Qalandiya, Mon 7.6.10, Afternoon

 We saw Nasser even before we reached Qalandiya's southern square.  What a relief - it turned out that there was no problem after all (see our report of last week):  Nasser had been held in the "examination room" for about ten minutes and released after answering some questions.  Unfortunately, during our shift at Qalandiya we once again witnessed soldiers abusing their bureaucratic powers, bringing tears of frustration to the eyes of Palestinians who need their services (see below).

A taxi driver (Samir) caught up with us in the northern parking lot.  He told us that the pedestrian CP at Givat Ze'ev has been open for the past 5 days.  Laborers from the area around the village of El Gib (as well as those from farther afield - Bethlehem, Hebron, etc.) are no longer allowed to cross at Qalandiya but must now reach their daily work via Givat Ze'ev CP.  The problem is that the CP, with only one turnstile, is not set up to deal with the hundreds of workers who arrive each morning so that their examination takes a great deal of time.  Samir reported lengthy lines from 5 AM to 9:30 or 10:00 in the morning.  Laborers who pass at such late hours lose out on a day's work.

15:30 - 17:10  Qalandiya CP:  The parking lot was full and a large crowd was waiting before the carousels in the northern shed.  But even before we managed to deal with the problem, the carousels opened and everyone entered the CP.  Three internal passageways were operating (2,3 and 4) and all were full.  We saw two women standing at the head of the long line in Passageway 4 (the "men only" line).  We waited to see what would happen and, sure enough, after a few minutes in front of the (female) soldiers in the "aquarium", both were sent back and not permitted to pass in spite of the fact that both their blue ID's had been checked.  One of the women was very upset after waiting for an hour in the June heat, first in the northern shed and then in Passageway 4.  The attitude of the soldier had caused her terrible frustration and she could no longer control her tears though we and some other women tried to calm her.  In view of the fact that this woman (after an additional half hour's wait) had no problem passing through Passageway 3, we assume that her papers were in order.  Which begs the question:  why was she previously denied passage in No. 4 and why did the soldier there not allow her through? 

We noted also that there were problems at the CP yesterday, apparently due to the collapse of the telephone system (the entire network of the DCO offices, headquarters and the humanitarian hotline) - the internal lines were very long.  While we were standing in Passageway 3, we saw many women joining the line in No. 4 (men only?), where things were moving at a faster pace, and reaching Jerusalem without any problem.

Another story from Passageway 3:  When we finally had almost reached the carousel, we met a familiar face (from other shifts) - a fellow of 22-23 was waiting hopelessly in the corner.  In reply to our questions, Rami told us that he had come to Qalandiya that morning without his blue ID card and now no one was willing to let him go back home (to Jerusalem).  The soldiers told him that he must get someone to bring him his ID card.  But the young man lives alone with his 87 year-old father and the father is totally unable to perform such a feat.  He had no one from whom he could ask for help.  Once again we saw tears in his eyes as he told his story.  He did have a letter addressed to him from the National Insurance (Social Security) which included his ID number.  Rami said that if the soldiers would punch his number into the computer they would be able to identify him on the basis of his picture in the system, but the soldiers refused.  I called Police Officer Abuhazeira (who no longer serves at Qalandiya) and he advised me to call Benny Shabu.  Benny was very nice but suggested that we send Rami to Hizmeh CP where the BP (border police) officers are better able to deal with such problems.  As it was just about 5 PM, we suggested to Rami that he come with us to Hizmeh on our way to Jerusalem and so he did.  We parked the car at the entrance to Hizmeh CP and asked the soldiers to send over a BP officer with whom we could talk.  After explaining the problem, the officer spoke with Rami in Arabic and took him to check his details.  After about ten minutes he returned with Rami in tow and we took him home to Beit Hanina.