Qalandiya, Mon 21.10.13, Afternoon

4:00 PM – There were very few people in the CP when we arrived.  About 5 people were standing and waiting in each of the two active passageways.  About 6 people were waiting in the shed outside the DCO offices. The number of people waiting declined over time so we assumed they were being taken care of.  The graffiti scribbled on the window of the aquarium in Passageway 1 is still there:

  I ♥ (Jewish Star)

ISRAEL

FOREVER

Out in the northern square (Palestinian side of the CP), looking across to the passageway for those arriving by bus on the western side of the CP, we saw a long line of 30 waiting to pass through to Jerusalem.

4:45 PM – Two ambulances are standing in the bus parking lot near the southern square.  A Palestinian lady on a stretcher is carried from one to the other and the ambulance leaves for Jerusalem.  Another ambulance from Jerusalem arrives.  From a distance we can hear the siren of a Palestinian ambulance approaching from Ramallah.  A well-dressed man is standing in the northern parking lot, following the ambulance’s progress through the iron fence while talking with the driver on his phone.  He told us that his little boy, aged two, had a problem in his chest and was on his way to Hadassah Hospital in Ein Karem with his mother.  The ambulance passed through the CP very quickly and the boy and his mother were soon on their way to the hospital.

Back in the CP we noticed that the two soldiers behind the window in Passageway 4 had turned off the lights and were sitting in total darkness, leading “potential clients” to think that the passageway was not working so that no one got on line.  We told the crowd of people in the other active passageway that No. 4 was working, which hopefully shortened their waiting time.