Hizma
23/11/2011 ,Morning
Shoshana H. and Ronny P., Translator: Charles K.
Qalandiya.
We arrived at 06:00 and it was a difficult to see how again only 3 of the 5 posts designed to check the hundreds of people going to work are open. When we called the police headquarters at Kalandia we are told that every complaint has to be sent to the DCO . The DCO officers only arrive at 06:00 and claim that after surveys they learned that real pressure begins at 06:00 .It is very frustrating to have these conversations because we arrive earlier and have observed for years!!!! that people arrive even before 05:00 and there is almost always a long long line at the carousels. This time the real problem was the line of cars and we took the Hizme checkpoint route to avoid what seemed like close to half an hour wait to get through this checkpoint.
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14/11/2011 ,Afternoon
Natanya G. and Phyllis W. (reporting)
16:00: A cold and rainy afternoon. The line of cars in the southern square was very long but moved ahead quite briskly. There was almost no one in the shed at the entrance to the CP aside from the usual compliment of peddlers with their stands. Inside the CP there were about 15 people on line in each of the two active passageways. A man emerging from the DCO offices reported that only 4 people were waiting inside for their permits. The bus "terminal" at the western end of the CP looked very busy, with a line of over 20 waiting to enter the examination area. Additional buses were waiting at the terminal exit as well as in the eastern parking lot. There were no incidents to report. We left Qalandiya at 5 PM and returned to Jerusalem via Jaba and Hizmeh CPs. Traffic was flowing in both.
10/07/2011 ,Afternoon
Roni Hamermmann and Tamar Fleishman (reporting); Guests: Christiana and Sara.
Qalandiya:
The passage at the checkpoint was performed in slow motion, the people waiting in the lines were sent back and forth between the lanes. 
The children of the checkpoint, the old timers and new comers, were at their usual spots. The boy Mahmud was in his usual spot, armed with a squeegee, cleaning the window shields of the vehicles that were stuck in the traffic jam, overcoming the pain in his bruised left leg, with wounds that nearly reached the bone of his shin, a souvenir that rifle barrels had left him with.
Witness of the protest at the checkpoint that took place on Saturday, with the attendance of some international activists that arrived with the flyover, said that the protest was dissolved with the use of tear gas grenade.
Hizme:
An olive tree that had been robed from its owner, uprooted from its place of origin and planted at the middle of the circus, hadn't come to terms with its new relocation and started slowly to die, 
Orian, an artist, did it some real justice and wrapped the withering trunk and dry branches with white shroud. Perhaps now it will get some rest.
Enraged settlers shouted from their car: "What are you doing?"- Alex Libac (from 'Ha'aretz') that was present and took photos replied: "We're from the Ministry of Agriculture!..." – the settlers headed on satisfied and content.
21/03/2011 ,Afternoon
Natanya G. and Phyllis W. (reporting)
15:45, Qalandiya: Yesterday was Purim and there was closure on the territories. Only those with blue ID cards were allowed to cross the checkpoints. So the IDF apparently decided to work in a holiday mode even though the Palestinians were not celebrating and went to work and university as on a weekday. When they reached Qalandiya on their way back home they found that only two passageways were operating in the pedestrian CP, one of which was reserved for people without any bags or packages, because the x-ray machine was out of order. To reserve a passageway for people with no packages or bags appears to us to be a clear case of discrimination against women (who ever saw a woman without a bag?)!! And, actually, one passageway was practically empty while all the people huddled into the other one. As a result, a long line of about 40 people had formed in the northern shed. We waited more than 20 minutes just to get inside the CP. We phoned headquarters, which transferred us to the DCO Representative Amir, and explained to him what was happening. We suggested that he speak to the Passageway Unit and tell them to send the soldiers in the passageway with the broken machine to a passageway where the machine was not broken (if they didn't have enough soldiers to man a third passageway). We didn't really believe that this would help, but we tried. Fifteen minutes later we returned to see that Passageway 4 had been closed and Passageway 3 was operating instead (with an x-ray machine).
In the western part of the CP, for bus passengers, there was also a long line of people waiting in the entrance shed. Conditions had not improved by 5 PM when we left Qalandiya.
We returned to Jerusalem via Lil/Jabba and Hizmeh CPs. Traffic was flowing in both.
07/03/2011 ,Afternoon
Natanya G. and Phyllis W. (reporting)
When we spoke with one another on Monday morning we more or less agreed that there was very little to accomplish at the checkpoints. Although they are still dirty and repulsive, and the behavior of the soldiers often leaves a lot to be desired (to say the least), the checkpoints do seem to function somehow and our presence does not usually add (or detract).
And then we arrived at Qalandiya at 3:30 PM and, as if in a recurrent nightmare, we saw all three passageways packed with people waiting to go to Jerusalem and the turnstiles operating in a miserly manner, opening only to let people through one by one. Those on line complained to us that they had been waiting for hours already (one said he had been waiting for 2 hours and another said 3), that they were sick and tired of such treatment, and how could anyone treat human beings in such a manner? Natanya and I made endless phone calls to Headquarters and to the Humanitarian Hotline, but nothing seemed to make a difference. However, by about 4:15, it looked as though some progress was being made. And then the western-most terminal, for bus passengers with blue ID cards, was closed and another 100 people came running to the CP and filled the passageways up again. The line continued out into the northern shed and got longer and longer. Why was the bus passageway closed? No one seemed to know, not even the bus driver whom we asked. But several people told us that conditions on Monday were far better than they had been on Sunday, and that today's lines were much shorter than the ones they had seen yesterday.
In one of the lines we met a man from Givat Mikhmash who held a permit to enter Israel. He was trying to deliver produce to a shop keeper in Givat Ze'ev (an Israeli settlement near Jerusalem). He told us that his permit was no good for Bethlehem or Zeitim Passage, but he had managed to get through Qalandiya several times in the past. But not yesterday – the soldiers in the aquarium refused to let him through. We called to the DCO representative, Taha, but that was no help either. Taha told him that he had just been lucky to date and that he needed another permit. Ali, who is well into his fifties if not older, was angry and waved his two valid permits in our faces, asking rhetorically how many permits a person needed.
In the DCO passageway we met Ma'amoun, a young man who didn't know how he could get his mother, who is suffering from cancer, to Augusta Victoria Hospital where she was invited for treatment while he is denied entrance to Jerusalem as a security risk. The Civil Rights Hotline told us to send him to Physicians for Human Rights which we did this morning.
We left Qalandiya at 5:15 PM and joined a long line of vehicles on the road through A-Ram to Lil/Jabba CP and from there to Hizmeh CP. There was nothing much to report.
28/02/2011 ,Afternoon
Natanya G. and Phyllis W. (reporting)
We reached Qalandiya at about 3:30 PM. We saw short lines in the two active passageways and found a group of 7 people still waiting to enter the DCO offices, most of them seeking to renew their magnetic cards. We phoned the Humanitarian Hotline and Headquarters to request that the people be allowed through before the offices closed and 4 of the 7di manage to get through when the turnstile was opened. The remaining 3 waited another hour, until 4:30 PM when, after repeated requests, the soldiers in the aquarium who operate both Passageways 4 and 5 received orders to pass them through. Meanwhile Natanya went through Passageway 4 and personally asked the female soldier on duty to take care of those waiting on line in Passageway 5. The soldier answered, very politely, that she only does as she is ordered by her officers so she is not empowered to let the waiting people into the DCO no matter how long they've been waiting. When the appropriate order finally arrived, the soldier closed Passageway 4, sending those on line scurrying to the other open passageway even though it took her no more than five minutes to take care of those in Passageway 5. There were no further problems in the pedestrian passageways, which were not very crowded yesterday.
Natanya and I went over to see what was happening at the bus terminal. We saw a line of buses waiting to fill up, then driving 50 meters and letting their passengers off to go through the examination process. Everyone stood in line (we counted more than 30 people waiting) to have their papers checked before passing through and getting back on the bus that would take them to Jerusalem. This terminal only serves those with blue ID cards. The alternative, going through the old pedestrian passageways, looks much more efficient.
We left Qalandiya at 5 PM and took the detour through A-Ram to Lil/Jabba CP where traffic was flowing smoothly. Traffic was flowing at Hizmeh CP as well.
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07/02/2011 ,Afternoon
Natanya G. and Phyllis W. (reporting)
On a cold and stormy winter afternoon, the pedestrian terminal at Qalandiya CP looks deserted. Almost no one is sitting in the northern shed and only the few remaining peddlers sit there with nothing to do, bent over and hugging themselves against the cold, waiting for what? Inside the CP only one passageway is active, with only a few people on line.
On the other hand, the DCO looks much busier. As was the case last week, we could see (through the bars) that there were people sitting and waiting in the shed, but when we tried to enter we found that the turnstile was locked. We went back and got on line in the active passageway. When we reached the Jerusalem side of the CP, we tried another turnstile there that leads to the DCO and local government offices. Surprisingly, it was not locked and so we got into the DCO shed. There were not that many people waiting (less than 10) and they managed rather quickly to enter the offices. We met a gentleman in his 50's or 60's who lives in the Dahiyat al Barid neighborhood and holds a Palestinian ID. He told us that he was out of the country at the time of the 6 Day War, when the Israeli government distributed IDs to residents of Jerusalem, working as a teacher in Algeria. When he returned in 1970 the authorities were no longer willing to issue blue resident IDs (although all his family held them). When the Wall was built, Palestinian residents of Dahiyat al Barid were given 2-year permits to live in their homes, but now the two years were up and he had come to Qalandiya to renew his permit. He told us that the permit allowed him to move between Dahiya and Qalandiya, but nowhere else in Jerusalem – he was imprisoned in a virtual cage. A day earlier his daughter, who lives in Silwan, phoned to tell him that she had fallen and broken a leg, but he couldn't visit her as his permit is not valid outside his neighborhood. This man had arrived quite late, just before 4 PM, and we worried that he would not be received by the DCO. But both he and a DCO officer assured us that the DCO is open until 5 PM and receives all those waiting in the shed (access to which closes at 4).
We remained at Qalandiya until just before 5 PM and returned to Jerusalem via Lil/Jabba and Hizmeh CPs. At Lil the soldiers were snugly tucked into their positions, out of the cold and rain. Traffic was flowing. In Hizmeh as well.
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31/01/2011 ,Afternoon
Natanya G. and Phyllis W. (reporting)
We reached Qalandiya shortly after 3 PM. The weather was terrible, which apparently was the reason for the fact that very few people were out and about. The approach roads to the CP were relatively empty (even the approach from Ramallah) and the pedestrian CP was practically deserted. Only a handful of people were standing in Passageway No. 1 and, when the soldiers announced that it had been closed, they moved silently to Passageway 4.
However, we noticed that there was quite a crowd of people waiting in the shed outside the DCO offices at this late hour. We tried our luck and, to our surprise, the carousel was open. The soldiers in the aquarium only asked us to pass our bags through the x-ray machine and didn't prevent us from entering the shed. We spent the rest of our shift in the shed talking to those waiting to renew their magnetic (biometric) cards – just about everyone. Some asked us to help them solve various problems with the authorities and others just told us about the difficulties of life under the Occupation. We phoned the DCO representative, Ichsan, twice. He was not on duty but he called the soldiers and saw to it that things progressed more rapidly.
We left Qalandiya just before 5 PM and returned to Jerusalem via Lil/Jabba and Hizmeh CPs. At Lil the soldiers had tucked themselves snugly into their positions, out of the cold and rain. Traffic was flowing.
10/01/2011 ,Afternoon
Natanya G. and Phyllis W. (reporting)
Apparently, due to the chaos last week, people must be trying to stay away from Qalandiya CP. There were very few pedestrians in the old CP and the lines were short and moved rapidly. The new CP for bus passengers also appeared to be operating more or less efficiently. Lines there were not long and it looked as though the buses were waiting only a short time. In the vehicle CP, the lines were shorter than usual.
After only a short wait in the old CP (2 passageways were active), we emerged in the bus parking lot where we saw a large white pick-up truck parked by the curb, driver at the wheel. We walked over to see what, if anything, was happening and were greeted with a broad smile by the driver, Saffa, who seemed pretty bored. He told us that his job was to serially visit various CPs (we have never seen him before) to see how they were working, to recommend improvements, etc. He informed us that the waiting time at Qalandiya had shortened considerably. He said he had given his phone number to people in the CP and told them to phone him the minute they emerged and got on the bus. On the strength of his findings he told us that the passage time at Qalandiya was about 7 or 8 minutes, even at the height of the morning's crowding. Frankly, his "findings" seem more appropriate to some "celestial" Qalandiya and not to the terrestrial one so well known to all of us. Saffa also told us that 14,000 people passed through Qalandiya every day. (In our opinion, based on our most recent observations, his figures are completely out of date and perhaps reflect conditions at the CP two or three years ago.) To us it looks as though conditions at Qalandiya are so appalling that only those who must actually do use its facilities – everyone else stays away. This certainly solves the problem of "crowding."
We also spoke with a soldier and two security personnel at the exit from the bus CP. They were also quite friendly and happy to converse.
We left Qalandiya a bit after 5 PM and joined the endless line of vehicles on the road to A-Ram, Lil/Jabba and Hizmeh CPs.
05/12/2010 ,Afternoon
Roni H. and Tamar F. (reporting); Guest: Liat H.
"Come look, a leftist…", a soldier hollered to her colleague, as Roni, a rare bird which is in extinction, revealed herself before her eyes.
The children of Qalandiya are no longer begging us for money, but only ask that their picture be taken. Next time they meet us, they will each receive a copy of their own photo- a souvenir (perhaps the only one) for their childhood album.
Jaba checkpoint is once again functioning only on the road leading west; Those driving on it are the only ones to be halted and inspected to make sure there isn't a Jewish passenger amongst them, in which event he wouldn't be permitted to continue for fear he might be attacked by a resident from Qalandiya.
"Blessed are you, who did not make me a gentile"- so was written (by a Jew) on the side of the wall which faces the settlements Adam and Ofra, and also Kfar Jaba.
A lit Chanukkia made out of bullet casings was placed on the window of the high tower at Atara checkpoint.
Two of the soldiers in side came down to talk to us: "this isn't a checkpoint"¸said one of them, "it's a military base…"
"No", said the other, "it's a post…"
They talked a lot in favor of the checkpoint, especially the one who lives in Gush-Etzyon. He said he knew his "Arab" neighbors better than we did, he speaks to them and employs them: "They like us very much and know that their problem is with the Palestinian Authority". He also told us about the way the checkpoint benefits the Palestinians who use it: "There was an accident over here on Saturday and we provided them with medical help…"
For the first time at Hizme checkpoint, or at any other checkpoint for that matter, while passing from Palestine to Greater Jerusalem, we had noticed the presence of a police unit of dog trainer.
The following text was written by our guest Liat, who came with us on our shift:
Like a tourist I roam the country, an ambiguous term in itself.
Make quick trips to the West Bank, trying, with little success, to put together the layout of the districts in my head.
Like a tourist I roam the country and yesterday I arrived at a checkpoint.
But once I managed see it, the country turned into a land filled with checkpoints- some more horrible and some less than the first monster I had seen at Qalandiya.
I had never arrived at that place with the air-conditioned bus which I had paid for, or which had been funded by the Ministry of Tourism. And certainly not with the one funded by the Ministry of Education.
This time I came by foot, wrapped up, without fear and it was cold.
Ronni was the first to enter.
"Are you an Israeli?", "Aren't you afraid to be there?" (On the other side of the checkpoint she meant), and Ronni answered that she wasn't.
"Are you a leftist?" she added before joyfully telling her friend: "come look at the leftists". I approached the see-through wall after her, "Are you also a leftist?" (Perhaps she meant an Israeli), she asked, I answered that I was. "May I take a picture of you?" she continued. "You may, only if I may take a picture of you", I answered.
She focused on the badge that Tamar had given me earlier and asked: "against the checkpoints?", "could you give me one reason why checkpoints are bad?" suddenly her friend in the booth found an interest, they both were eager to hear my answer and the spark in their eyes indicated that they wanted an answer that would convince them. The five of us, at that moment, had the leisure to stand there while just behind us was a long line of people.
I couldn't think of one reason, not pain, not fear, not chill, not helplessness, not difficulty, none of those had occurred to me. I just wanted to get out of the line, which wasn't an actual problem for me since she didn't even really check my ID. While we chatted away about the necessity of the checkpoints, a Palestinian student who was in line after me had her book wedged in the conveyor belt. It was wedged deep inside and in order to get it out the soldier had to move the belt to the opposite direction. Most of the book was ruined, I'm sure that won't affect the way she reads the text.
Liat.
