Ar-Ram, Qalandiya, Wed. 1.12.04 a.m.Observers: Rina R, Anat T (reporting)Guests: Petra, a student writing a paper on women who are active in social and political groups6:50 Ar-Ram: We did not stay in Ar-Ram because of the reportsthat told of the importance of getting to Qalandiya early. Therewe found great congestion. Between 6:00 and 7:00 o’clock – especiallyaround 6:30.7:00 Qalandiya. We tried to get information about the behaviorof jeep # 76, as requested in other reports. R said that itwas not there today and he believed it was not there yesterday either,but when they are there, they go wild. When we returned to thecheckpoint, R said that the jeep just passed and drove awaya peddler. We went to speak with the taxi dispatcher for cabsgoing to Ar-Ram. A few days ago, the soldiers of that jeep brokehis hand and pulled a medalion with a picture of Arafat fromhis neck. According to those around, they are looking for himnow and destroyed his stand because they thought that it belongedto him. It’s difficult to check out the facts. He told us thatAya K is in London and when she comes back, she will registera complaint in his name. (Generally, Aya’s name comes up a lotin conversations – especially in Qalandiya and we are proud thatshe is one of us. When we got near the checkpoint, several peoplefrom Kfar Akav (who have blue i.d.’s) came up to us. They oftenmiss the transport for their disabled children to schools inEast Jerusalem because of the delays of the men at the checkpoint.Every day, they eventually succeed in persuading the commanderof the checkpoint to take their situation into account – it isnot a good idea to send these children along in these transports– but the next day, there is a new staff and the soldiers don’tknow what is happening and again, they are delayed. All thechildren have identification about their disabled status. Wetook down names, i.d. numbers and telephone numbers and promisedto deal with the situation. At the checkpoint, we met Anton, the DCO representation. There is a relatively quiet atmosphere at the checkpoint, no long line of people and 20 cars movingvery slowly south. There are fewer soldiers than at previoustimes, and that is preferable, with fewer unnecessary conversationsover the heads of those being checked. A young soldier witha gun guards the passage heading north. Apparently, he is nota usual participant in these things and appears confused. It’sdifficult not to be sympathetic toward his predicament. Antonpromised to deal with the crippled children, and asked that wedirect them to the DCO representative that is at the checkpointfrom 6 in the morning until 6 in the evening. I called him fromhome in the afternoon and reminded him to pass on the list wehad compiled to the person from the DCO who would be in chargethe next day. I told one of the parents and I plan to followup on the matter. It is a good idea to let the Palestinians knowthat there is a representative of the DCO at the checkpoints. It is possible to approach him directly and avoid argumentswith the soldiers. On the other hand, perhaps it is worthwhileto follow up on these things and see to it that the DCO representativedoes indeed follow up before we see his presence as a positiveforce at the checkpoint.Return to Ar-Ram 8:15. The border police asked for our helpregarding a boy with an American passport . He said that whilehe was at the checkpoint, his permit to remain temporarily inIsrael which he got from the Interior Ministry a few days agodisappeared. Because he accused a specific soldier, we triedto check it out with him. The soldier said that there was notruth in what he said. There was just a white piece of paperin the passport and he didn’t take anything. He was preparedto give us his personal number. We suggested to the young manto register a complaint with the policeman who was at the checkpoint. The border police also said that they checked out the info aboutthe boy on the computer and he is not registered there. Theywill be in contact with the other checkpoints so that he willnot be stopped, and suggested to him that he get to the InteriorMinistry. They behaved with great restraint, but the boy wasnot willing to leave the place. He was very angry and was inconstant battle with the soldiers. The situation was gettingvery hot. And we requested (with the counsel of Sylvia) to contactthe Interior Ministry about the missing permit, but they refuseto reveal such information over the phone and he had to personallygo there on his own. We finally succeeded in getting him toleave the area of the checkpoint, but we saw that he returnedthere to take the details of the borderpoliceman with whom hehad the argument. Finally, an older Palestinian who feared furthercomplications got him to leave. We hope it worked out. By now,there was no time to go to Anata.