Qalandiya

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Place: 
Observers: 
10 of the persons who had left  “Taglit” (discovery) and Hanna Barag (reporting); Translator: Hanna K.
Jul-18-2018
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Morning

The guests were about three quarters of an hour late, so we arrived at Qalandiya at 06:15. I used the travel time to tell them who we are and what our aim is. At the point where one leaves road number 443 on the way to the checkpoint, many people were marching on their way to work at Atarot.

About 50 trucks were parked on the side of the road, probably since the night before. This is how one saves time in situations of “freedom of movement” which the State of Israel is so proud of. The Checkpoint area was full of people, endless queues and much shouting and shoving. The progress was very slow. The announcements on the loudspeaker were, as ususal, incomprehensible and the frustration of the crowd waiting in the queues didn’t leave any doubt in the minds of the guests about the character of the occupation.

The “humanitarian” gate wasn’t open. When we left at 07:45 there was a slight improvement in the queue, but it still was very long. The “”cages” don’t leave anybody indifferent. What was said by the onlookers, and which is always repeated when we accompany guests to Qalandiya was “that this is like animals, not human, how is it possible and why haven’t we heard of this”.

I invited the group for breakfast at my home and during almost three hours we talked about the occupation. From freedom of movement, to the permits regime, to the military legal courts, to the settlements and up to the high court of justice. I told them about the last testimonies I collected in the framework of the “visit at homes” of “yesh din”, and I said something about the activity of “Ir Amim” (the city of nations). I went into details about what we saw and were seeing during our visits. I talked about the transition from a regime of occupation to a situation of annexation and following it an apartheid regime.

After a long discovery trip these people hadn’t heard or seen anything pertaining to the occupation and they required considerable courage to decide to leave the program in order to listen to our colleagues at “shovrim shtika” (breaking of silence), us and others. The questions raised were matter of fact, considering the stupefaction which befell the group, after they had visited on the previous day at Hebron with shovrim shtika and on the following day with us at Qalandiya. This shows us what the millions of Sheldon Edelson cause, by means of the massive brainwashing of the organisers of the Taglit tours, to the young people who come, mostly for the first time, in order to get to know the country.

It was difficult to part, and even at the door, while waiting for the lift, the conversation continued. I gave the our leaflet and visiting cards and asked them to tell to as many people possible what they had seen and heard, upon their return home.

This is the third tour of Taglit from which participants “fled” in order to hear also about the occupation. Naturally the organisers of the tour do not like these “escapes” and demand from the fugitives to return the cost of their flight tickets to Israel (1000$ from each participant). The group tries to raise the required ten thousand dollars from donations.

It may be assumed that the organisers of these tours fear that the abandonment of the group would become a routine custom of ever growing numbers of the tour participants.