Anata, Ar-Ram, Qalandiya Thursday, 11.11.2004, AMObservers: Mili M., Ruth E., Aviva W., Rama Y.(reporting) 06:30-09:30Early in the morning the death of Yasser Arafat wasannounced. Streets were less crowded than usual, andthere were fewer pedestrians. The few people we talkedto were not grief stricken, but rather apprehensiveabout the future. We saw one van with a black flag,and on our way back, a man hanging a black flag on aroof in Ar-Ram; but, of course, it was still quiteearly in the morning.Anata. Pedestrians go through with no hindrance. Thereis the usual traffic jam.Ar-Ram. On arrival, a soldier, Sh.A., approaches usand insists, not very kindly, that we move away ­ theusual ritual. We refuse. There are few pedestrians and checking is quick. Awhole family is detained ­ a man and four of hisin-laws. The in-laws live in Tulkarm, and the mandrove them to Jerusalem against the (Israeli) law. Thesoldiers told him that because of this transgression,his car would be confiscated up to a month.Apparently, the civil police was called in to take thecar away. Mili calls Shadi and is told that thisprocedure is “within the law”. In the meantime, thewomen and a child who are in the group are releasedand sent back, and only the man and his father in-laware still detained.Of course, the soldiers wouldn’t talk to us, and wecouldn’t speak to the man. In fact, he addressed usand asked for our help. As a result, Mili herself wasdetained, because Sh.A. didn’t want her to talk to“his” detainee. She was released some ten minuteslater. We didn’t even manage to take the man’s cellphone number for a follow-up.As we could do nothing to help, we decided to go on toQalandiya, and return later.Qalandiya. Here, too, there are fewer pedestrians thanusual and relatively few cars. There are two detaineesoriginally from Hebron, who live and work in Ramallah.They want to go back home, but don’t have thenecessary permits. They had tried to go through Surda,but Surda was blocked. They are released within twentyminutes and sent back to Ramallah.Back to Ar-Ram ­ the two detainees and the car aregone. The soldiers refuse to tell us what had happenedto them.