Ar-Ram, Qalandiya, Anata, Tuesday, 15.8.06, PMObservers: Mor B., Roni H. (reporting)The roads and checkpoints were conspicuously empty (except for Anata). We wondered where have all the people gone. We plan to check next week at the DCOs, if the root of this emptiness isn’t an overall refusal to grant permits. Ar-Ram 15:453 cars, no pedestrians. Only persons registered in the “list” are allowed to pass. Qalandiya 16:15Car passage is relatively busy. Co-passengers are asked to leave the car and cross through the pedestrians’ checkpoint. Buses coming from north and going to Jerusalem have to let their passengers get off and cross by foot. The driver waits for them at the bus station in the south.Over the loudspeakers we hear this incomprehensible mixture of Arabic and Hebrew screaming.The building next to the pedestrians’ passage is almost completed. We are told that it will house government offices, such as offices of the Ministry of Interior and of Industry. It will be interesting to see whom they will serve.We are the only persons passing the checkpoint.Flying police checkpoint in Neve Yaakob. 3 young men are brought to a police car, blocking one lane of the Neve Yaakob road. 2 of them have blue IDs and are released after check. One is very young, 14 years old, and does not yet have an ID. He pushes on wheels a big plastic sack. The policeman examines the sack and it contains woolen army caps and socks. He confiscates the sack and puts it into the car. We ask why and receive the answer that these are stolen goods. How does he know? The boy said he found it in the garbage box. The sack and the boy are taken to the police station. Easy prey for our mighty police! Anata 17:50Rush hour. A long line of cars (we cannot see the end), waiting on their way to Jerusalem. Every car is being checked and the drivers have to get out, open the luggage trunk and present their IDs for computer check. This takes quite a while and the traffic jam becomes bigger and bigger. People are nervous from the wait and the heat and shout to us that “this is your famous democracy”. A soldier explains that this is not a checkpoint, but the border to Israel. We try to enlighten him about the municipal borders of Jerusalem, but to no avail. A passer-by tells us that he appreciates very much our activity, but that the checkpoints have turned the Palestinians into “small, angry and frustrated creatures”. At 18:30 there is a certain relaxation of the traffic jam and we leave