Qalandya south: About 20 men going
north were held up by a BP check. 5 minutes after our arrival their
IDs were returned and the men let go.

Qalandya north: Little traffic of pedestrians and cars. Relatively
relaxed atmosphere (the presence of many stands and peddlers is
evidence to it). Checkpoint commander S. approaches us with a
gesture of good will. We accept it and turn to him with every
person who is denied passage by the soldiers. He uses his authority
and lets them pass. Nevertheless, an ID, confiscated the day
before, cannot be found. The MP arrives and we ask him for help. He
is very cooperative – but unfortunately cannot find the missing ID.
He agrees that the disappearance of IDs is a severe matter, and
promises to locate it by Wednesday. A 15 years old peddler
complained, that his merchandise was taken away from him by a
soldier of the morning shift. The commander of the morning shift
happens by. He cannot recall any such incidence, but promises to
check. Utilizing the relative calm, we paid a visit to a local
family, whose house is located 5 meters from the separation fence.
Three weeks ago, shooting was heard at Qalandya, and Aya ran
towards the source of the shooting up the hill opposite the
checkpoint. When she arrived, three people came out of a house,
offered her shelter from the bullets and invited her inside. We
wanted to thank the family for their concern and for this act of
human kindness. We were received by F., a mathematics teacher and
her husband S., an orthopaedic surgeon, like old friends, and
immediately felt at home. Their house is standing in the war zone
of Qalandya, where the daily “battles” are being fought
between the youngsters and the soldiers. The windows and doors are
perforated by bullets and the family cannot use the area around the
house for pastime purposes. Now the separation fence is almost
complete, right under their nose. At the beginning of the Intifada
F’s forehead was grazed by a bullet and one of her sons was hit by
a ricochet. Nevertheless all the family members keep their spirits
high and regard themselves as privileged compared to other peoples’
sufferings. They had many warm words to say about our activity:
when we are around, they feel more secure because of our watching
eyes!! When we left, we felt reinvigorated – as if by an infusion
of optimism!