Qalandiya, first work day after a week's closure

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Place: 
Observers: 
Virginia Syvan, Ina Friedman (reporting)
Oct-2-2018
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Morning

Because this morning was the first work day for Palestinians living in the West Bank after a week’s closureinfo-icon (due to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot), we were psyched up for a morning filled with crowds, lot’s of tension and even breakdowns in everything from equipment to line discipline. Fortunately, these expectations were far from realized. And it was all to the credit of a wise soldier (the one responsible for opening the turnstiles at the end of each of three narrow, bar-lined passages known as the “cages”) who let all (or almost all) the people standing on line pass through the turnstiles each time he unlocked them.  It’s true, this created long lines at the next stage of the passage -- lines that spilled out of the “sleeves” (vestibule-like passages) leading into the five checking stations themselves. But the soldier understood (or was briefed earlier) that at play in Qalandiya is also a psychological barrier, namely, the turnstile blocking the passage through each of the three cages. Once that physical barrier is crossed, the tension, internal and external, drops sharply.

The fact is: we do not see pushing, arguing, shouting, and other expressions of frustration and anger on the lines – however long – waiting to enter the checking stations. (Wish we could say the same for those in the earlier stage of passage, through the cages.) Even the fact that two of the five checking stations closed for a longer or shorter period between 5:30 and 6:30 did not change this atmosphere. It’s true that the soldier who relieved the night-shift soldier at 6:00 did not follow his example and allowed fewer people through each time he opened the turnstiles. Nevertheless, because long lines had not built up before 6:00, the queues remained relatively short afterward, as well. And this became all the more so after the Humanitarian Gate was opened at 6:20, all the people who had gathered by it were allowed through in one fell swoop, and each newcomer was likewise allowed through as soon as he or she had produced a valid permit until the gate was closed just after 7:00.

All this enabled us to join the shortest of the three lines moving through the cages at 7:00, and we exited the security check in less than 15 minutes.