Qalandiya

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Place: 
Qalandiya
Observers: 
Chana, S. and Ronit, D. - reporting; Rachel, BP. - translating
Jul-22-2015
|
Morning

Relaxed morning and a lot of dirt at Qalandiya CP

 

We arrived to the Machsom around 5:15 after parking on the Israeli side. We found an empty machsom. 5 checking points open with few people awaiting. No lines and the carousel at the end of the 3rd terminal , close to the aquarium where a soldier is sitting, open. Whoever arrives crosses right away. Later on when more people arrived, the carousel was closed from time to time and an additional carousel was opened. But all in all it was quiet and calm with no lines at any point.

 
We greeted the bagels and cookies vendors who came back after the Ramadan and Id El Fiter. The coffee stand didn't open until we left. What caught our eyes was the exceptional quantity of dirt, even for a place like Kalandia. All the area between the terminals was full of dirt, huge piles of empty cans and garbage. Also the area under the shed was full with garbage as can be seen in the attached photos. Our friend H says it is because of the holiday. It seems the people are not concerned by the dirt. They are glad there are no lines. The women entered with no problem.

 

At 5:40 a policeman arrived and around 6:00 an officer from the DCO arrived. We haven't seen him before but it seems he knows everybody. He was left wit no work as there was no need for the humanitarian gate.

 

A young man with a blue ID from east Jerusalem approached us. He wished to go to the beach with his friend who got a permit until today. Since he tried to enter before 8:00 the permit was taken away from him and was torn. We couldn't understand if the permit was taken today or another day. The guy who spoke with us already crossed to the Israeli side but came back to the mahcsom and joined his friend. He approached the policeman and the officer but to no avail. "What should we do" he asked and the policeman answered: "the holiday is over, go home". The men left disappointed. A dream to visit the beach has gone away. Maybe next year...

 

At 6:30 we were back at the Israeli side where we say a person sweeping the sidewalks. Hopefully next week the machsom will be cleaner.