Qalandiya, Tue 20.3.12, Morning

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Place: 
Observers: 
Ina Friedman, Nava Jenny Elyashar (reporting)
Mar-20-2012
|
Morning

 

Translator: Charles K.

 

Qalandiya 05:45

The vehicle checkpoint is very congested, but it’s all due to traffic coming from the direction of Ramallah. In another hour congestion will be divided evenly between that from Ramallah and that coming from A-Ram and Highway 60.

 

Qalandiya 05:50

We heard from a distance the shout indicating that the three orderly lines had been disrupted by the

young men forcing their way to the front. Now, instead of three lines there’s only a tight mass of some 300 people pushing forward together toward the metal bars.

About 80 men sit under the canopy; they’ve given up trying to push their way in and wait for the lines to become orderly again. About 70 people wait at the humanitarian gate which is scheduled to open at 06:00.

The third revolving gate isn’t operating. It hasn’t worked almost every time we’ve been here. It began operating again after people started shouting.

The humanitarian gate opened only at 06:10, when 100 people had been waiting in a crowded line for an hour.

 

Qalandiya 06:20

410 people entered for inspection during the past half hour.

There are again three long but orderly lines at the revolving gatesinfo-icon, stretching back to the end of the canopy. Some young men keep pushing in to the front from the side, but only eight men now sit under the canopy waiting for the line to ease.

Only inspection lane number 5 has been allocated to people coming through the humanitarian gate, which results in delays exactly for those people who should cross be able to cross quickly, without pushing. Most have already waited on line for an hour.

The ecumenical volunteer reports that from 04:30 to 06:00 160+200+295 people came through the checkpoint. They provide half-hourly summary counts of the number exiting the checkpoint.

That’s a very slow rate of inspection, only 220 people in half an hour, about 60% of those entering each half hour after 06:00, when all the booths are usually manned. So we’re still stuck here with the remnants of the congestion that began at 04:30.

 

Qalandiya 06:50

380 people entered for inspection during the past half hour.

Congestion is still great; half of those in the regular line are women and children, who were supposed to go through the jammed humanitarian crossing.

Inspection lane number 4 also opened to handle people coming through the humanitarian gate, and the situation improved.

 

Qalandiya 07:20

295 people entered for inspection during the past half hour.

One of the officers explains that inspections stopped briefly at the humanitarian gate because of a man who’d gone through with a suspicious sack; he was detained and carefully checked in the inspection lane.

Apparently the sack turned out to be harmless, since they didn’t shut down the entire checkpoint.