Qalandiya, Thursday 13.1.05 PMObservers: Yvonne F., Edna K. (reporting)Guest: Jeff, an elderly tourist from the USWe arrived at the CP at 16:00. In the path to the CP some vendors are present after a long absence. In the CP area itself the atmosphere was calm and pedestrian traffic sparse.Getting to our usual spot by the humanitarian line we met Eli, the new (for us) Military Police commander. We were favorably impressed with the efficiency and calm with which he managed the CP, and Yvonne commended him on this when she approached to greet him. So, all was calm until the moment (around 16:30) when suddenly a detail of 4 soldiers under a captain by the name of Haim Elgawi showed up and surrounded me personally in a tight circle, 30 cm. from my body, in a threatening manner (especially the officer) that did not enable me to move.I asked him repeatedly what the problem was, and he persisted in not answering and just stayed standing there, glaring.I must note that every time I tried to move, the soldiers prevented this by pushing their shoulders against me, so that I was actually in a sort of close detention, or hold.As far as I know, these soldiers (that seemed reservists) are posted to this spot for the general purpose of safeguarding the CP, and not in operating the CP itself, which is now in the hands of the Military Police unit.After 10 minutes, Yvonne (who had concluded her conversation with Eli, the CP MP commander) and Jeff (the guest who returned from a tour of Qalandiya) joined me and were also immediately surrounded by the same soldiers, so we were all three of us now in the same state of detention.All the while, Palestinians present watched us, amused at the situation that evolved in front of them…I called Shadi, the Beit El DCO officer, and asked him to intervene and release us. At his request I handed the phone over to the officer of the soldiers surrounding (the said Captain Haim) and they had a short conversation, during which I overheard Cap. Haim telling the DCO officer that is he has a problem with their conduct, he should come there himself, thus concluding the conversation and handing me my cell phone back, without speaking to me at all, as he and his men continued to surround us silently and prevent us from moving.At some point, when this tight proximity (30 cm. from my face) and his threatening silent posture, ignoring our requests to let us move on – became unbearable, I told him the expression on his face reminded me of a Nazi soldier, and that he should try a smile. I think this was uncalled for on my part, but was said in view of serious provocation and our illegal detention.In view of the unchanging situation and our inability to carry out our task, I called the army Spokesperson and spoke to a girl soldier called Daria. I described our situation to her and asked whether any regulation-changes had gone into effect. She promised to look into it, and after 15 minutes got back to me on the phone, saying there was no change in regulations and that an order has now been relegated to the CP commander to let us move freely about and do what we set out to do on behalf of Machsomwatch.I said as much to Captain Haim, who maintained his position, unrelenting, with his men. I turned to the MP officer that was favorably mentioned above,as he passed us by, but he said it was not within his authority to intervene.We appealed to the DCO representative (Sergeant Anton) standing nearby, who tried to talk to Cap. Haim, but to no avail.At this point Yvonne called the Neve Yaacov Police and asked them to intervene for our release. She was informed that Capt. Haim had filed a complaint against us and a mobile unit was on its way.At 17:45 the police arrived, until which time Haim and his men had continued to surround us and prevent our free movement. The policemen announced that following the officer’s complaint, we (Yvonne, Edna and tourist Jeff) were being taken for interrogation to Neve Yaacov Police station. Our IDs and passport were taken and we were asked to follow the police car in our own vehicle, while Haim and his men followed us in an army car.Upon arriving we were interrogated separately. Each of us heard Cap. Haim’s complaint, claiming we had disturbed a public servant (?) while performing his duty by cursing and pushing, and that we had called them occupation and Nazi soldiers.Nothing of the above has any trace of truth – beside the fact (described above) that I told Haim his expression was like that of a Nazi soldier and that he should try to smile, words I uttered after being held for a long time in close detention by him and his soldiers, our requests to be released or get any kind of explanation totally ignored.In the interrogation we were asked and testified as to what really took place. Yvonne and I both signed bail for 3000 NIS each (to show up at court if summoned), our IDs were returned (and Jeff’s passport), and we were released shortly before 19:00.We intend to file a complaint to the army authorities against Capt. Haim and his men about their conduct.