Jaba (Lil)

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Maya Leibowitz (reporting), Natanya Ginsburg
Feb-21-2016
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Morning

A very hard morning.

When we arrived at 5.30  there were two lines which reaches far out of the shed into the parking lot. All the turnstiles and windows were open.  It seemed at the all the passages were full and the soldiers were carrying out their duties well. In the area of the shed sat many young men and also more elderly who were due to go through later. At the side a few were praying on cardboard. I fantasize about a  passage which is like the terminal of  the airport with areas for people to pray in

 

To our surprise two representatives of the World Church EAPPI were present. Lately they have not been coming on  a Sunday. They said that they had arrived at 4.30 and that all had been calm.

Not 10 minutes had passed and as if  without an invisible sign a group of young  men rose from the benches and  began to push their  way in the direction of the left passage.  From that moment until about 7.00 the stronger and more violent reigned. The workers pushed , climbing one on top of the other , an unpleasant growling accompanies the violence which is called   “the phenomenon of the monkeys” (So I heard from Hanna Barag).  For  the person standing on the side the scene the scene humiliates those in the lines and fills us with a feeling of hopelessness. The workers are inclined to blame the soldiers saying that they are not activating the lines quickly enough. But to us it seems that today the soldiers has worked with efficiency. The soldier behind the fence spoke to us , listened to our requests and even asked for advice. We actually do have advice. Maybe another window passage would ease the pressure (Hanna says that there is no basis for that). Maybe if they allowed everyone who has reached the age of 55 to go through (a man of 59 and a half was refused entry) and if they would allow them to go through earlier.  

 

The humanitarian gate opened at 5.50 (lately we have not seen it open before 6.15) and the soldier opened it whenever necessary every few minutes.

 

About seven things settled down . But within a few minutes the lines again went beyond the shed.

 

The area is fairly clean and most of the lights on are. The women from the church told us that before we arrived the lights had gone out twice…the baigel seller knows nothing of this.

We go back through the Jaba (Lil) checkpoint which is usually not manned. But this time not only is it manned but also Palestinian vehicles are not allowed to pass. We are glad that we were allowed through . We report this to Hanna who says she will find  out what has caused this change..