Qalandiya

A crowded Friday, very cold and clear

At 9:00 we reached the checkpoint.  Long lines awaited us, not the usual sight on Friday morning at this hour.  The stench of urine rose from the lavatories and filled the whole space on the eastern side of the terminal, blocked only by the bodies of the people standing in the furthest line.  All the turnstyles were open, and all the interior booths were open and the yards in front of them were full and crowded, except, of course, the Humanitarian checkpoint, which was closed.  As usual on Fridays, a lot of elderly men and women.  They explained to us that on previous Fridays people decided not to come to the checkpoint (weather and incitement because of the fires). But, because of the clear weather this morning, many people came out to pray.

Nili called the DCO and asked them to send a representative to hasten the passage and open the Humanitarian Gate.  The soldier in the booth - polite and friendly, trying to help - told us that there was not enough personnel in place in order to open the Humanitarian Gate, because people also need vacations.  That's how it is in the biggest army in the Middle East!  At 9:20 some authorities arrived and opened the Humanitarian Gate, but only for short periods.  The area in front of the inspection booth was constantly crowded, while the turnstyles and the gate only opened when there was some pressure applied.  Elderly men and women run back and forth, between the occasionally open gate and the usual long lines.

Whoever is sent back needs to push himself back into the line.  We thought:  If this was a Haredi/Jewish religious crowd, what a lot of complaining there would be because women had to be pressed up against strange men.  "Take our pictures!" some women yelled to me, as they were standing all pushed together for a long time between the railings.  "So they can see how we have to live!"  A man came over to us and called out in anguish and anger, "The Palestinians want peace and quiet, all this is just revenge and propoganda!"

A 57 year old man was sent back and explained that he was refused, but doesn't know why.  He wants to go visit his son today who is hospitalized.  Hannah Barag told us that there is no chance that we could help him today.  He has to go to the DCO and try to get a permit, which takes at least a week.  From another man who was rejected we heard that he had no idea why he wasn't allowed to pass. He had never been called in to an interrogation.  Maybe because he owned a piece of land in the area of Qalqilya which somebody wanted.  Another woman, who was also refused passage, said that she was a resident of the Emirates and that her visa did not allow her to cross the checkpoint.  A youth with American citizenship pointed out to us a man who was ill with diabetes who had to constantly leave the line and visit the lavatory...and then to return and be shoved around again to get his place.  He himself had come to visit his relatives in the territories and intended to bring his young children soon, so that they could see what the rest of their family had to experience.

A baby was crying in her mother's arms in the middle of the lines.  People tried to make room for her and let her go forward.  A young energetic man turned to a soldier and offered to organize a line just for women.  But he didn't succeed in organizing all those waiting or getting everyone to agree with him.  Why couldn't the army set aside a line for women on Fridays when so many religious women come in order to pray?

When the prayer hour is close, the line gets shorter.  We leave at 10:45, and then our personal saga starts, with the guards.  We take out our IDs to the civilian guard at the inspection point for vehicles.  It turns out that our guest did not bring her passport with her, only her Polish ID card.  A silly mistake of hers and ours.  The guard ordered us to stop at the side, and announced that, without a passport, she cannot cross the checkpoint.  That is the law and he can't provide us with an solution.  The soldier next to him was willing to accept a photo of the passport or just its number.  So, Ania took out her telephone and showed a photo of her American Visa, which had the passport number on it. They checked in the computer of the immigration authority and found that she was registered as an illegal alien for  3 years now. (she actually entered the county 10 days ago).  The guard told us that he had summoned the immigration police in order to arrest her  and us as well, for helping an illegal alien! In retrospect, it was clear that the visa had been stamped on an old passport who date had elapsed and with which she had indeed entered the country 3 years ago!  So, we called Hannah Barag again, and the parliamentary assistant of Zehava Galon.  Ania turned to the Polish Embassy, but they refused to help her.  In their opinion, she was already transgressing the law.  Ania is a well-known journalist and political activist whose name is now associated with the opposition to the present nationalistic Polish government.  Her book on the massacre which the Poles enacted on the Jews of Yidvovna (?) was published in Hebrew translation this week.  An Israeli friend of Ania was sent to her room to photograph the present passport and send it by email.

An hour later, the passport issue was solved.  They found out that in fact she was registered as having entered the country recently and that she had no intention of immigrating to the country of the checkpoints.  The security man warned her that if she was caught again without her passport, she would be punished;  and then sent us on our way...