Ni'lin (Qiryat Sefer), Qalandiya, Wed 12.5.10, Afternoon
Qalandia - Road 443, Wednesday PM 12.5.2010
14:30-18:00
Following the High Court order to open the road to Palestinian traffic and articles in the press about the limitations the army will impose, we went to have a closer look.
We started at he Ofer Passage where according to the newspaper a new CP will be installed which will prevent the entrance to Jerusalem and to Ramalla. Just as we arrived a convoy with the Spanish foreign minister passed on its way from the West Bank into Israel. A few Israeli trucks stood in line for the commercial passage and their drivers went with their documents to a girl soldier one after the other and continued a few minutes later to the loading zone where the Palestinian trucks were awaiting them. We asked a polite security guard re the new CP and he answered that he had no clue.
But as soon as we reached the main road we saw the familiar sight of enormous digging works whenever the wall or new CP's are erected. .
At least ten heavy monsters were digging and moving earth in top speed. Along the road on both sides are two-tiered fences with coiled barbed wire on top. Nobody will be able to enter Road 443 except on those stretches, which are permitted. We continued along the road. Across from the Maccabim CP the concrete slabs which closed the traffic from the West Bank have been removed. Here too work is in progress, but it is not clear exactly what kind of work. We turned right at the Shilat junction and passed Modi'in Illith, which grows in all directions, also very much in height and we continued till Na'aleh. The settlement is flourishing and has fantastic views. It is located exactly in the middle between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the perfect residential area if it hadn't been built in sin.
On our way back we stopped at the construction site of the new CP, which carries the name of ‘Institutionalization of the Kiryat Sefer Passage'. A huge tract which looks like an airfield has been flattened, it's not clear for what. Many Palestinian workers arrived and hurried to the fenced-in passage, which serves their return. A rather long queue ensued and we wanted to get closer, but a soldier came up to our car and informed us that we were not allowed to park near the CP, which is a closed military zone. The soldier didn't tell us his name, but told us the belonged to a unit of the armored forces - a fitting job....