Qalandiya, Tue 15.5.12, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
06:00
It’s not calm this morning; it’s bad for everyone. Today is Nakba Day. Perhaps the soldiers haven’t come to work?
Many people sit on the benches in the large shed, waiting, a sign they despair of soon going through the line. The lines are congested, young men climb over others. The morning isn’t quiet.
Two fenced corridor still haven’t opened, which is apparently the reason for the long delay and why the people waiting are jumpy – they know it will be a long time before they reach the other side of the checkpoint.
That’s the essence of the apparatus of control over others – while the regime prepares itself with war games and general staff sand tables, it has completely lost its ability to comprehend how people live. An ordinary blue, chilly morning: a boy with a schoolbag full of books, holding his sister’s hand; tall, slim girls with backpacks, on their way to school; men selling coffee and Arab bagels; a stand with vegetables in glorious colors.
But the fenced corridors didn’t open this morning and there were lines at the revolving gates
for two whole hours, without a break.
Although the humanitarian gate opened late, it stayed open continuously. This time, people on line weren’t made to wait.