Qalandiya

Sunday is a day of a lot of workers,  working not only in Jerusalem, but all over the country.  We met workers who were building the huge bridge for the future railroad next to Motza.  It was sad to hear their bitterness as men who are building a grandiose project and are proud of their profession but, at the same time, are suffering from humiliating treatment all the way from their house to work.

 

When we arrived, there were already a lot of people and we saw that, once again, the 3rd turnstile was not operating.  But, there was some progress!  Once the police officers were not not willing to talk with us and sent us to the civil administration.  Recently, they answer us and eventually the turnstile opened.

 

Again, we met people who were sent back from the inspection windows with no explanation.  Is the approach that, after all, they are only Arabs, so it is not necessary to tell someone who has a valid work permit in his hand and, in spite of this, he is not able to go to work?  Luckily, a DCO officer clarified (in only one minute), and the reason was that the employer had canceled the man's employment permit without telling him.  After 7:00, the stream of people was finished.  It was perhaps the first morning that was not terribly cold at Kalandia;  maybe because of this, and the fact that the line progressed pretty quickly, it was a "normal" morning at Kalandia checkpoint.