Qalandiya

Qalandia CP

At nine o'clock in the morning the place was almost empty and the flow of people very sparse. The dirt was worse than usual, one of the big faucets was out of order and was full of cigarette butts.A taxi driver with whom we talked reported that in the last three weeks the number of people who passed by the checkpoint decreased gradually and the process of dealing with the people became quicker. He connected the decrease in the number of persons to the beginning of the school year at the Palestinian schools -the 28th. In reply to our question regarding the responsibility for the cleanliness of the place he explained that the cleaner, who is employed by the cleaning company working there, doesn't work on Fridays. He also told us that is has been four months that is no water in the toilets.

At 09:30 an external passage was closed and another was opened. We had to direct the people to the open passage. It is not clear why they didn't open all the external passages. 

All the five internal passages were open. An elderly man came to us and told us that although he is over 65 years old and has never been arrested, he wasn't allowed to pass.  

He said that he would try to pass again in an hour or two. Gradually more people arrived but the passage proceeded quickly and without problems.