Qalandiya, Mon 23.11.09, Morning

תאריך: 23/11/2009 ,בוקר

צופות: Judy o. Maya B.

Qalandiya

three kilometers south of Ramallah, in the heart of Palestinian population. Integrates into "Jerusalem Envelope" as part of Wall that separates between northern suburbs that were annexed to Jerusalem in 1967: Kafr Aqab, Semiramis and Qalandiya, and the villages of Ar-Ram and Bir Nabala, also north of Jerusalem, and the city itself. Some residents of Kafr Aqab, Semiramis and Qalandiya have Jerusalem ID cards.

A terminal operated by Israel Police has functioned since early 2006. As of August 2006, northbound pedestrians are not checked. Southbound Palestinians must carry Jerusalem IDs; holders of Palestinian Authority IDs cannot pass without special permits. Vehicular traffic from Ramallah to other West Bank areas runs to the north of Qalandiya.

Click here to watch a video from Qalandiya checkpoint.

סגור תיאור

6:20 we are at the CP, where the usuall catastrophy is going on at full blast.

Hundreds of people are pushing, screaming, swearing, climbing over each other , and the Humanitarien gate is equally as full and closed. At 6:30 the first group of humanitarien cases is let in. There are may be 150 school children alone as well as three blind people a huge number of old people, sick children with cancer, a lot of women etc, etc, and no one to talk to or ask for some assistance.

Three police officers, one DCO officer who hardly pays any attention and a few security guys who only look to intimidate everybody.

We call the DCO, main number, we call the DCO office at Qalandiya and are promised some response. The problem is that the CP is too small for the amount of

people that try to go through at the rush hour between 6-8 in the morning. The police and army men there just don't care. At best they try to educate the workers not to push and behave like English gentlemen in a queu. There is no attempt to speed up the process, open at 5 am in order to avoid the big crowds from gathering and they don't try to listen or help in any way. It is heartbreaking. I saw a mother with a little boy ,who had cancer, about 4-5 years old pushing in among the men because she realized she will never make it to the hospital in time in the humanitarien line.I could not get the police/army people to listen and help.

We have to get to speak with the comander of Qalandiya or the commander of all the Jerusalem CPs in order to try and solve this unneccessary suffering that is caused because of ill will and carelesness.