Qalandiya, Sun 16.6.13, Morning

We arrived at 5am and it seemed a morning when the queue was moving  at a satisfactory speed, people didn't look particularly tired and exhausted . It seemed that the 2500 people this morning will get through  after less than half an hour wait.

But then we noticed a man with a little girl and we approached them. The 5 year old has a rare blood disease and thus they go to Hadassah Ein Karem for treatment every 3 weeks. They are very happy with the treatment but every time it takes such a long time from their village near Jenin. They have to get up around 4am to get to the hospital on time.I asked the father whether he knows of the volunteer service which takes patients from checkpoints to different hospitals. He never heard of them. I gave him the phone nmber of the Jerusalem coordinator who speaks Arabic and we hope that from now on the ordeal of transportation will be diminished.

We were approached by a man whose wife has not seen her mother in Gaza for over 5 years. He tried to get a permit but  did not succeed. We promised to try to help. Even this man"s employer helped us and we got all the necessary data and passed them further. Next day we heard the verdict: no way will she get a permit to visit. There is something about her family that prevents permits. The husband works in Israel every day but can't visit family in Gaza.