Qalandiya, sun. 12.08.08 a.m. Observers: Meira A., Avital T., Dalya K.Anata 6:40 – When we arrived, the traffic was heavy but decreased in time. The Brothers Atzitz, continue building the new crossing or another building that will go up in the future in place of the current checkpoint. In addition to the checkpoint checking traffic in the direction of Jerusalem, we saw another checkpoint that operates in the opposite direction, that is, checking traffic entering Anata. What is the purpose of this checkpoint? We asked but got a clear, open answer — this is a checkpoint for traffic offences. That is they check if the people have up to date licenses, if they paid their taxes and fines and of course, if the vehicle has not been stolen. We suggested to the soldiers that they set up a health checkpoint to examine who has cavities in his mouth or hearing problems. The meanwhile, we noticed that there is a new observation tower built of concrete that looks over the entire area. We asked a policeman about this new building and he said, “it sprouted up suddenly” We added “because of the rain”. On our way to a car that was parked on the side, we met a detainee from Bethlehem who tried to cross without a permit in the Anata area and was caught. His i.d. was taken and he is waiting to get it back. He said that he was on his way to a doctor.7:20 – Qalandiya crossingThe parking lot was filled with broken glass and it was dangerous to park there. We got closer to the crossing itself. There was a lot of traffic and the progress was slow. We checked and found that the people had been waiting in line for an hour and a half. A group of women asked if we could help them cross separately because of the crowding, they were unable to make a path between all the men. We asked a soldier who was in the closed room to help the women but he said that he couldn’t do anything. The problem of women caught up in the checkpoints is ongoing. We must find a permanent solution.8:20 – Ar-Ram Here too there were two checkpoints — one “security” in the direction to Jerusalem and another one in the direction of Qalandiya that was not there the previous week. As for “the other” checkpoint, it is manned by women soldier=policewoman on whose shirts if the logo “AKAM”, the abbreviation for branch of community police. We were interested in what kind of checkpoint is operated by these “communities” but they refused to answer us. It appeared to us that these were checkpoints for classic transit infractions.