Qalandiya, Fri 25.11.11, Morning

Share:
Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Email
Place: 
Observers: 
Ofra T., Orit D., Michal W.(reporting)
Nov-25-2011
|
Morning

09:00: A large crowd at the entrance and in front of the inner queues. Near the Humanitarian queue – some 20 persons waiting. The place seemed cleaner than it had been in our past visits.

At 09:05 the Humanitarian lane opened up, but was closed immediately thereafter. Most of the time the DCO representative and an officer were present and tried to help (not very successfully) in order to ease the pressure, for instance by occasionally opening the Humanitarian lane.

We asked the officer why only one lane was open outside and he claimed that there were three lanes (besides the five inner lanes). We asked him to inform the unaware crowd but apparently he didn't, as we heard nothing over the loudspeaker. The officer explained that the crowd consisted mainly of elderly people on their way to pray - and therefore unfamiliar with the procedures and thus causing the obvious delays. Also he said,"there is some sort of holiday" * – the Palestinians knew of no such a holiday. He added that despite the pressure, the soldiers were working well, according to instructions. We told the unaware Palestinians that other lanes were open as well and indeed they shifted to the nearby lane. Thus we found ourselves doing the occupiers' job and directing the dependants to the other queues.

The coffee vendor told us that cars were being broken in to daily in the parking area. He had complained in the DCO and their reply was that they were responsible only for the barrier, not the parking areas, but as the Palestinian police was unauthorized to access this area – there was no supervision at all.

At 9:30 the pressure grew in the inner area. A Hebrew speaker told us that in the past he had lived in Jerusalem and was a blue ID holder. Then he started working as an agricultural consultant in Jericho and was compelled to move to A-Ram. He lost his ID. Now he is retired but the Ministry of Interior refused him an ID. He cannot visit his home and his grandkids and family in Jerusalem – only with a Friday permit.

The queue grew longer. Some people accompanied by children were sent away. The officer explained that kids under 5 didn't require a permit to get through but those that were 5-16 had to appear in his computer lists alongside the adult applicant. Therefore they had been sent away.
At 10:00 crowds grew near the inner queues as well as the outer ones. People began to lose their patience. There was an announcement in Arabic and one of the Palestinians explained to us that they were closing the CP for a couple of minutes due to the commotion. The officer denied this. Possibly the computers were "stuck", for a longer while. One of the persons on line complained that they were slowing down the computers intentionally.
We wondered whether the CP had been privatized and the "operators" were the civilians passing by wearing gray outfits.

The stream of arrivals increased. The queue reached the entrance shed. There seemed to be no activity in the inner area, neither near the "humanitarian" line where there was a long line. At 10:30 the "humanitarian" opened up, and gradually the other queues seemed to be advancing. We could hear some announcements barked over the loudspeaker – incomprehensible even to the Arabic speakers. They asked us to explain…
Can't the "mightiest army in the ME" arrange for a decent loudspeaker?

At 11:00 things slowed down again. Shouts came from the counters. People were embittered that they wouldn't reach their prayers on time after having waited on line in the cold for at least two hours.

At 11:07 the gatesinfo-icon reopened and the pressure was eased.

* Yesterday was actually the Muslim New Year – not a formal holiday but observed by some.