Qalandiya

A cold, crowded morning.  The humanitarian gate opened late and closed early.

After a month’s absence, due to holidays and light illnesses, we returned to a freezingly cold Qalandiya. Coming from the Israeli side, we saw that the final turnstile for those coming through from the Palestinian side, was closed. This is a turnstile that we do not normally ‘count’ because it is always open. Today, as it was closed, a number of people had accumulated behind it, wanting to get out.  Soon a security guard arrived and opened it.  It is unclear why it was closed in the first place.

At 5.15 the lines were already long, stretching into the parking lot. 5 checking stations were open and when the turnstiles were opened the lines fitted within the shed. The kiosk was not yet open, the beigel seller was deep in prayer.  Soon, however, the lines once again got long, and reached the parking lot. Towards 6 a.m. many people had gathered at the humanitarian gate.  A policeman who had arrived at 5.30, left at 6.

The blonde D.C.O. officer arrived only at 6.15 to open the gate, followed soon after by a policewoman and two guards. We went to warm ourselves with a cup of tea. When we returned we were surprised to see that the D.C.O. officer left at about 6.45, although there were queues at the gate. The guards also left. The soldier and policewoman were inside the aquarium, probably enjoying the shelter from the cold. The policewoman stood with her back to us, watched the checking stations and gave instructions to the soldier when to open the turnstiles.  In addition, they struggled with an electrical fault which caused the lights in the aquarium to go out intermittently. As a result, every time people came to the humanitarian gate, there was no one to pay attention to them, or to open it.

An elderly couple, the man on a stick and wearing a mask (apparently a cancer patient), asked for our help. They had to reach a hospital and couldn’t join the crush in the cages. Usually the police open the gate especially in such cases, even when the D.C.O. officer isn’t present.  We tried in vain to get the attention of the policewoman.  We phoned the official phone number but got a sound showing the line was disconnected.  The couple despaired and joined the regular line and the people there allowed them to fit in.  Meanwhile, too, a woman arrived with a baby.  After a long while the policewoman finally came out of the aquarium and noticed them. She said she didn’t have a key to the gate, and told the woman to join the regular queue at the entrance to the cage. She then told the soldier to open the turnstile and keep it open until the woman and baby had passed.  From the other two queues people called out to open their turnstiles, too, but she explained that she was opening only for the sake of the baby.

By about 7.15 the lines were shorter and we joined one of them.  It took 30 minutes to pass through

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