Qalandiya

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Place: 
Observers: 
Virginia S., Lorrie (guest), Ina F. (reporting)
Mar-8-2016
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Morning

The Exception that Proves the Rule

Once again we note that the Qalandiya checkpoint is not built or equipped to handle the number of people who pass through it on a standard weekday morning on their day to work, school, in addition to hospitals, etc. Therefore traversing it, whether on foot or by vehicle, becomes a daily punishment.

When we arrived at the Qalandiya Checkpoint at 5:20 a.m. all five checking stations were open and the lines barely extended beyond the shed. The turnstiles at the end of each of the three “cages” opened often, so that long lines did not develop. But when we asked people on line about the two previous mornings, they said they had been awful – similar to the situation we had observed during the past two weeks, with lines extending deep into the parking lot. Everyone was pleased that this morning was a comparative easy one but they interpreted it as the exception that proves the rule about the Qalandiya checkpoint.

The Humanitarian Gate was not opened at all because the powers be decided that it was not necessary due to the relatively light traffic through the checkpoint. There did not seem to be any explanation for the lighter traffic today – though one of the men on line suggested, only half in jest, that after the previous two terrible mornings, people simply despaired of the ordeal of getting through the checkpoint and stayed home.

It’s interesting to note that despite their refusal to open the Humanitarian Gate, at about 6:30 we counted no fewer than eight people gathered in the “Aquarium”: two soldiers (one being the DCO officer in charge of opening the gate), two security guards, and four policemen. It seemed a shame to get them out of bed so early in the morning merely to socialize in that crowded enclosure.

At 6:35, when the cages had emptied, we went through one of the checking stations and left.

 

Two observations:

One of us recalled seeing a report on the TV news recently that building contractors are complaining about the conditions at the checkpoints because their Palestinian workers arrive at work tired and grumpy after the daily ordeal of getting through them. It’s about time someone noticed this. For years we have been advising workers going through Qalandiya to ask their employers to complain about the conditions at the checkpoint (which have only grown worse with the otherwise welcome rise in permits being issued). Apparently some of these employers have finally woken up to the situation.

Also, this morning we parked on the southern (“Israeli,” so to speak) side of the checkpoint because in the past few weeks the traffic jam both leading to the vehicle checkpoint at Qalandiya and to the Hizma checkpoint has been particularly intolerable. Last week it took us (separately) two hours from Qalandiya to Tel Aviv (and that using the “fast lane” on Route 1)) and to Rehovot, most of the time stuck in the traffic jam on the Hizma road and in Pisgat Zeev. 

About a year ago we saw a Civil Administration blueprint to solve the legendary  traffic jam at the Qalandiya checkpoint. But the only thing we have seen on the ground is – surprise! --  the beginning of work to widen the Hizma road, namely, the Qalandiya bypass road used by settlers traveling on Route 60 from the central and northern West Bank to Jerusalem.