'Atarot, Hizma, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Mon 17.5.10, Afternoon

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Observers: 
Natanya G. and Phyllis W. (reporting)
May-17-2010
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Afternoon

15:30:  Atarot CP:  Traffic was flowing.

15:40:  Qalandiya CP:  Traffic was flowing in the southern square.  There was no problem reaching the parking lot.  In the northern shed, the carousel at the CP entrance was locked.  We got in line behind 3 others.  One of them called to the soldier on duty and she opened the carousel immediately.

We went to see if people were waiting to enter the DCO offices.  There was no one waiting at the carousel and no one in the shed.

Inside the CP, people were waiting in 3 passageways.  We got on line in Passageway 2.  The man ahead of us told us that he had waited 15 minutes in the line in Passageway 1 after the PA system announced that it was open.  After 15 minutes, the soldiers announced that the Passageway was closed.  "They are toying with us," he said.  Apparently, even though people are waiting on 3 lines, only two of them are really active.

15:45:  Suddenly a group of people rushes from Passageway 4 to Passageway 3 following an announcement that 3 is now open.  The whole group waits quietly for several minutes, but no one is allowed in.

In Passageway 2, it took us 12 minutes to cross through the CP.

Outside, in the bus parking lot, a Jerusalem ambulance is awaiting the arrival of an ambulance from Palestine which drove up about 10 minutes later.  The patient was transferred back to back in the parking lot and both ambulances set out with no delay.

Back in the northern shed there were no special problems for the remainder of the afternoon.  Pedestrians kept arriving but the lines remained short.

17:00:  We left Qalandiya to return to Jerusalem.  At Lil/Jabba and Hizmeh CPs traffic was flowing.

18:30:  On the way back to Tel Aviv I passed by Atarot CP.  At this hour the line of vehicles extended from the CP in the square almost all the way to the traffic light on Road #443.  There were over 150 vehicles in line.