Qalandiya, Mon 15.11.10, Afternoon

 Eve of the Id al Adha Festival.  There were fewer people than usual at the CP.   Many of those who arrived were dressed for the holiday, accompanied by their children, and carried presents for their families.  There were many mothers with children.  Unfortunately, on such a festive day, the filth and dirt at the CP really assaulted the senses.  It was almost impossible to put your foot down without stepping in a pile of garbage.  And in spite of the fact that there were fewer people than usual (and perhaps because of that….), the soldiers manning the active passageways worked more slowly, or so it seemed, and the lines in the passageways hardly moved at all.  In one line people stood for an hour or more, waiting quietly, untila (female) soldier announced in the coarsest manner over the PA system that the passageway was closed and that those waiting should "fly away" (the Hebrew slang equivalent of "get lost").

15:20, Qalandiya:  Two internal passageways were active when we reached Qalandiya.  From a distance we could see that three people were waiting in the DCO shed.  The floor of the CP was covered with garbage – cigarette butts and discarded cans of soft drinks.  It looked as if the place was never cleaned.  There were not many people in the CP, but the lines were not moving at all.  A group of workmen entered the CP and stood in line in Passageway 4 (which was not active at that time).  The workers said that the passageway would be opened so that they could get to their work shift at AtarotIndustrial Parkon time (it was).

About 20 people were waiting in Passageway 2 when we got on line.  It took us half an hour to get through.  The same number were waiting in Passageway 1, but they were not moving at all.  After an hour (no exaggeration), we heard a (female) soldier announce over the PA:

"Maslak wachad sacker, oofu hahootza."  The first part, in Arabic, was "Passageway 1 is closed"; the second part, in colloquial Hebrew, was "get lost".

Another (female) soldier's voice came at us from the second passageway:  "Hutu kol ishi fi salla, yalla!) (Free translation:  Put all your belongings in the basket, yalla!  The yalla part, in Arabic is markedly disrespectful and sounded much worse over the PA system than it looks on paper.)

Several dozen people were waiting in the northern shed to enter the CP.  Even though there was room in the passageways, the (female) soldier on duty was too busy on her phone to open the turnstile and let the people through.  We phoned Keinan's stand-in and the gate was opened.

The situation was terrible all afternoon, but got worse toward 5 PMwhen the flow of people increased.  In the end, we phoned the Chief of Police at the CP in despair.  He must have intervened because a change was quickly felt and the soldiers manning the passageways actually began to do their job.

We left Qalandiya at 17:00to drive back to Jerusalem.  There were no lines at Lil/Jabba or at Hizmeh CPs.