Qalandiya, Sun 1.4.12, Morning

Translation: Judith Green

At 5:30, the line spread out into the road.  People were standing in line without pushing or any violence.  The soldiers who was sitting in the protected booth, responsible for the opening of the turn stiles, actually responded to our "good morning" greetings, which was quite a concession!  As though that wasn't enough, he even opened the window in the "bunker" where he sat, in order to listen to us, see us, and relate to us.  We asked him to open the turn stiles more frequently, in order to stream more people into the inner courtyard, even just to give them the feeling that they were making some progress.  According to him, they are forbidden to overload the inner courtyard lest a riot should break out in it and they would not have any way to get to the troublemakers or to control them.  This did sound logical.  But what should really determine the policy, in the long run, is maximizing the efficiency of the soldiers' task of inspecting the permits and documents of the people going through.  It seemed that this was a very good day altogether, from every point of view:  the soldiers who inspected the documents, and the soldier who sat in the protected booth, as well as the officer who arrived at 6:15 - all of them worked very efficiently and with good will.  Even though there was a great number of people, as always, there was a good flow and those standing in line were patient.  I don't know whether this was just luck, or things which were unknown to us, or perhaps a new policy;  it was nicest to believe that the third possibility was the correct one.
Blessed is the believer!