Number of Soldiers Present: Initially six soldiers and an APC at checkpoint, later jeeps arrive with more soldiers.
Soldiers Names, ID #’s, License Plate #’s, Etc:
APC # 751 807
Jeep # 669 059
Events Witnessed:
16:30- Upon arrival there are six soldiers and APC # 751 807 at the checkpoint. Eight men are being detained, four since 15:30 and four since 16:30, just before the monitors arrived. One of the men who was trying to get to Ramallah from Birzeit University is made to sit in the dirt next to the APC apart from the others. He reported that he had talked to the soldier and called him “brother” but the soldier responded that he was not his brother and that “Arabs are snakes.” The soldier who detained him says he is waiting for a call from the police concerning the man. This is the same soldier who insisted the police were coming to inspect the two men detained on 26/09/01. The other men are standing at one of the concrete blocks. The soldiers say the IDs of these men are being checked at Bet El.
17:25- Soldiers begin to allow cars to pass from Surda to Ramallah but not the other way.
17:35- Jeep # 669 509 arrives with three soldiers.
17:50- Jeep # 669 509 leaves with same three soldiers.
18:00- The man detained and made to wait separately given his ID and released. He returns to Birzeit instead of continuing on to Ramallah because it is so late. He was held for a total of two and a half hours.
18:05- American woman with yellow plates arrives with five children but the soldiers will not let her pass despite her polite requests. Later she sends her children through the checkpoint with a friend and returns to Ramallah in her vehicle.
18:15- Jeep arrives with at least three soldiers.
18:20- Two soldiers who had been complaining for some time about being tired and not liking their work put blame on the commander for the situation at the checkpoint but don’t feel there is anything they can do.
18:30- APC goes up hill. The rest of the men, some held for two and others for three hours, are given their IDs and permitted to go.
18:50- Soldier kicks car to get it to leave.
19:30- By this time most of the cars waiting to pass through toward Surda have given up and headed back to Ramallah.