Qalandiya
It’s no mistake – it’s policy.
A sick child is a sick child.
A child released from hospital after an operation needs rest.
But this, which should be self-evident, doesn’t apply under occupation.
Umar, aged seven, who had been released from hospital a few hours ago after an operation, still under the influence of anaesthesia, collapsed folded up on the metal bench in the shed outside of the DCO office at the Qalandiya checkpoint.
It was very cold at this early evening hour. Umar’s father removed his own leather coat and wrapped his son in it. Umar didn’t even blink an eye. Neither his good eye, nor the one swollen from the operation. He slept. Or maybe he wasn’t asleep; maybe he was unconscious.
His father wandered around restlessly. He still has to enter the office, request a permit, return to Gaza, reach the Erez checkpoint on time, before it closes. Otherwise?… Otherwise, who knows…?
Many people were waiting at the office, with many problems. Problems like his, and others.
And much yelling, and much shoving. And his doubts tore at him, and concern for the sleeping child – having to be near him prevented the father from leaving what should have been his bedside but was only a cold, alienating red bench. And when his name was finally called he wasn’t able to wake Umar to bring him inside as well. He didn’t want to leave him sleeping alone on the bench. He was worried. Who else could take care of the boy? He asked a stranger to arrange for the permit, and gave him Umar’s birth certificate, which was required to obtain it.
A Palestinian child must always be attached to their birth certificate, to their kushan. Not a photocopy, not a copy – the original.
But there’d been a mistake – “It happens; lack of coordination,” said the female soldier.
Yes, mistakes happen, mistakes are liable to occur, but that a seven year old boy after an operation requires a permit to go home – that’s not a mistake; that’s a policy.
And after they rectified the mistake, and after the father managed to wake his son, and after Umar and his father left, the fact remained that a child is still a child, and there’s no other way to describe what occurred except as – a crime.
Qalandiya Checkpoint / Atarot Pass (Jerusalem)
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Click here to watch a video from Qalandiya checkpoint up to mid 2019 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. In February 2019, the new facility of the checkpoint was inaugurated aiming to make it like a "border crossing". The bars and barbed wire fences were replaced with walls of perforated metal panels. The check is now performed at multiple stations for face recognition and the transfer of an e-card. The rate of passage has improved and its density has generally decreased, but lack of manpower and malfunctions cause periods of stress. The development and paving of the roads has not yet been completed, the traffic of cars and pedestrians is dangerous, and t the entire vicinity of the checkpoint is filthy. In 2020 a huge pedestrian bridge was built over the vehicle crossing with severe mobility restrictions (steep stairs, long and winding route). The pedestrian access from public transport to the checkpoint from the north (Ramallah direction) is unclear, and there have been cases of people, especially people with disabilities, who accidentally reached the vehicle crossing and were shot by the soldiers at the checkpoint. In the summer of 2021, work began on a new, sunken entrance road from Qalandiya that will lead directly to Road 443 towards Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. At the same time, the runways of the old Atarot airport were demolished and infrastructure was prepared for a large bus terminal. (updated October 2021)
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