Qalandiya

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Place: 
Observers: 
Virginia Syvan, Ina Friedman (reporting)
Sep-27-2016
|
Morning

As it should be

All five checking stations were open when we arrived at 5:30 a.m. and the lines did not extend beyond the cages because the soldier responsible for opening the turnstiles was careful to empty the cages each time she opened them, and her replacement (who came at 6:00) did likewise. The NCO in charge of the Humanitarian Gate arrived at 6:10 but did not operate the gate because the pace of progress through the cages was consistently swift. At 6:35, when the turnstiles at the end of the cages were left open for people to enter freely, we walked through the completed the security check practically without waiting at all!

Various people told us that the previous two mornings (Sunday and Monday) had been unspeakably bad – the amount of time they waited on line and the their level of frustration being beyond words (see the report for Sunday, 25.9.16). We have no explanation for the 180 degree turnabout in the situation this morning and can only speculate that perhaps, after two days of an intolerable situation, many people simply did not return home on Monday and therefore fewer people passed through the checkpoint today.  Or perhaps the operation of the checkpoint underwent self-correction, after two days of salient failure,  by ensuring the quick pace through the security process. In any case, the Palestinians moving through the checkpoint were pleasantly surprised.