Qalandiya

05:00: All five checking posts were functioning but the turnstile  at the edge of the passageway ("the pen") was still out of order so the lines began building up into the two available pens. It is already a month since it had broken down and the fact that it still hasn't been repaired is really puzzling. The two lines now extend to beyond the roofed over area and those on line are exposed to the cold strong winds of the area.

However, this is a relatively fair morning. We timed a man standing at the end of a line at 06:25 and it took him 10 minutes to get through. Therefore the atmosphere was calm and some of the people on line were reading the pamphlets handed out by two youths from the "blue-white human rights" group (who returned to Qalandiya after a month-long absence).

A matak officer opened the Humanitarian gate at 6:15 and intermittently whenever necessary.

We left at 06:50 when passage was easy and people could already pass through pen No.3 freely.