Ar-Ram, Qalandiya, Shu’afat camp – monday, 25/7/05Maya B, Tamar L, Anat T (reporting):Qalandiya6:30: We have come early to see the transport mini-vans for special needs children studying in Jerusalem, which are going, in a few days, to start picking up the kids directly from Kafar Akab and Qalandiya with the permit of the army (the permit, signed by the Binyamin regiment commander was issued thanks to Tamar from IDF spokesman liason team in the regiment who was very persistent in her help). From the last intifada the children and parents had to come to the check point, which is a very hard task for them. The written permit is available, and let’s hope the transit company and the person in charge of childrens’ transport in the Jerusalem Municipality do their beaurocratic bit quickly, so the new arrangement can be followed out asap. Today, anyway, the transits are still not going in – and only a few children have come to the traffic circle – probably due to the approaching school holidays. We see today progress on another front we have been pursuing as a team (especially Maya) – the cleaning of the check point area. We find three men working hard and the place looks pretty clean indeed. Maya persuades them to clean on the other side of the traffic circle, where we walk over filth and garbage from the parking. They consent for the next time. Let’s cross our fingers. The check point itself is not very busy, again due to school holidays probably, but every young man with a palestinian ID is checked in the computer before he is allowed to pass. We are told by Danny, the DCO representative here, that they want to facilitate the new terminal in a month or so. We stay a while then leave. Ar-Ram7:30: There are 5 palestinian detainees, their reports in process, of people picked up in Beit Hannina without permits. A lot of girls in the BP team today – Is it because of the disingagement? There is also a she-dog and a trainer. A car is suddently driven fiercely from the north into the check point area. We are alarmed, but a BP soldier gets out of the confiscated car, and two detainees appear. The soldier slams hard the car and baggage doors – it looks as though he wants to cause it damage. The story is not clear – the two men detained have palestinian IDs and so an Israeli number car cannot belong to them. Are they thiefs or just borrowers of their friend’s car? We are told all this will be checked. The BP personnel seem efficient and fair-whithin-bounderies. We stay and see the first detainees start to leave – then we leave. Shu’afat Camp 8:20: The protest tent in Moshe Dayan and the block Ras-Hamis junction. We had a hard time finding it, and now it is completely empty. It is situated off the road, so it is not too visible from the main road, but Danni Zeidman says the tent’s location was a compromise between three protesting communities, so we drop our intention of telling the people of Shu’afat this is not a good site. On our way to find the tent, we see that the check point is empty, there are no detainees, and all is quiet. The quiet before the storm. The gates of the “parking lot” are wide open for some reason, but it is not for palestinians of course.