Qalandiya
06.00. We decided to start coming later, as the Palestinians have also started arriving later than in the past. There is a big difference in the amount of traffic, and we headed straight for the new pay parking lot (20 shekels). The man operating it is an elderly east Jerusalem man,retired from Jerusalem municipality. He worked many years with “Nir Barkat,” as he says. Though the new mayor asked him to stay on, he decided he had had enough, and was now old.
There is a lot of roadwork on the Israel side of the checkpoint, making crossing difficult. Many people had already come out of the checkpoint.
When we crossed to the Palestinian side we showed our guest the old shed and described past conditions. The beigel seller was present, as well as the falafel kiosk which had been missing recently – its owner hoped he would be allowed to stay – which he was, today, until his time for packing up at about seven. The beigel seller told us he earns 80 shekels a day. At home he cares for three young grandchildren whose father takes drugs. As he has to stand outside of the shelter, he cannot come when it rains. Today at least the weather is fair, and there is no problem about standing outside (as long as he is allowed to do so).
Suddenly queues began to form at the three entrances to the checkpoint – apparently there was some hitch in the automatic checking that caused delays. Fortunately this problem was quickly solved and the lines vanished.
We took our visitor towards Qalandiya refugee camp to show her the wall and its graffiti, and also where to catch a taxi or minibus to Ramallah which was planning to visit later for her research project.
On our return we saw everything was proceeding smoothly and at about 7, we decided to leave. Our visitor wanted to see the process. All proceeded smoothly until the bag check. She had a large backpack containing her laptop. For some reason the soldiers in the aquarium did not know how to handle the ‘problem’ and had to get advice by telephone. Meanwhile we waited, with a few people who were stuck behind us in line between the turnstiles.. One of them managed to move back and go to be checked at the other side of the aquarium where there is another machine. The others had to wait, and we apologized for the delay. The soldiers were not prepared simply to let them pass. After the soldiers got advice, our visitor was told to take out her laptop and open it for them. The backpack passed through the screening without the laptop – safely. We passed the turnstile and then reached the document checking point. The Palestinians passed through the electronic stations, while we were checked by a woman soldier, and got through in an instant.
We accompanied our visitor back to the entrance to the Palestinian side for her to reach Ramallah, and returned to the car. Next week we will try to come a bit later to see conditions then.