Qalandiya
A VERY SLOW MORNING AT QALANDIYA
05.25. When we arrived -a little late - we found two long lines which reached the road, instead of the three usually shorter ones. This seemed to be caused by the fact that the middle turnstile was out of order.
It was hard to work out how many checking stations were open – the number seemed to vary at times between four and five. There was an announcement at one stage that one of the checkpoints was for people without baggage. There was apparently a problem with the loudspeaker, so announcements had to be made by simply shouting, which was not always clear.
The soldier on duty in the cubicle when we arrived tried to help a couple of people – he helped a woman make her way past the crowd inside the cage right up to the turnstile (this was before groups of women arrived). He also made a phone call on behalf of a man who had been turned back at the checkpoint, to solve a problem in his permit. Though this appeal was unsuccessful, we were struck by this unusual show of empathy.
After he was relieved at 6 a.m., there seemed to be a variety of military police, a guard and a policeman.
The D.C.O. officer arrived just before 6.30, by which time a fair crowd had gathered at the humanitarian gate.
We were struck by the calm (resigned? depressed?) behavior of those waiting in line when suddenly, at 6.40, some spark set them off and the usual scramble ensued. In such cases this always leaves space in the shed for us to make our way out easily to see (no visible) progress in the new building. But when we returned we found the lines had formed once again.
By 7.40 the lines extended just a short way out of the shed and we joined one of them. It took 25 minutes for us to pass. (How long would the wait have been for those who had earlier joined the line near the road?) Just before 8 o’clock we noticed that many people were let through the turnstile at once, and then the humanitarian gate was closed and its soldier left.
During our shift we were approached by two men with entry permit problems, whom we referred to Sylvia’s team.
When we came out to the Israel side to catch the bus to town, we found the buses had all been moved to a parking-lot quite far away. We do not know if this is a temporary arrangement.