Qalandiya

A missed watch at Qalandiya!

In the (partly) false belief  that the closure against Palestinians from the West Bank was starting already on Saturday night, Natanya and I cancelled our morning watch. However, our expected visitor did arrive at Qalandiya before 5.30 a.m., coming from Ramallah.

L. phoned me at about 5.45 to say that there was a steady stream of people arriving. All the checking stations seemed to be open, as well at the three turnstiles. A few women inserted themselves into the regular lines.  At times the cages were quite full.  She did not see any personnel. Although she was returning to Ramallah, I suggested that she go through the checking process, which she did shortly after 6 a.m.  She felt it was slow, waiting in line 10 minutes – but of course, she has no standards for comparison.

Why  ‘partly’ false? Because I have since then, in Mahane Yehuda, met a man whom we often see passing through Qalandiya. He told me that there is indeed a closure, but that ‘some’ are allowed through.  What the criteria are I do not know.