Qalandiya, 27.12.05, AfternoonRoni H., Ofra B.(reporting) Guests: 2 members of the Ecumenical Christians, a Japanese journalist and his translator.15:00 – The intersection was crowded with people and the peddlers. No cars.The road eastward towards Adam intersection is closed for cars. We noticed that people were walking on this road in both directions and that yellow taxis were parking a few hundred meters away. We decided to go and see what is going on. The drivers were very upset, even furious by the fact that they are not allowed to park at the intersection, by the CP. Needless to say how much frustration and anger was expressed by the poor passengers, who must walk in rain and cold additional hundred meters. 15:15 – We crossed easily the CP northward towards Ramallah. However we saw on the other direction (to Jerusalem) a dense crowd of 200 HUNDRED MEN hovering over ONE carousel. We were disgusted and frustrated at the scene. It looked as if it was on the verge of explosion. Now I’m sorry that we did nothing. Maybe it was the shock, maybe the fact that we did not see a soldier. They are all hidden now behind close, fortified positions. You can’t approach them and above all our presence inside the CP is not welcomed .We do not want to be ousted, and to have an open confrontation with the soldiers as a result, not at this point. We went northward to the road CP. There was a huge line of cars coming from the north. Drivers said they were waiting for 1 1\2 H. We were about 30 meters from the CP, yet a soldier told us to leave. It is very hard to watch because there are wires and road blocks all around. We did manage to see that it took 10 minutes to check one car, and that all the passengers had to go outside.We met a driver who was kind enough to give a lift to women with babies, because of the jam inside the CP. All drivers and passengers expressed their utmost anger at the new “TERMINAL”, which they all consider as A LOT WORSE than the former. A Jerusalemite, who works in Ramallah, complained about the price, the time and hardship she has to pay for new CP system. A woman asked us to check whether it is safe for pregnant women to be checked by a magnometer. 16:00 – We went back inside the “terminal”. There was a normal line. We met 2 other volunteers of the Ecumenical Christians. Probably their intervention helped alleviate the situation. We crossed the CP back with the Plestinians within 5-10 minutes. Our bags and IDs were checked. We went through 3-4 carousels. At the exit an officer approached Roni and me. He told us that we are not allowed to be inside the CP, and he wrote down our names and ID numbers. We were not sure whether military police is authorized to check us. We preferred not to confront him. 16:30 – Outside 3 peddlers complained that soldiers in a jeep confiscated their IDs and told them to move from the intersection( near the entrance to the CP) to the road behind the road blocks. We went back to the CP. Roni used a microphone in order to talk to a soldier, whom we could not see, and who would do nothing about the IDs. Later we called the peddlers and learned that they got back their IDs.The situation at the “terminal” proves again the necessity of a civilian’s eye at the checkpoint, where thousand of civilians pass every day. The prohibition of Machsomwatch to observe the crossing process is unacceptable and we will demand free access.