Qalandiya, Ar-Ram, Sunday afternoon, 23/01/05 Observers: Tamar F, Netanya G. and Phyllis WAr-Ram: 2 PM. When we arrived at the CP we saw a long line of cars waiting to head north. It turned out that BP soldiers were looking for "illegals", taking them off the buses to check their papers at the CP. About 13 men, women and children were waiting near the CP. They looked resigned to their fate. The soldiers were not particularly hostile – just business as usual. The checking took about 30 minutes for each. Most of the people had crossed the lines in order to visit family and relatives on the holiday. We intervened to help a young student and managed to speed his release. A woman who passed through the CP told Netanya that soldiers had stopped her 12-year old son a few days ago. The boy is sick and was physically unable to comply with the order to lift his shirt and drop his pants. The soldiers, who didn't believe him, thrust a rifle into his stomach and scared him half to death.There was no line of pedestrians waiting to pass through the CP and the line of vehicles to Jerusalem was quite short.Qalandiya: We arrived at Qalandiya about 14:30. On the way we saw that the traffic lights at Ar-Ram intersection had been removed. People were wondering what this meant – complete closure of the Wall? Qalandiya is still manned by MP soldiers and guarded by a unit of reservists. We met A., the DCO representative, who was quite friendly. He told us that there had been no easing of restrictions for the holiday. However, not many people were trying to cross the CP so that the traffic flowed undisturbed. The humanitarian line was open all the time we were there. There were no particular problems. A. suggested that we include our names on our MachsomWatch tags which we thought was a good idea (and would perhaps set an example for the soldiers).There were a lot of children peddling their wares, some of them old friends whom we haven't seen for quite a while. There were also a few kids looking for trouble. One 12-year old was seething with rage. He picked up a stone and threw it at some soldiers. Luckily he missed and no one noticed. Afterwards he left. Another kid of 9 or 10, one of a group, was holding a toy gun. We didn't pay much attention to him until he shot a stone at Netanya and clipped her on the ear (ouch). I hate to think what will happen to these kids.We capitulated to the wind and cold and left the CP at about 16:30.