Qalandiya, Mon 27.4.09, Morning

תאריך: 27/04/2009 ,בוקר

צופות: Maya B., Judy O.

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

Arrived 6:45 to find hundreds of people milling around and all the windows closed. Closure midnight the night before - a full 24 hours before Erev Yom Hazicaron (Remembrance Day). The Palestinians we spoke to all said that they had not been informed the day before when they had been at the checkpoint and there were no notices anywhere to announce the fact. Even if it had been announced on the radio and in the newspapers (and some of the workers leave home at 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning) it would have been decent to have put up signs the previous day.

The humanitarian gate was opened to let schoolchildren, teachers and the sick with blue I.Ds through. But there were others who did not fall into the specified categories and were turned back - parents who were supposed to accompany their childrens' outing were not allowed even though their children and their teachers were waiting for them on the other side; a cook of 30 years at an orphanage in East Jerusalem couldn't get through to prepare the food for the children: a man who had a court case for that day in Jerusalem etc.

Again an example of the total lack of respect and disregard for people and their time thus increasing the sense of disdain and hatred among the people we continue to control.