Qalandiya, Fri 30.12.11, Morning

Trans. Judith Green

9:15 About 100 people standing in front of the checkpoint.  4 interior entrances were open, but work went very slowly.  About 30 people were in front of the humanitarian checkpoint.  Only a few people were allowed in at a time.

9:22  The humanitarian checkpoint was opened, but closed after a few minutes.  A few minutes after, about 40 people were crowded together at the checkpoint. In answer to our question, the female officer from the military police mentioned that all the interior entrances were open.  Meanwhile, we noticed that the number of people who crowded before the outside entrance increased and inside the number decreased.  We spoke with one of the people waiting in line, who had a permit to visit his hospitalized son.  He stood in the humanitarian line and was turned back.  He try to pass through in the regular line.  The problem was that his permit was for accompanying a sick person.  Since his son was already hospitalized, his permit was not appropriate.  We spoke with the officers there about speeding about their work.

We noticed a man about 70 yrs. old who went to a far corner to relieve himself.  In our inspection of the place, we saw that all 3 of the rest rooms were closed.  We pointed this out to one of the officers, that in an area where thousands of people pass through, there was not even one rest room.

10:25  The number of people waiting outside the entrance decreased.  Most of the people had passed through to the interior entrances.