Qalandiya, Tue 2.7.13, Morning

Translator:  Charles K.

The lines were moderately long when we arrived at 05:30.  Our ecumenical colleagues reported that crossing took 15 minutes, on average.  Between 06:00 and 06:30 the lines reached to the end of the canopied area but the time it took to go through remained reasonable.  At 06:45, when we left, the three fenced corridors were empty.

We telephoned the humanitarian office at 06:15 because no officer or soldier was present to open the gate.  Shortly afterwards a policeman came out of the “aquarium” to open it, but closed it in the face of an elderly woman who arrived after the first group (fewer than ten people) had gone through and before he’d managed to lock it – which seemed strange to us.  The woman was angry – at us, because we weren’t able to open the locked gate – but all she could do was to wait for more people to arrive.  The gate opened three times, and after 06:30 (approximately) people got on the regular lines which were already short.