E-Qalqiliya, Azun, Jit

E - Qalqiliya, Azun, Jit, Wednesday 20.06.07 AMObservers: Marcela K., Rina Ts. (reporting)Translation: Galia S.OverallQalqiliya checkpoint is well on the way to become a permanent checkpoint. The inspection methods have improved and it seems that the residents of Qalqiliya will have to wait at checkpoints for a long time to come' like their brothers in Nablus, Tulkarm, etc., something they have been spared in the last years. We should also remember that there is another checkpoint (near Habla), one we cannot reach, on the other road that connects it to the West Bank.The entrance to Azun from road 55 is blocked. Azun is under siege. It is not quite clear to us whether there is any escape route.A policeman from the Kdumim Police seems to be conspiring against our car.Qalqiliya checkpoint06:45 – 07:25 – Vehicles that enter Qalqiliya are not checked. We are unable to see the whole length of the line of waiting vehicles coming from Qalqilia. The drivers report a 20-30 minute waiting time. The time the inspection takes seems reasonable to us. Most of the cars are held for a short inspection, where some questions are asked, sometimes documents are briefly checked or trunks opened. Occasionally, randomly as it seems, some vehicles whose drivers are always young men, are sent to park next to the soldiers' post and documents are taken for inspection. Today's inspection includes both passing identity numbers over the communication system and writing them down in a notebook. This is the reason why these inspections take longer (about 10 minutes). Ambulances are not checked and they pass without waiting. Pedestrians pass quickly. There are no taxis near the checkpoint as the pedestrians are workers collected by their employers, right after the checkpoint. The checkpoint commander is very civil and he approaches us in order to explain and to answer questions. He says that he doesn't make the rules and if we have questions, he should turn to his commanders who are at the Border Police facility, next to the checkpoint.07:15 – An Israeli police jeep appears and the constable gives Nadin a ticket for "parking on the road shoulders and disturbing the traffic". He (Nadin) actually parks after the red sign, about half a meter away from the road (that has no shoulders at all), much more carefully than the police jeep, which parks partly on the road and had been standing there for at least 15 minutes when we left. The constable who wrote the ticket is Yosef H. (as far as we can decode from the writing) from the Kdumim Police and his political identity is beyond doubt: a beard and a huge cap.