Qalandiya and surroundings Sunday 05.08.07,AMObservers: Avital T., Dahlia K.6:55 – Anata The road is paved and at long last, the piles of dust have disappeared. There are almost no redestrians. The cars flow through the checkpont. From time to time, cars are stopped for quick checks. The meanwhile, a young woman with three little children approached us. She is from Hebron and on her way to a hospital in Jerusalem. Her daughter has fever and they are not allowing her through the checkpoint. Why, we asked and she said that she forgot her i.d. at home. She also lacked a referral to the hospital or any other document. We were not able to help her. The woman and her children were sent home. Another time, a young man approached us. His i.d. was taken from him at 6:00 a.m. that morning. This was an i.d. from the territories. We gave him the telephone numbers of Sylvia and Hannah. 7:45 – Ar-Ram The Hizme checkpoint which delayed the traffic from Jerusalem was removed. The traffic north was travelling freely now. In the opposite direction was the old fixed checkpoint but few people crossed through it. 8:00 – Qalandiya We got to the checkpoint in a roundabout fashion. We wandered through the streets of Ar-Ram. The area near the passage which is generally crowded was empty. There were no lines but here and there people crossed quickly. The policeman whom we met was very proud of his efficient running of the place at this early hour of the morning. He said that there were mobs of people there and they were able to pass through quickly and quietly. On the other hand, there were 30 of 40 people waiting on the benches for the opening of the DCL. The policemen told us that it opens at 9:00 or 9:15. It turns out that there is now a new procedure. Palestinians submit their requests to the Palestinian Authority in Ar-Ram and it passes on the request to the DCL in Qalandiya. Because the people from the PA still did not get to Qalandiya, the DCL didn’t open. The people waiting were very impatient. We explained to them the reason for the delay.