkpoint, below, once again the infamous slogan appears: “work makes one free”. It didn’t help that they removed the sign “The hope of us all”. Near the checkpoint, intensive construction is taking place under the eyes of private security guards wearing black uniforms – and they are digging iron posts into the ground.Within the checkpoint there is a line of about 10 men, at the turnstile gate they cross without waiting. From the loudspeaker system, one hears shouts of a soldier to an unruly Palestinian “Wait, wait, wait.” and so that it won’t get boring, the soldier also sings into the microphone. A man with a bag on his shoulders presses the button in order to open the “humanitarian” gate and it is opened immediately.At the exit from the checkpoint in the direction of Ramallah, low blocks were placed in order to divide between the road and the path for pedestrians, but the path that was put there supposedly to take care of the security of the pedestrians is a joke. There are two possibilities of leaving and neither is reasonable. One involves climbing around the tall rocks. An elderly man, holding bags, tried it, fell down and had difficulty getting up again. His trousers were filthy and his wife bent over trying to clean them. The second possibility is to cross on the verge of the huge puddle at the edge of the path. A number of young people place pieces of cardboard in a row to enable people to cross both by themselves and with their carts on a drier surface.When we got to the car crossing, there was no line but within a matter of minutes, there was a line of at least 15 cars that quickly built up to 30. In the direction of Ramallah, there is also a line of at least 10 cars.A woman turned to us. She has a house in Hajah in the area of Qalqilya south of Kedumim, and it is about to be destroyed in order to build the Fence. Not only her house, but in all some 50 houses in the village which have the misfortune to be located at the site where the Fence is being built. “You built it in the wrong place,” she was told. While talking to us, she burst into tears. She has a lawyer but is desperately looking for some organization to back her. The ACRI told her that if she has a lawyer, nothing more can be done. We gave her the number of the Organization Against the Destruction of Homes and that of the Rabbis for Human Rights.When we returned to the turnstiles, people were still crossing quickly. A young man stood in the lane for women and old people. “How old are you”, sounded a voice of a soldier over the loudspeaker. The man motioned with his hands to explain that he was deaf and he was allowed to pass.A woman pushing a stroller was able to get through via the first” humanitarian” gate without waiting. When she asked the soldier to open the gate in front of the soldiers’ position, they did not do it. She tried again and again and tried to attract the attention of the soldiers. The soldiers called to Neta: “Please don’t photograph”. “Okay,” she answered, “just open up the gate”. Within a short time, the gate was opened. But the woman had still to deal with the exit gate. It has a camera which is supposed to show on a monitor when a person is unable to get through the turnstiles but, obviously, no one was looking. She rang again and again. Neta went towards the soldiers and, finally, the woman herself tried to get to them, but was not able to reach them because the turnstile is one way only. She called to some women who were crossing near the soldiers to draw their attention to her. Neta meanwhile contacted K. from the DCO to tell him about the commander who was simply not paying attention. After several minutes, the gate was opened and the woman was able to get out.Ar-Ram roadblock8:45 – 8:55A line of about 20 cars and 10 pedestrians waiting in front of the white line painted on the ground for people to cross “one by one”. Some ID’s are looked at quickly, others are taken to the soldiers’ position, where two men and a woman wait for permission to cross and, at last, they board a bus. Suddenly a soldier turns up, lowers his weapon from his shoulder and takes one of the men out of the line. Why? No one knows. After a few seconds the man returns to the line.