Qalandiya – a slow passage of an 18-day old baby between ambulances
Because of the seething sun and the urgency of the armed men, because of the distance from the baby
and especially because of the arms of security personnel reaching towards me in an attempt to block the object of the photo, this is what the camera caught. But it is no worse than the goings-on in the public space where back-to-back procedures are followed to the letter.
The worst thing about this is that a baby born 18 days ago, at great risk, is sent from his birth town Qalqilya to Muqassad Hospital in East Jerusalem to save his life.
Only the young mother was issued a permit to join her son, while the father and the rest of the family had to stay behind, praying, worried.
Fathers, being men, are automatically marked as risking state security and are excluded from the sickbed of their child.
If anyone thinks that passing an 18-day old baby from one ambulance to another, a baby whose life is on the line, will be handed over at all possible speed – they are either wrong or do not know the essence of the occupation apparatus. For those in charge of this place who draw their authority from the power of their guns, the life of a Palestinian is worth nothing even if that Palestinian has not yet tasted life and like millions of others answers to the definition of ‘terrorist’, either in the present or potentially. Instead of speeding up the procedure and sparing the infant and his mother waiting time, the powers that be turned to me, blocking, pushing and yelling so loudly that, as I was told, the shouts were heard on the Palestinian side of the checkpoint.
The security personnel whose hectic activity does not even follow the instructions of echelons in charge made both the ambulances and me wait – at the corner of their eye they noticed a Palestinian coming back from his day at work and photographing this surreal sight. At once they left everything they were doing and jumped him demanding that he refrain from what he was doing. The guy who knows the place and the dangers it holds for him as a Palestinian, answered their demands and showed them what they wanted. I didn’t hear what went on, waited some minutes until they let him go, then the ambulances left and so did I.