Machsom Atara,Thursday morning, 20.7.2006Observers: Milly M. Netta I. Tamar A. (reporting), Natanya translatingShift 6.00 -10.306.30 – Hizma checkpoint. Two turnstiles in the direction of Jerusalem, one for Jerusalemites who are not checked and one for Palestinians who are checked. 5 cars in line.6.40 – The road to Jaba. Blocked with cement blocks, a rolling checkpoint next to the industrial area, Sha’ar Benjamin in the direction of the south. 40-50 cars in three lanes.7.05 – 9.10 Atara. On the steep road which rises to the checkpoint practically for the whole time that we were there, there was a line of 50 cars waiting for 30-40 minute. On the road from the village Atara in the beginning there were 10 cars and after an hour 12. By 8.35 empty and then occasional cars. Five border police checking two lanes about a minute to a car. About half an hour later soldiers join them and then another lane is opened. An ambulance is allowed to bypass the line but after the ids are checked is sent back because it has come from Jenin. Pedestrians pass without waiting and no checking. Dozens of pedestrians wait for vans to pick them up from Ramallah and now and again pass on foot when their ids have been checked. No one gets here on foot from his home but by vans but they alight at the checkpoint hoping to get through more easily on foot. A father and a girl from the village of Atara are on their way to the doctor, they are both very elegantly dressed but are not allowed to pass. At first they try to get through on foot and afterwards in a car but they are removed from the car. Eventually the second platoon commander lets them pass and then checks the ids of the pedestrians so that things go faster. The border policeman who was checking in the middle lane made a break of a few minutes before signaling to the next car to come forward and in the end took out an apple and made an even longer break. When Netta starts to photograph him and the commander he returns to the system of shorter breaks. At 8.35 the commander leaves and the intervals become even longer. One lane was only for the few cars going through from Atara and for most of the time is empty, in the other two lanes the soldiers chat and take a break between each two cars. For a while the middle lane does not function at all. Because it is empty an ambulance enters it but has to wait a few minutes until the border policeman agrees to check it. After that a few private cars are passed without being checked. At 9.30 the commander returns maybe because of Netta’s phone call and the checking is swifter. About 10 minutes later there are less than 20 cars in the line.9.30 – 10.00 – A rolling checkpoint next to Ofra in the direction of the south. When we arrive there is a line of 10-15 cars and in the next half hour 10 more cars arrive. We did not bypass the checkpoint as the settlers do and were in line for half an hour. In the space of 20 minutes only 3-4 cars were checked but afterwards things went more quickly (maybe because Netta spoke to the soldiers). 10.22 Hizma checkpoint. About 10 cars in both lanes passing within a minute.