Ar-Ram/Qalandiya Wednesday 29.12.04 AMObservers: Rina R., Anat T. (reporting)Guests: Joana, Anna and Marie-Anne of the Ecumenical Church6:30 – At “Qalandiya Square” the southside venders stand beyond the square and say they are not allowed to cross over to the CP side even in the rain. They say that yesterday they played cat-and-mouse with the soldiers who them chased them back every time. Today they don’t even try.At Qalandiya Checkpoint there is an exceptionally thin trickle of pedestrians (probably because of Christmas holidays). Therefore, things are a bit less stressed than usual. The detectors keep beeping and no one makes a fuss or repeats searching. The cars – a bottleneck of about 20 vehicles – are fewer than usual. CP Commander D. did not receive any instructions regarding the January elections.7:30 – suddenly a Border Patrol jeep shows up. Short briefing, and they start “hunting” Palestinian men crossing to Ramallah, taking their IDs and noting them down. The numbers are not checked by computer and according to the CP soldiers there is no special security alert. All are released, and right away more men are detained. We protest this gruff procedure and ask for the reason. They say it’s all for security considerations. We try to explain that such humiliating conduct only contributes to security threats. We stay until 9:00 to make sure there are no real detainees. For a while the Border Patrolmen disappear but return and persist. Anna of the Ecumenicals photographs them all the time, and the soldiers joke around with her. According to the CP commander, this is a daily procedure on the part of BP independently (is it really? for what purpose other than to show who's in charge?) Even he doesn’t seem clear about this. We ask D., the commander, to keep an eye on the BP as we leave (perhaps this sound strange, but our acquaintance with him has shown him to be fair and polite, and he is attentive to the points we raise with him. May there be more like him!)BP jeep at the square, checking the venders IDs. Keeps them coming and going. BP must be really bored at Qalandiya this morning…9:15 – back to Ar-Ram by service van. CP commander detains a young woman and her mother, holding a few days-old baby. They want to cross over to the daughter’s house, just beyond the CP. But the mother has come from Atarot and has no special permit. Nothing doing – the old lady is sent back, and we imagine a situation in which one of our mothers would not be allowed to come help us in the first days after giving birth. These are the most shocking moments at the CP. No permit means no normal human activity, and no one says a thing. And whoever does, well…Meanwhile, a detainee – a young man sitting on the fence calmly explaining that it keeps happening to him. Something goes wrong and his ID always comes out suspect by the GSS. And it always proves to be a mistake. When he went to the DCO to look into this, he was told there was no GSS mark by his name, but the story keeps repeating itself. We suggest he bring a written note from the DCO but are rudely interrupted. The CP commander tells us we mustn’t speak to the detainees for this would be considered sabotaging procedure if the fellow goes for questioning. He also tells the guy not to use his cell phone. We inquire with Syvia P. and Hannah B. and apparently these instructions are not legal (neither forbidding us to talk to detainees, nor forbidding detainees to use their cell phone). But both of them remind us to insist firmly but gently and not provoke confrontation with the BP, so as not to offer excuses for complaints against MW women. Meanwhile, the fellow is released and we see no point in “educating” them without practical grounds.We go home.