Qalandiya
5:10 Long line. Only 3 booths in operation, very slow. The pressure in the "cages" is great; one young man was pushed so hard against the wall that it was necessary to remove him from the line to revive him. His face was white and it took him a few minutes to return to himself and go through the checkpoint again.
The Humanitarian line did open at 6:00, but then it closed again every time the line let up. There was a new sign there, saying that this was the "Humanitarian" line and it would be open until 9:00, but much earlier than that the women were already being shunted over to the regular line. Up untl 6:00 we saw only one policeman in the area, who was on the phone all the time. At 6:00, the civilian guards arrived and a DCO officer. The officer could be described as "rude lite" , with a generally contemptuous attitude. However, one of the civilian guards tried to compensate for this.
Two physically and mentally handicapped children arrived, carried by their parents with great difficulty. Again, there was the complaint about their not being allowed to pass through in their car. Certainly a cause for complaint, but not the first time.
We have been present at Kalandia many years, and the suffering is the same suffering. The same lady in a slightly different dress and it is impossible to come to terms with this.