Qalandiya

Grim and Long Morning

Only three checking stations were open when we arrived at 5:30 a.m. -- and the strategic  light by the entrance to the shed had still not been replaced by a working one. Lines were long; progress was slow; and it was clear that no good would come of this situation. Checking stations 4 and 5 did not open until 6:00.

A Civil Administration officer arrived at 6:15 and immediately opened the Humanitarian Gate, which functioned more or less properly throughout the morning although Policeman M. arrived soon thereafter and appropriated her job of checking the permits of people going through the gate. (It’s a shame she did not leave and go back to sleep, as her presence there was redundant.)

Even after the two closed checking stations opened, progress forward  remained  slow. The lines going through the three “cages” reached all the way out to the road at the end of the parking lot – about 150 meters. Therefore, not surprisingly, at 6:40 the lines collapsed and the younger people rushed for the entrances to the cages, leaving a mob scene that lasted close to an hour.

As the few benches that remain were taken by men, young and old, who decided to wait out the mess and not risk injury, the older women without permits, who are refused access until 8:00 a.m., were left standing for much of the morning.  But at 8:00, when they were to be allowed through the Humanitarian Gate, Policeman M. , for reasons we could not divine – other than his oft-displayed propensity for bullying and sadism – refused to allow a bevy of these older women through the gate and insisted they stand on the rough lines going through the cages. Infuriating!

At 7:25, when lines vaguely began to form again, we joined one that reached the back of the shed at the time. Because there was still a modicum of mess at the entrances to the cages, it took us an hour to reach and traverse the security check – which, I believe, is a record for us on a Tuesday. We needn’t elaborate on the cascade of complaints we received during the morning about the functioning of the checkpoint.