Ar-Ram, Qalandiya 26.01.05 PM Observers: Daniella, Carmel, Eli (reporting)15:20 We got to Ar-Ram and found a line of about 20 cars. The checks were done by one soldier and took about 5 minutes each. We approached a border policeman and asked him to increase the personnel at the point and were answered in the negative. We called the platoon commander of Ar-Ram but were not able to speed things up.16:00 We got to Qalandiya. There were no detainees. Every so often, someone was sent back to Ramallah.16:30 A border police force arrived and started random checks of people wanting to go north to Ramallah. We asked what was going on and he said that it was a sudden check because of alerts. We were somewhat surprised. We asked if there were alerts about an attack within Ramallah and he said he could not tell us any of the details about the alert.At 17:20 We left the checkpoint after several people expressed their fears after the new restrictions (not allowing people from East Jerusalem and the surrounding to go to Ramallah) . One person said that that decision will heat up the situation.