Qalandiya, Mon 28.1.13, Afternoon

15:45  When we reached Qalandiya today we saw that the huge gate in the Wall, between Qalandiya and the city of A-Ram, was wide open and most of the vehicles ahead of us took the opportunity to drive right through. We continued straight to the CP parking lot.  It was a bitterly cold day with a biting wind that pummeled us with particles of sand and dirt.  There were very few people at the CP and lines were short. Two passageways were active (3 and 4) and when someone arrived at the DCO line, the carousel was opened without delay.  The soldiers on duty in the DCO passageway, who noticed us observing in the background, expressed their reservations about MW over the intercom.

At 16:10 we went through the CP to the Jerusalem side where we found that vehicle traffic through the CP had been stopped.  The policeman at the barrier told us that there had been an incident on the Palestinian side of the CP, but within minutes of our arrival he removed the barrier and allowed vehicles to travel north.  (None of the Palestinians whom we asked about the incident knew anything at all.)

We stayed at the CP until 16:45  when we decided that all the flying dirt was doing no good to Natanya who had a cataract operation not long ago.  Not much was happening anyway.