I went to Qalandiya to accompany S. who had to get a magnetic card issued at the DCO. S. is a young Palestinian woman, mother of two. She has divorced, but her ex-husband and his family threaten her so she received a humanitarian permit to be with her children in Israel. She is cared for by the law firm Lustigman – Blank, with whom we work ongoingly. She is very afraid of contact with the outside world, so we were asked to accompany her to the DCO.

Receiving permits at present is done through the application of the Coordinator of Government Action in the Territories. In order to download this app, one must have a magnetic card. The card can be issued only by the DCO. The DCOs are in the West Bank. Not in Israel. So we are in a catch here – in order to be in Israel she must go to the Occupied Territories (West Bank) to obtain the card that would enable her to get the permit…

We parked on the Israeli side. Arriving as a pedestrian to the pedestrian bridge is not a minor feat. To the extent that people we asked suggested we go back and get a bus for one stop. The place is planned for public transport, less for pedestrians. Regular vehicles are not allowed to enter the public transport area. Around the roads are concrete walls, but the human head (apparently the Palestinian, too, not just the Jewish one) has ideas, and has already placed curb stones, wooden planks etc. and made steps to facilitate jumping over the concrete walls.

We arrived when there was no pressure at the checkpoint. Only one of the three entries is functional, and inside was a waiting line for the object inspection post, proceeding rather fast. In a short time we were after object inspection.

Usually, we do not enter the DCO and the Israeli government office area (Ministry of Internal Affairs, Postal Service etc) that are situated in the Qalandiya Checkpoint Compound. We see the entrance to the DCO when we are headed for the exit to Jerusalem, but it is not open to us (anyway, the DCO is still closed when we usually get there). In order for the Palestinians to get to the office area, they must enter the Checkpoint structure, go through a turnstile to the waiting room, go through another turnstile for object inspection, get out of it to the ID and document inspection. There they exit on the left, go up the stairs and pass the bridge over the entry of army and security personnel and descend on the other side to the DCO. Naturally fences and turnstiles separate Israelis and Palestinians.

In order to enter the DCO waiting area, one must pass through another turnstile. There is one for entering and one for exiting. The entry turnstile has a chain that apparently blocks it. The guard lets a certain number of people in at a time. When he let us in we saw that the chain was not connected to anything. Just as he moved it, so could anyone. But naturally a Palestinian would not dare to do so.

S. didn’t know where she was supposed to go. The guard, a Palestinian from Ramallah (we found out later) functions as an ushed. He enters the people to the structure where they have another waiting area, helps them get numbers out of the machine and directs them to various posts.  There is also a loudspeaker that calls the next number and directs one to the proper window, as in the sick funds. He went off to inquire about us, and let us into a small closed cell with a counter. Behind the counter sat a civilian, not a soldier, apparently an employee of the Civil Administration. He got very tense when he saw me and wondered how I got in without accompaniment. He claimed we were in the “red area” and it is dangerous because Palestinians walk around here without anyone in charge. I clarified to him that the Palestinian side of the checkpoint is part of the Jerusalem judicial area, and we come here regularly and walk around Palestinians… He was very tense and couldn’t understand how and why I was allowed in the DCO without accompaniment. I explained I didn’t need it, and that everything was alright. When I said that S. was threatened, he got even more nervous, this time for her security.

All in all, he was very cooperative and wanted to help. He issued her a magnetic card (there is a camera and a fingerprinting machine in the cell). But he explained that right now there is no valid permit in the system, in spite of the fact that S. had documents proving her permit is valid for another few months. He spoke with the lawyer who works with S. and with other elements, and said we must wait for the permit to be fed into the system and it might not happen today.  He was very upset for us to exit without accompaniment, but after speaking on the phone with various authorities, he agreed that we leave “on our own responsibility”.

We walked out to the internal waiting room. In the meantime, with her magnetic card, S. tried to download the app, but had difficulties. The guard tried to help and got his brother on the line, who guided S. how to do it. S. was pressured for not getting on time to take her children out of their institutions in the afternoon. I calmed her down. If the permit would not be received by the system, I could pass back and go in with my car, picking her up, and then we know how to drive in order to go back without any problems.

The social worker and lawyer got to work and thus, after waiting for a short while, we were told that the permit was entered into the computer and S. could re-enter Israel without problems. We thanked the nice guard, his brother’s phone number is already saved in S.’s phone just in case she needs help to work the application. We returned to the document inspection area. S. went through with her magnetic card through one of the automated posts, (this way we also made sure her permit was in the system), and went without delay to the manual inspection post. We exited on the Israeli side.