Qalandiya, Tue 12.3.13, Morning

Translator: Judith Green

The lines were short and the 3 turnstiles at the end of passage, looking like cages, were opened frequently and allowed a reasonable number of people to go through each time, from the hour of 5:45 until we left, at 7.  The humanitarian gate was only opened a few times.  Once, we had to signal to the soldier from the DCO ( who is in the "aquarium" most of the time), that a man who was having difficulty walking, with a cane, and was escorted by a helper, asked to go through.  Another time, the soldier allowed a group of women who had gathered around the gate to go through, but sent back, demonstratively, a male teacher who was standing with them, who actually had a permit to go through the humanitarian gate and does it daily;  nevertheless, he sent him back to the cage-turnstiles, on the excuse that there were no lines there.  This gesture seemed to us to be no more than a demonstration of power for the sake of humiliation by the young soldier who was new to the area.