Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Sun 24.5.09, Afternoon
Qalandiya Checkpoint
- Two ambulances arrived at the northern side of the checkpoint. They had received a call from the Red Crescent station at east Jerusalem, asking them to wait at the checkpoint and transfer back into the West Bank some patients whose permits had expired. One of the crews told us they were waiting for a patient who was dieing of cancer and wished to end his life among his family in Palestine.
The ambulances who were supposed to bring the patient to the checkpoint hadn't yet arrived. They hadn't finished with all the bureaucratic procedures.
We got the impression that the highhanded attitude was to be encountered with not only in cases of the invalid transportation- after all, we are all familiar with the Palestinian habit of inserting bombs inside baby diapers and ambulances, even when they are entering the occupied territories.
Is the country endangering itself by allowing invalids and dieing people to enter Palestine?
- A young man that passes at the checkpoint every day, said to us: "Every day I see you here, and nothing changes, everything either stays the same or gets worse". We couldn't contradict his conclusion.
- We met a family: A mother, father and three young children. Their temporary permit which enables them to live together had expired and wasn't renewed. The mother, who is a resident of the Occupied Territories came out weeping from the DCL office, as one of her children was left in Jerusalem and now she wouldn't be able to go and see him.
- We passed the checkpoint escorted by our friend H, who had to take of his belt for the inspection. Haya asked why her belt didn't cause the metal detector to bip, as his did. His answer was: "I have an occupied belt and you don't".
A person named K' came to speak with us. A about a week earlier when he was at the checkpoint, a little girl got her hand stuck in the conveyer belt on the x ray machine, and she bruised herself. K' rushed to help her: her got they girl's hand out of the belt and called an ambulance. He then saw her off to the ambulance. He later discovered that his cell phone had disappeared. He went back to the soldiers and asked them to try and find out what happened to his phone. The soldiers who sat behind the bullet proof window: "laughed at me and told me to get lost", K' told us. He is a man of dignity: he filed a complaint at the police station at Neve Ya'acov, and headed back to the checkpoint and complained before the officers and commanders. They all wanted to get rid of him. K' accused the soldiers for stealing his phone and demanded that they check the security cameras, his request was denied.
Referred a representative of B'tselem, who promised to file a complaint on his behalf at the Investigation Military Police, and that he would mind this case.
New on the wall
- By the entrance to the vehicle checkpoint there is a drawing of a post card with a stamp that depicts the Omar mosque with inscription from the Koran (that is what we were told).
- Between the drawing of Yasser Arafat and that of Marwan Barguti, and just above, was a drawing of a masked person holding a sling and by him is written: "From Palestine with Love"
- The face of the Mahatma had been distorted and now looks like the face of a monkey, and by it is written: "KING KING".
Jaba/ Leel checkpoint
The soldiers were pulling off (only) vehicles of people with Israeli IDs. This is to show that they are filling in the orders and warring the settlers from entering by mistake in to the A' territories.
Due to Haya O' curiosity regarding the water supply to the neighborhoods of east Jerusalem, we found out that, to our surprise, for two and a half days in the week there is an arrest in the water supply to Beit Hanina and Su'afat (the water supply is the responsibility of the PLO).
The black water tanks are place on top of their roofs in order to over come this problem.