Qalandiya. A ‘quiet’ checkpoint, but unusual demand for services of the Ministry of the Interior

05.15. All five stations were open. Three queues extended slightly beyond the shed, but the soldier operating the turnstiles soon allowed enough people to enter so that everyone was contained inside. However, during the morning, as more and more people came, the lines were mostly long enough to reach the beginning of the new driveway. On the whole the soldiers of the ensuing shifts kept up a reasonable speed, though sometimes their attention had to be diverted from their smartphones.

06.10. The Humanitarian Gate was opened by a D.C.O. officer who arrived with two guards. A steady stream passed through. At one stage a policeman joined them and, when they left at about 7.15, he was left in charge.

At about that time, too, a group of about 10 people arrived at the gate. Ranging quite widely in age, they were intending to apply for Identity Cards at the Ministry of the Interior.  More came later – and to our surprise the policeman admitted them all and, saying that he would return, personally took them past station 5 into the relevant section of the shed.  Officially the opening time is 8.30, so this special treatment was curious.  By the time he returned, more people had come for the same purpose (a couple of women with babies in their arms), and these, too, he accompanied inside.  All in all, we reckoned there must have been about fifty people.

At one point a senior officer arrived, apparently to check that everything was running smoothly, and we agreed that today all was quiet. Perhaps his visit was linked to the meeting he had recently  with Hanna Barag (which he mentioned when we chatted) ?

At 7.50 we joined a line that was already well inside one of the cages leading to the checking stations, and it took about 25 minutes to pass right through. At our station a man kept being rejected by the screening. When he explained to the soldier that the machine beeped because he has a prosthetic leg and showed his medical certificate as proof, he had to go inside a room to give visible proof. He told us that this ‘always happens.’