Qalandiya - the Corona epidemic reached the West Bank

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Place: 
Observers: 
Tamar Fleishman; Translator: Tal H.
May-27-2020
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Afternoon

As always at the same time, when Qalandiya enters my field of vision, my eyes look for the designated transport awaiting patients who were released the same day from hospital, to bring them back home to Gaza.

Unfortunately, the eyes did not find what they were seeking.

I was told that since the beginning of the Corona-virus pandemic, they do not come nor return.

גשר מעל מחסום הרכבים

The eyes that did not find what they sought found what they did not seek and could not ignore – the bridge that had been constructed over months, with extraordinary labor and funds, stretched over the vehicle checkpoint and the only way to and from the West Bank.

Pedestrians exiting and returning to the West Bank have no alternative but to climb or descend the dozens of stairs.

It’s an extra half-kilometer on our way, said someone who counted the steps and made the calculation. So it’s true that parallel to the stairs a ramp was paved, but an elevator for those having trouble walking is nowhere to be seen.

 

מחסום הרכבים השתדרג

The vehicle checkpoint has been upgraded, with an automatic system operated remotely, lifting and dropping metal barriers under which and in coordination with, a row of spikes emerges and disappears respectively from and into the road.

 

תצפית מעולה מרום הגשר למחסום שלמטה

The top of the bridge is a marvelous observation point of the checkpoint below and heaven for photographers.

Beyond, in the refugee camp, existential hardship is visible everywhere.

No work = no money = less customers in the shops = the shelves gradually emptying.

I was told that when the Corona-virus hit the West Bank, one family from Kufr Akeb, five members who fell ill, fell in between chairs because of their blue (Israeli resident) IDs. The Israeli Red Star of David told them not to come and be tested, refusing to care for them, while the health administration of the Palestinian Authority said they only treat holders of green (Palestinian) IDs. The five were under siege at home, and the people who bothered bringing food to their threshold were members of the Tanzim.

The PA declared closureinfo-icon over the entire West Bank, a checkpoint was erected on the road to Ramallah, traffic between neighborhoods was prevented, and an official vehicle passed every few hours and voiced instructions and warnings over its loudspeakers.

But this initiative did not last long.

From the Qalandiya checkpoint a large force of Israeli soldiers ventured out, headed by an officer named Hussam, announcing that everything was under Israeli army control: including Kufr Akeb, Qalandiya refugee camp as well as the Semiramis Hotel.