Qalandiya, Thursday, January 26th, PMEdna, Lia, Liza, OritThere seems to be so little to tell. And yet a newreality has developed, so quickly. The wall on the wayto the checkpoint, covered with election posters,almost looks like a normal urban surface. But theopening at the A-Ram junction has been blocked bylower concrete slabs, of the “old” kind, and cars canno longer turn even there.The industrialized checkpoint runs its automaticcourse, the distorted voices of the soldiers on thespeaker system almost sound like airportannouncements. The conveyor belts for securitycheckups almost make all of this look civilized. It’sonly the massive amount of metal – fences, carouseldoors, armoured spaces for the soldiers – that showsup this place for what it is: army territory. On the other side, where traffic is still stuck inpre-industrial checkpoint style. People want to knowwhat we think about the Hamas victory in the electionsheld yesterday. They seem to challenge us, are we alsogoing to decide that they are now no partners for anytype of conversation? On the way back, we hearing Bush’s latest statement tohis nation on the radio. He speaks of the “darkideologies” he has set out to fight. Everything seemsto be on hold.