The brigade’s instructions are that every time stones are thrown on Route 60 [the forces] in the pillbox [tall narrow concrete post] arrive, operate a checkpost (flying checkpoint) there for two hours, block the road, stop and search people one by one.

At the entrance to the village? No, not at the entrance to the village, 400-500 meters into the village, but it jams everything.

It’s the connection between the village’s road and Route 60? Yes, it’s their only route. Every time they throw stones on one of the army vehicles, which is every day or sometimes twice a day, sometimes every two-three days – they stop, block, set up a checkpost for two hours, create a traffic jam, and then riots arise sometimes. Recently there was a sequence of two Molotov Cocktails on the road, on cars, and then they blocked everything, decided to shut down A-Ram, close off the exit. For 24 hours you couldn’t pass. That’s when serious rioting began. They decided on the closure at about 1 PM, saw that it was unnecessary, that it’s just causing friction, so by 9 PM they already opened it.

They blocked the village exit? They blocked it, you couldn’t get out of there, you had to go around, through Ramallah, make a pretty long bypass and there’s a traffic jam from A-Ram to Qalandiya, which is two kilometers.

Why do they do it? To show them [who’s boss]. They inform the residents that if they throw stones they won’t be able to get out of there, which is punishing the entire village for throwing stones or Molotov Cocktails. It was for two Molotov Cocktails, which is more unusual. There was a riot at some point in which someone pulled out a gun and shot one of the company commanders – then they blocked the village exit. They put down concrete barricades blocking the village’s main entrance. You had to go around, and they left the barricades there for several days after the shooting. To show them, that’s what happens when you act like that. That’s apparently the way my brigade and deputy battalion commander and battalion commander thought was the smart way to go.

Does this happen a lot, these barriers? The checkpoints, yes, the barriers happen more often than you would think. Not every day but twice a month, once a month. It doesn’t achieve its objective and doesn’t prevent stone throwing. It creates traffic and people who previously didn’t want to be violent become violent, in my opinion. After they threw the two Molotov Cocktails and decided to block off the village, I personally got angry. It turned into an entire week in which they were throwing [Molotov Cocktails] nonstop.