Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Sun 11.3.12, Afternoon

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Observers: 
Tamar Fleishman
Mar-11-2012
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Afternoon

Translating: Ruth Fleishman

At Qalandiya checkpoint an elderly man of eighty with cancer, was being transferred from an ambulance from the occupied territories to another that belonged to the Red Crescent.
A couple of day earlier the convey belts of the baggage screening machines had been replaced by new ones- wider, thicker and because of their size they isolate the individual from the community behind him more than before.

During the last three days, blockages had once again been placed during the mornings at Jaba checkpoint on the lane parallel to the permanent checkpoint, the soldiers once again detain the passengers from Ramallah/Qalandiya driving towards road 60, once again they have been sluggishly inspecting the drivers and their vehicles one by one and once again the Palestinians had been arriving late to work, school, university or any other place their might desire to visit.
"It's stronger than before", said M, who proceeded with desperation: "anyone who has a car should seriously set fire to it and sit at home. That would be better!"
At the site there were only the plastic blockages known at "New Jerseys" on the said lane, they were left to stand at the center of the road and not put back on the side of the road indicating of what had occurred in the morning.
The soldier that hurried towards me and tried with various and absurd excuses to send me off, acted coy and replied: "I don't know, to tell you the truth, most of the morning I'm not here…",  and hurried to join his friends.