Qalandiya

Translator:  Charles K.

A cold, wintry morning; if we were handing out grades it would be even a little more depressing to see all the people.  About 2000 people cross through Qalandiya at rush hour, and a few hundred more with “Jerusalem passes” through the bus crossing.  About 10,000 people cross in a day!  But the coffee seller must be happy because he has many customers - drinking coffee, tea, eating pastries, almost everyone chain-smoking.  The line extends out of the waiting room to the parking lot this morning as well.  As we arrived we saw that the soldier had decided to open only two of the three revolving gates – just because.  On such a morning it’s unnecessary to remark how much that annoys people who don’t know which gate will open next.

We spoke with people who knew English and wanted to talk to us.  They want the world to see what’s going on here.  One said, “to see how we are like animals in a cage here.”  The DCO officer arrived and immediately opened the “humanitarian” gate.  A family went through with a child who’s ill both physically and psychologically; he wailed heartbreakingly and cried hysterically when he went through the suffocating revolving gate.  He then grew quiet and sad…