International Checkpoint Watch - Daily Observations

Date:      June 12, 2001                        Time: 18:00-20:00                 
Place Observed: Qalandia Checkpoint

Number of Soldiers Present: 9

Soldiers Names, ID #’s, License Plate #’s, Etc:

Events Witnessed:

18:00 p.m.:    The soldiers really don’t like it if a transit parks very close to the checkpoint to try to pick up people.  We observed one man who had his keys taken from the soldiers for parking close.  When we approached the soldiers to ask for an explanation, they told me that they could not say anything to me since we had a camera.  As I was talking to them, they gave the man his keys back.  However, they told him to go and park his transit down the road and to come back to them.  They took his keys when he returned and had not given them back when our shift ended.  Then the soldiers said that they couldn’t talk to us because we were in civilian clothing.

18:30 p.m. :  Imposed full-closure on Ramallah.  Any car who’s driver does not live in Ramallah was forced to turn around and return to Ram or Jerusalem, and any car who’s driver does not live past the Qalandia checkpoint in Ram or Jerusalem was turned back to Ramallah and not allowed to pass.  Unfortunately, the soldiers were not so aware of the locations of certain village names in Ram so one family, living in Kharbatha Village near Ram, who were trying to pass to return home were stopped for a couple of hours because the soldiers thought they lived in Ramallah.  Eventually, after the father sent his children home via Transit and he sat with the car, the father was able to convince them of the location of his home and he was allowed to drive home.

We asked one of the soldiers  where the order came from to not allow people to pass.  He responded “we have an order from God”.

One man who had a shipment of merchandise from Tel Aviv had been forced to hand over his keys at 17:00pm upon attempting to finish the delivery in Ramallah.  He stated that the soldiers threatened to smash in his windows if he didn’t hand over his keys.  By 20:00, they had yet to provide a reason as to why they were detaining him.  The detainee asked them if he could leave, but they postponed final judgement for another hour or two.