Qalandiya, Mon 24.12.12, Afternoon

When we arrived at Qalandiya today on the Israeli side, a police vehicle was parked on the pavement and about 6 soldiers were directing a car into the bus parking lot.  They seemed to be selecting cars at random but, once inside, checking them against some papers and searching both cars and occupants.  But each time the car was detained for only a few minutes and then went on its way. The cleaners said that this was nothing out of the ordinary but we had never seen it before.

Once again, there were very few people at the CP at this hour of the day.  Two passageways were operating.  Five people, men and women, were “imprisoned” in the examination area of Passageway 3.  Some of them were shouting at the (female) soldier in the aquarium, who was responsible for checking their papers.  The soldier was shouting back and cursing them as well.  As no progress was being made, the few people waiting on line outside were also becoming quite nervous and upset.  It was not a pretty picture.  We phoned headquarters to ask for help and within a very few moments a phone call calmed everything down and the soldier let the people go out to the Jerusalem side of the enclosure.  Afterwards the passageway shut down (only for a few minutes), apparently to let the two soldiers on duty calm down before going back to work.  The people on line ahead of us all left for the other passageway and so we arrived at the head of the line with only two people ahead of us!  But the woman, who was the first to enter the examination area, immediately began to shout again at the (female) soldier and she lost her cool and began shouting back – and the whole brouhaha began all over again.  We tried to calm everyone down and the soldier cooperated and allowed the woman to exit to Jerusalem.  At this point I asked her for her version of what had happened and she explained that she was only trying to work efficiently and so she had allowed 5 people into the area together.  But then she got confused with all the papers and couldn’t remember whose papers she had checked already and so she called all 5 back to look at their papers again, at which point all hell broke loose.  Nu, nu!  You would imagine that she would learn her lesson and work a bit slower trying to be much more organized – but no!  At about 4:30 PM we heard shouting and cursing once again, this time from Passageway 4.  When we went over to look it turned out that the same soldier was at the center again – she must have a very short fuse!  This time a policeman accompanied by an (aggressively uncouth) security guard appeared quite quickly.  The following is Natanya’s version of what happened:

 While Phyllis was trying to help a woman and her daughter who had lost her bag with her ID in it I kept thinking that I heard shouting from inside the checking area and eventually I left Phyllis to deal with their situation and went inside to Passageway 4 where I saw a woman who was screaming and cursing the soldiers and demanding to see a policeman. She said she had been insulted by the soldier but as I was not present when this situation erupted I do not know whether this was so or not.   I had a feeling of déjà vu, that I had seen this woman in the same situation before.  She was in her 30s or 40s, well-dressed and spoke an excellent English.  Since then I have learned that I was not wrong and that I had seen her in the same situation before.   I heard no reaction from the soldiers themselves through the microphone and obviously they had closed the turnstile so that the other Palestinians and I myself could not enter.  I told her to calm down as she would only make things worse for herself but that only seemed to intensify her rage. I tried to find out exactly what had happened but it was impossible to get any details from her.

 Eventually a policeman arrived with one of the security guards. The former dealt with the woman, but the security guard, who of course would not give me his name, was vulgar and seemed intent on worsening the situation by insulting the woman and jeering at her. Unfortunately the policeman did not reprimand him but simply kept talking to the woman. I called to the security guard and told him that he was on duty and that his language and behavior were inappropriate. He came right up to the bars where I was standing and started shouting at me that he was not a soldier but a civilian and that there was nothing I or anyone else could do to him and that it would not help to complain as no one would take any notice, that we would find no one to complain to.  I am reporting this accurately.  I had the feeling that had there not been bars between us he would have attacked me as foam was practically coming out of his mouth.  This took place at 4:25 PM.

 I went outside to call Phyllis only to find that she was still busy with the two women and so unfortunately when I got back the other Palestinians who were standing outside told me that the policeman had checked her ID and then had let her go.  So I did not manage to get the name of the policeman as I would like to complain about the guard who to me epitomizes everything bad that we know about these civilian security personnel. Can someone tell me to whom to address such a complaint as I have no idea which security company is employed at Qalandiya.  

The two women with whom I was speaking were residents of Kufr Akeb with Jerusalem I.D. cards.  The daughter, who had lost her wallet with her I.D. card and money and other important papers, was a teacher in Beit Tzafafa (a neighborhood of East Jerusalem).  They were told by the soldier in the booth at the CP entrance that they should go to the police station in Neve Ya’akob, but no one was answering the phone at this hour.  The women decided to go home and try again in the morning.  Today I called the mother to ask how they had fared and she told me that a Palestinian man had found the wallet and called them to return it with all papers and money intact.  Alhamdelilla!!!