Ar-Ram, Qalandiya – Tuesday, 2.5.06 PMWatchers: Roni H., Norah O.Memorial Day-Eve of Day of Independence: Very tight closure for Palestinians14:15 – Ar-RamAt 14:00, checkpoint commander Bassem received orders from the higher echelons saying, that as from immediately, all permits for Palestinian id holders are invalid, except for “humanitarian” cases. A Palestinian woman, who shows her permit at the cp, can’t believe her ears, when passage is refused to her – she has a valid permit, which so far has been perfectly kosher for passage. Our intervention is of no avail either– those are his orders, says Bassem.14:30 – A Palestinian ambulance arrives at the cp from Ramallah, carrying a young man who suffers from a brain haemorrhage which occurred last night. He is being transferred back-to-back to an Israeli ambulance, which is to take him to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem. The permit for hospitalization in Hadassah was granted only today at noon. His mother has a permit to accompany him.The car-line before the cp is very long. The streets are full of children coming home from school.14:40 – “the checkpoint before the checkpoint” (just after Dahia)Here too very heavy traffic. Bus Nr. 81 undergoes a thorough checking of all the passengers. 100 m further on, it will be checked again at the Dahia cp.We hop on a taxi heading for Ramallah. The driver lets us off just after the Qalandiya cp.15:00 – Qalandiya cp (Atarot terminal)No flying cp for vehicles today on the Eastern road leading to Ar-Ram. Consequently, the notorious traffic jam is gone, the traffic flows rapidly, no nervous car honking: a weird feeling.Cars heading for Jerusalem pass through the checkpoint in 3 lanes.From a conversation I have with police officer David Abuhatseira the following picture emerges:for the time being, the police force is in charge of the checking at the cp, and Abuhatseira is responsible for the entire compound. Border police is in charge of securing the car checking (headed by commander Benny I, whom we know from Ar-Ram cp), where as in the pedestrian lanes the army takes care of security. The whole arrangement is temporary, until the checking will be passed over to a civilian body.”I don’t want you to interfere with the soldiers’ work”, says Abuhatseira. “Who’s interfering? All we want is for people to pass the cp without any problems.””Now everything works smoothly”, says Abuhatseira. Ask the Palestinians.” “Depending whom I’ll ask, and mainly depending on the question, if the person lives on the convenient, “right” side of the Separation Wall!” “If you encounter any problems, come and see me”, says he.A few minutes later, we, in fact, encounter a problem, which I want him to solve (but where is he? gone, vanished, can’t be found, and the border policemen won’t let me approach the car checking lanes): 5 Palestinian men who live in the Jerusalem area of jurisdiction, each of them holding a “family reunification” permit, are refused passage in the pedestrian lanes. Here too, all permits are invalid today. But those men are determined to get home and start to phone around on their own initiative. Amongst others, they call the Army Spokesperson who refers them to the Central Command HQ. Shortly after that, a police officer shows up and saves the situation. He checks their papers, and they are being let through (after having waited for 1 ½ hours!).16:45 – We decide to travel with them on bus Nr. 78, which is parked right near the exit of the cp. The men get off before the Ar-Ram cp (the car line there being too long – many others get off too and cross the cp by foot, in spite of the fact, that they’ll have to pay again, when they catch another vehicle after the cp). We stick to the 5 men, as we want to know, if they’ll run into any problems at the cp checking. And, lo and behold, it’s the same story all over again: B won’t allow them to cross. This time, we do the phoning and call Yamit, Yoram H’s aid (Border Police Commander of the “Jerusalem Envelope”). After hearing the absurd story, she offers to inform the relevant unit, and eventually (after being detained for half an hour), the five men walk over and travel home.Happy Independence Day!