Morning

There was a checkpoint next to the police station in Ras-el-Amud (near where the old checkpoint was). The practice of consfiscating transits has reached Abu Dis as well. Yesterday, 2 transits were consficated for carrying residents of the territories. At the end of our shift we were told that 10 transits were confiscated at Suwahra, and were taken to Atarot for 30 days.At the barrier, the Border Police were a bit hostile and tried to prevent us from approaching the checkpoint. The checks on the pedestrians were random.At around 7am we saw the police take about 30 detainees to the field, where they were ordered to sit on the mud. Some of them had been caught as early as 4am. One of them was taken away in a regular police transit. It turned out that the Border Police set up an ambush for people who try to circumvent the checkpoint. The ambush is located in an unfinished building that is located at the bottom of of a long narrow stairway that leads down to the right of the main street, in the area where the taxis and transits park, about 50 metres from the gas station. The detainees in the field were released one by one at a slow pace. Each on received an "educational lecture" from the soldier who released them. Most of them were sent back to the territories, a few were allowed to enter Jerusalem. At a certain point we heard shouts between the soldiers and the detainees. We were told that the soldiers took one of the detainees into the observation point that is covered by camoflauge netting, where they hit him. Only when the more elderly amongst the detainees intervened did the soldiers stop.