'Anata-Shu'afat, Qalandiya, Wed 15.8.12, Morning

05:20 We discovered that access to Qalandiya checkpoint  is only by foot and we left our cars at some distance.

We witnessed the return of hundreds of people returning from prayers on Temple Mount. Busload after busload delivered people and they walked in  peaceful quietness, some in  groups of family, some alone, some old , some young, many in their white Chadj clothing.They crossed through the vehicle lane and met their buses taking them to Jenin, Nablus or further within the West Bank.

At the checkpoint itself the line of people - less then a hundred- going to work was not  long and  we had to pass through the checkpoint ourselves because our cars were on the other side. And there again we met the  mass of people still returning from prayers. By now it was past 7am.

Since Shuafat population with their Jerusalem resident status IDs are regular Jerusalemites going to work,to shop,to the bank,to medical services it makes it even harder to see what no other  Jewish Jerusalemites ever see - namely their neglected neighbourhood and the  monstruous checkpoint they have to now go through to join the other Jerusalem reality.

Although it is Ramadan, High Holiday, there is squalor in the streets and the drug traffic  busy right under the indifferent eyes of the checkpoint staff- right next to the new wall and Jerusalem Municipality primary boys' school. No parent in West Jerusalem would agree to send their child to such a dangereous location.

The threatening presence of the new separation walls is anxiety provoking - none knows what the future holds for the 80 000 residents.