Qalandiya, Fri 8.6.12, Morning

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Place: 
Observers: 
Ofra Teneh, Suzanne (a young French guest), Nili Fisher (reporting)
Jun-8-2012
|
Morning

 

Translator:  Charles K.

 

09:00  We arrive at the checkpoint to a situation we remember from the northern and southern Huwwara checkpoints.  A nightmare.  Unbelievable congestion at all the fenced corridors.  To see whether there was a humanitarian lane we had to cross through all the crowded lines.  There’s no humanitarian lane.  Women, children and men are all jammed together.  Many elderly who find it difficult to stand lean on their canes.

A religious woman addresses me, says she’s been there since 6 AM, and asks that a separate line be designated for women, because of the congestion.  Arguments and anger among those waiting.  Some try to bypass the line and get closer to the revolving gatesinfo-icon.  Men extend their arms to bar people, including women, from breaking into the line.

A woman carrying a child’s car seat gets stuck in the bars of the revolving gate.

There’s only one female soldier in the room controlling the allocation of people among the fenced corridors leading to the lines before the security inspection.  There are usually police officers and DCO staff in addition to the soldiers.

We ask the soldier why there’s no humanitarian lane; she say’s there’s no DCO representative today.  They promised he’d be here two hours ago, but he hasn’t arrived.  Only the DCO representative has a key to the humanitarian gate and the authority to open it.  Since he’s not here, the sick, the women and the children wait in the regular lines.

 

09:25  We telephone the DCO numerous times, every 5-10 minutes, and the clerk answering the phone promises that someone will be right there, he’s on his way…he’s near...he’s coming now…he’s there – but he isn’t; he hasn’t arrived.

Although all the booths inside are operating, the line hardly moves.

People yell at men pushing their way in when the revolving gate opens momentarily.  An old man leaning on a cane tries to bypass the line; people try to dissuade him.  Women shout.

A Palestinian youth asks us, in English, “Is it human or animal?” pointing to the hell before us.  A sick man carrying a plastic bag with medical documents stands shakily on line, gets pushed forward and almost falls.  A woman gives him water.  His legs tremble badly, men support him on either side and try to move him through the line.

An agitated appeal to the soldier.  She comes out and tries to accede to the request regarding the sick man.  “If they let him come to the front of the line, I’ll open the gate for him to come through.”  The message goes down the line, people crowd to one side so he can move ahead.  He crosses and falls.  The soldier tells us she’s called for a doctor.  We didn’t see whether or not a doctor came.  From time to time someone yells over the loudspeaker, usually in Hebrew, and it’s not at all clear whether the people waiting understand what’s said.  The sound is distorted in any case.

 

09:50  The DCO representative still hasn’t arrived.  The clerk answering our phone calls tries to connect us with the representative who should have been here.  He says he’ll let us know when he arrives.  He doesn’t commit to a specific time.

 

10:00  The soldier tries to create a line for women and two lines for men – she’s not very successful.  Women and men who are close to the revolving gates don’t want to lose their place on line.  The attempted reordering is only partly successful.

 

It’s clear that if there was a DCO representative and a humanitarian line the situation wouldn’t be like this.

 

10:00  A Palestinian says to us:  “There are cameras everywhere.  They should place cameras where the soldiers are conducting inspections, to see who’s working and who isn’t.  I have to get to work, but I won’t get there now.  I’ve been waiting hours.”

 

10:10  Two old men leaning on canes stand at the closed humanitarian gate, waiting in vain.  About half an hour passes before they realize they won’t find salvation there.  We try to convince the soldier and people waiting on line to let them go to the front and enter “as a favor.”  They agree; the old men move to the front of the line.

 

10:15  Another call to the DCO; we’re told the DCO representative is escorting someone and will come when he’s finished.  Ten more minutes.  God willing.

 

10:30  A Palestinian man drums on the bars of the fenced corridor.  “What is this?  Is this for people, or for animals…Would Jews agree to be treated this way…45 years already.”

 

10:40  An old man who no longer has strength to stand sits down on the ground in the fenced corridor.

 

10:55  Finally the DCO officer, a captain, arrives.  He’s in no hurry.  He’s talking on the phone, and despite our appeals doesn’t hurry to open the humanitarian gate.  “He’ll check.”  We think they’ve been checking since 9 AM.

It’s very sad that the DCO officer, who could make things easier, is also impervious to the suffering of the old man on the ground and others like him, to the sick who have to stand for hours.

The DCO officer returns from the depths of the checkpoint, a cigarette in his hand.  A Palestinian man grins and hums “HeVeinu Shalom Aleichem,” pointing to the surrounding checkpoint.

We finally see the key in the DCO officer’s hand, but the gate opens only to bring people out from inside the checkpoint.  It closes again.

 

11:00  “All the women over here,” orders the officer and points to the humanitarian gate.  It opens only a few minutes later, admits only a few of those waiting, and slams shut in the others’ faces.

A woman from Guatemala isn’t allowed through.  We speak to the DCO officer who shows us her passport; her visa is valid only for the territory of the Palestinian Authority, not for Israel.  She needs a visa for Israel.  Even though the embassy told her she didn’t need a visa for Israel, she’s learned otherwise.

 

11:10  The lines ease slightly.  We hear the DCO officer report by phone that there’s no congestion.  Three crowded lines stretching to the rear of the shed and a humanitarian line – that’s not congestion.  True, it was even worse earlier.

 

From time to time the stench of urine envelops everything.  Again I call attention to the fact that there are no toilets for the people waiting on line for a long time.  Why can’t the arrangements at the checkpoint take the needs of the Palestinians into consideration?  It’s obvious that the soldiers stationed here have toilets.  Why don’t the Palestinians?  And regarding what that Palestinian said – don’t animals need a place also?  Or is that the point - that Israel can say they’re animals who use the public space as a toilet. 

 

How shameful we are!