Qalandiya

The day after the assault on a soldier at the pedestrian checkpoint

All five checking stations were open and the lines reached deep into the parking lot when we arrived at 5:30. We had a sense of unusual quiet and restraint prevailing in the shed despite tension in the air on the day after the assault on a woman NCO who has been in charge of the Humanitarian Gate for a long while and is well know at the checkpoint. The bagel seller told us only that “there was a big mess yesterday.” The coffee man was not interested in talking at all. Two people – who speak with us regularly – were prepared to talk about the incident but only to the extent of expressing perplexity at the motives of the woman (a mother of nine) in attacking the soldier, whom she had asked for help. But when two DCO soldiers (whom we had not met before) arrived at 6:10 to operate the Humanitarian Gate, they approached us to speak about the incident in a friendly manner. On both sides of the bars, we were aware that the NCO had been stabbed where we were standing and talking now. We asked them to relay to her our best wishes for a speedy recovery. The Humanitarian Gate was operated as required throughout the morning.

The shift passed without any unusual occurrences. The lines remained long throughout the morning. We joined the end of one of them at 7:30 and it took us 35 minutes to reach the checking station. Earlier, at 6:30, we began following two men from the end of two of the lines, and it took them 50 minutes to reach the checking stations. Because the visa of one of our guests had expired, without his knowledge, we were sent from the first checking station to stand on another line. There the problem was solved (that is, he was allowed through) after providing a reasonable explanation to the officer in charge – all accomplished with politeness.