Qalandiya

We arrived at 07:00 and found a very long line.  Everyone was standing still and not moving.   As time went by, the line only lengthened and, along with it, also the irritability of the crowd increased, who had become used to "the days of Salvation" when they could go through in minutes.  Only after about half an hour did the gates open and there was some very swift action.  From a conversation with the person responsible for the area we found out that a suspicious object had been identified - I did not clarify its description.  Because of a misunderstanding, I met with the group later than had been planned.  Our discussion was focused on what was going on behind the scenes at the checkpoint - the real checkpoint, the regimen of the permits.  Because of the delay in starting the discussion, there wasn't enough time for many questions.  There was a new immigrant in the group who had served in the offices of the coordination authority in the West Bank (DCO). He was the only one who spoke and said that he "felt" during his service the very things that we know, and that he was happy to get confirmation of that.

The area around the checkpoint on the Palestinian side was clean and even the toilets were more or less acceptable.  At the DCO there was a long line, but I couldn't find out anything .

The vehicle checkpoint was faster than what I had expected - maybe because it was already relatively late in the morning.