Qalandiya

Today Qalandiya was even more deserted than usual and the candy vendor told us that there had been no unusual events.  The coffee seller reported that the CP had been more crowded than usual in the morning rush.  When we arrived there were 4 active passageways, three of which were empty because all the people were standing in Passageway 1 and the guard in the entrance booth was not announcing the other possibilities.  But Passageway 5, to the DCL offices, was completely blocked – apparently because the floor had been painted (which I overlooked as there was no sign warning of wet paint).  So I went to ask the women soldiers in Passageway 4 why the entrance to the DCL was closed and what was someone who needed their services to do?  The soldiers couldn’t understand the question.  They just said that the DCL was closed and they had no idea why and since when.  Hopefully it would open in the morning.  Once again it appears that whoever is supposed to teach the soldiers how to perform their duties at the CP is not fulfilling his function.

Hannah saw a very desperate lady in the northern shed talking to one of the women who were sitting on the benches there.  We went over to them to see if we could help at all.  The poor woman told us she had come to the CP to ask the policemen there to find her son who had run away from home and gone to Tel Aviv where he was wandering around with Israeli youngsters, sleeping in the Central Bus Station, looking for adventure and using drugs.  She was terribly distraught and we helped her to call the Civil Rights Hotline, but they said there was nothing they could do for her. In the end she went to look for a policeman at the other side of the CP.  

At about 5 PM we saw two gentlemen who had been trapped inside the examination space of Passageway 3 and were unable to get out either to Jerusalem or to Palestine.  We thought that the soldiers who had checked their papers had forgotten to open the exit gate before going off-duty themselves.  We phoned headquarters to ask for help and a policeman quickly came and released the two.