Qalandiya, Monday, 18.4.2009

15:30, Qalandiya:  The traffic jam in the southern square was backed-up almost as far as Border Police Headquarters on the road from Beit Hanina.  It took us 20 minutes just to reach the CP.  As we were passing through, we were stopped by three soldiers who were checking the vehicle traffic to Ramallah.  They looked anxious that Israeli's would be traveling north, so we explained that, as members of MW, we were only going to the CP parking lot.  At that point they began to ask about MW, who we are and what we do.  They had never heard of us, but because of the long line behind us, we did not stay to talk to them.

Inside the CP there were very few people.  An illegible hand-written sign in Arabic was hanging at the entrance to the DCO offices.  As far as we could understand, it announced that the offices would be closed until after the holiday, 26/4/2011.

In spite of the fact that only a few people were trying to get to Jerusalem, there were lines of about 20 people in each of the two active passageways.  At 4 PM the PA system announced opening of a third passageway and the lines shortened accordingly.  We got in one of the lines and, when we reached the "aquarium", the (female) soldier checking peoples' papers looked at our badges and announced that we were from MW and opposed to the CP regime.  When we confirmed what she had said, another soldier from somewhere in the aquarium began a loud tirade against leftists and everyone opposed to the Occupation.  When Natanya presented her ID card she was required to insert it into the photocopy machine and then was asked to turn it the other way.  Natanya asked:  "Am I pretty now?" and the (female) soldier replied "If you were right-wing, you would be prettier!"  (Who trains the people who serve in the CPs?  Does anyone care how they function?)

Emerging on the Jerusalem side, we saw an ambulance awaiting a patient from Ramallah.  In less than 10 minutes the Palestinian ambulance arrived and the tiny passenger accompanied by its mother was transferred with no delay.

We would like to take this opportunity to report something unusual:  after years of distributing sweets to the little peddlers who sell things at Qalandiya, the little fellow from whom we had bought some cold water went off and came back to give Natanya a chocolate candy as a present.