Qalandiya

”Whenever there are problems in Gaza, it’s like a faucet that’s opened just a little bit. At least ill patients will be allowed exit”, explained someone who knows.

So they exited the inner compound at the checkpoint, fifteen people, patients and their accompaniers, got on their transport vehicle and drove off to recover at home, in Gaza.

First out was 7-year old Ahmad and his mother. “He has leukemia, Ahmad does. He was treated at the Nablus hospital of Al-Najah”, his mother said.

And I thought about the faucet image and of Ahmad and about the bent-down old woman, last to exit, whose every step was difficult and painful, and about the others of this day and other days, who might get no more permits to exit the Gaza Strip, and about the fact that their names might join a long and terrible list of anonymous victims.

For nearly three hours the Border Policemen conducted their hunting spree at the entrance to the checkpoint. They stopped youngsters at the end of a day’s work, inspected IDs and permits and asked some if they had a knife among their belongings.;

It’s rather stupid to seek the ‘unpermitted’ among those returning. But perhaps He who gave the rooster its mind bestowed it upon them as well?

קרוב לשלוש שעות נמשכה משמרת הצייד של שוטרי מג"ב בפתח המחסום, הם עצרו צעירים לאחר יום עבודה, בדקו תעודות ואישורים ואת חלקם שאלו אם יש להם סכין.

זה די מטומטם לחפש את חסרי האישורים בין השבים, אבל אולי מי שנתן בינה לשכווי נתן גם להם?