Qalandiya 26.02.04 Observers: Ivan M, Liah N., Netanya G, Aya K, Nurit (guest) I will just write about two relevant events that occurred.When we arrived at Qalandiya, we were told about something that happened a few hours before when children threw stones and soldiers fired. No one was hurt. There were many detainees sitting on the ground on the terraces between the fence of Tora Bora and the passageway for pedestrians. At 4:25, we saw four soldiers lying down on the southern side of the hill with their guns ready. They were apparently waiting for the children to come and then they would be able to surprise them at short range. But time passed and the children did not appear. A boy whom I know hugged me and tried to calm down the tension that he saw in my face. He said that he would to check on the children in their homes and tell them to run away. We came near and stood on the main street on the northern side, closed to the fence, 50 meters from where the soldiers were lying. After some time, when the children still didn’t show up, the soldiers got up and climbed to the top of the hill and then burst through the opening in the fence that goes into the abandoned airfield that now serves as the yard for confiscated vehicles. It is far from the checkpoint so that no stone thrown from there could possibly hit the checkpoint. Not that this lessens the ugliness of shooting fire against stone throwers. That hill, far from the checkpoint so that no stone could reach it, but that does not negate the monstrous, murderous act of using live fire against stone throwers. Just to remind you, when the ultra-Orthodox threw stones on Bar Ilan street, no one thought to shoot live ammunition against them.An army jeep came and went. From afar, we saw the soldiers shouting something. Then we saw a soldier making a kind of waving motion, and then threw something that at first we thought was a tear gas grenade, but nothing exploded. There were also no signs that it was gas. When it happened again, we saw that it was a stone. This happened three times, but no child appeared. Then the soldiers left and returned to the checkpoint. what we saw was that the soldiers were trying to create an event. They behaved like hunters after children who were not there trying to goad them on. We registered a complaint. While this was happening, we spoke to the emergency hotline of the civil administration, and I no longer call it “humanitarian”. I think that, like the army spokesperson, it is another office in the smooth pyramid of the occupation that worries like every other up.or. office, with every means at it disposal, to sell a doubtful item. Yuval said contended that he was the proper person to complain to about what we saw . When we returned to the office, we turned to Didi from the DCO and told him what we saw, but he did not react. According to him, it was not information worthy of dealing with. several minutes later, Yuval called from the centre and said that after investigation, he learned that what we told him was not correct. We blew up and told him that his inspection had no value, that his hands were not clear, and that what he is doing is to whitewash the actions of the soldiers and that he is not the appropriate place for us to register our complaints.It took us a while to understand that the boys who were caught in Tora Bora were sitting there, some from the morning hours, because, according to the soldiers, their i.d.’s were held up and not returned because of problems in Ramallah. (This was the day that the army broke into the banks in Ramallah), and the city was under curfew. Just a reminder, these were the days when everyone who lived in Ramallah was supposed to be allowed to pass without any special documents. But those who were caught avoiding the checkpoint gave the soldiers an excuse to deliver their “educational lessons”. One boy fainted while he was waiting, something that let them free him immediately. In the time that we were waiting, they were told that they were not allowed to stand. Then they were forbidden to smoke, but after Lia’s intervention, they were allowed to. Then they were told to pick up paper thrown on the floor. We reacted to that and started to throw papers that we had in our pockets on the floor and asked if they will punish us as well, or if this was just a racial thing, and that is not one of their functions as conquerors. In the quarry, a student who was detained not because he tried to cross but (according to the soldiers) because he did not answer a soldier who spoke to him. He was about to be released when, in fear he said that his book and cellphone were held by the soldier. We approached and asked that they be returned to him, and the soldier angrily asked how we think that he would not return them. After long hours, freezing with cold and very angry and depressed, the last ones were freed. Aside from two, they could not go where they wanted but were returned to Ramallah.