Qalandiya

Third Day of Ramadan

05:00 – When we arrived, we discovered that the parking lot was blocked. Why? Certainly not to please the Palestinians and to help them enjoy the holiday! The line was already long but all five inspection windows were open and the soldier in the aquarium opened the pens at a reasonable rate.

05:40 – Two women came to the Humanitarian Gate. I told them it didn’t open until six and I suggested that they go through the pens with the workers instead. They didn’t want to. At 06:15, when the Humanitarian Gate still was not open, the women left. For them, a wasted morning. A family arrived: parents and 3 children. It was clear that the mother and children wanted to pass the checkpoint for a family visit because they had gifts in their hands. It was clear that the father came to make certain that his wife and children passed the checkpoint quietly. He didn’t join in the visit. He hugged and kissed his wife and then hugged and kissed each one of his children, a little girl of about 3 or 4, a boy around 7 and the oldest boy, around 12. Because the Humanitarian Gate wasn’t open, the family had to enter the line of workers. The daughter was afraid and asked the mother to pick her up. The two boys were also not happy about entering the pen. I thought to myself: “Here is another generation that suffers the humiliation of the Occupation.” There were men who returned from the inspection gates because they did not have the correct permits. One worker stopped us after he recognized Ronny and asked for help. He was told he was blacklisted but the soldiers would not tell him why. Ronny gave him Sylvia’s phone number and the man was relieved just to know there was someone to turn to. Another incident: Two men, a man and his adult son, received permits to tour during the holiday of Ramadan, and arrived at the checkpoint to begin their trip early in the morning. After they presented their permits at the inspection window, the soldier at the window didn’t give them permission to pass through. Why? They had arrived at around 06:30 but the permit said they could only go through at 08:00. The two returned to the benches to wait an hour-and-a half to begin their day of fun. Today was another day that we realized that Israel controls every aspect of the Palestinians’ lives and cause only hate and bitterness.