A quiet morning at Qalandiya.

We arrived at 6.20, after collecting our visitor, a student from Germany, studying for a Masters degree in International Law at Hebrew University. We drove along the Wall, not as we usually do along Begin and route 443, so that she could see how the wall separates Palestinians from Israeli Palestinians.

The Jerusalem side of the checkpoint was humming.  Many people were waiting for their transport to work, some of them sitting on the low wall next to the major Wall. The public transport area at the foot of the pedestrian bridge was busy. The bridge itself gives a good view of both the Israel and West Bank sides of the checkpoint, and so helps to explain the situation to our visitor.

Many people pass us on the bridge.   The West Bank side of the checkpoint is quiet. At least one of the entrances is open and everyone who arrives enters quickly. There are still two big notices:  one about the RavKav system and the other, old one about Corona.  There is no mention of the renewed rule about wearing masks, but  everyone seems to be aware of it

We were happy to meet Abu Ramzi, the beigel-seller, after not seeing him for a long time. He had a grandson with him. When we asked about vaccinations he said that there weren’t any – only workers in Israel were vaccinated.  He enjoyed practicing his limited English with our visitor.

A bit lower down from Abu Ramzi was a stall selling food, filling the air with the smell of fried falafel. The tea kiosk is back, in its recently established spot, in its commercial vehicle. It was too hot for us to think of drinking tea.  We described to our visitor how in the afternoons the place fills up with stalls selling fruit, vegetables and assorted things. One could see signs of this activity all around. We also explained how sometimes city inspectors come and destroy stalls and write police reports.

We walked along the long fence surrounding the locked parking lot to the Qalandiya entrance and showed her the wall pictures and graffiti on the Wall  – Arafat and Barghouti (whom she wasn’t aware of) – and other things.  These are all largely obscured by now by fires and smoke bombs. We showed her a point from which one couldn’t approach the vehicle checkpoint on foot. Only recently a woman who passed it was shot. Our visitor had heard of this incident.

We returned to the checkpoint building, showing our visitor the locked gate at the Qalandiya entrance to the parking lot which in the past was the quick way for people to reach the checkpoint.  We saw the one place where the space between bars was a bit wider and which thin little children use to squeeze through.

It was now about 7 o’clock.  All was quiet, and we decided to go through the checkpoint. Inside, too, all was quiet.  There were few electronic positions working, but this was enough as there was no pressure at this hour. We passed through in a couple of minutes without questions, even to our visitor, by the woman soldier doing the checking. Of course, we explained to our visitor how the system works inside, and described the changes over the years. It is hard for a newcomer to imagine those chaotic conditions.  [Such a streamlined occupation! We did explain to her that those coming through this speedy process are permit holders. We rarely see here in the early morning people with permit restrictions.]

On the way back to our car, we noticed that the area had apparently been recently cleaned   – a spotless sidewalk, and even the area behind the low wall where people sit and throw their empty coffee cups was clean.

On the way, we met Y., who we wrote about in our report of 27.5.2021. The date is soon approaching when he will be able again to submit a request to cancel his restriction, and we spoke about the letter he must bring from an employer for this. If at long last the restriction is canceled, we hope that the authorities will stop harassing him all the time.