Ar-Ram, Qalandiya, Monday afternoon, 24.4.2006Observers: Michal Z. Noah A.I. (reporting)15.00 Ar-Ram. A cold and rainy day. Two lines of cars in the direction of Jerusalem, one fairly short and the other 35-40 cars. The explanation seems to be that the one is for those arriving from the north of the wall and the other for those from the south. We went on by car to Qalandiya on the southern side of the wall. We went round the road on which the taxis driver to the west side of the checkpoint. We went by car through the checkpoint itself I the direction of Jerusalem. The passage was swift and there was no long line. We parked in the parking spot. Qalandiya. The checkpoint closed for about 5-10 minutes and probably as a result there were 20 cars there. The pedestrian lines were completely empty. On our way out we met 4 men, 3 of whom had no patience for us and told us “This is our land.” But the fourth spoke willingly with a sad and tired look. He has two children who study at the university and he lives 10 kilometers from Ramallah. He gets up at 4.30 in the morning to get to the checkpoint by 6.30 and there it takes him from half and hour to two hours to get through. “They only open one line. It is bad. Why?”We had the impression from many conversations with people that they do not understand why so much effort is made to make things difficult for them. They are only trying to make their living, not to blow up, they are not Hamas so why this cruelty?Anata. 30 cars each taking about half an hour. One of the peddlers vies us sweets for the children.