Qalandia Checkpoint | UN-Truth

An eye for an eye?

No, of course I am not advocating this kind of justice.

But I am taking a break from the on-going saga of the Freedom Flotilla and as many of its implications I can think about, to note that a 21-year old American woman, an artist and art student (originally described as a journalist) was shot in the face with a tear gas cannister fired by an Israeli soldier or Border Policeman at the Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

Emily Henochowicz lost her left eye, as a result. It was removed in surgery at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital.

She had been with a group of women protesting the Israeli naval attack on the Freedom Flotilla at sea earlier in the day.

Qalandia checkpoint is a disgrace, as I have said many many times here in this blog. Leaving aside criticism of the policy and logic that placed the checkpoint there, it is a shameful and scandalous place where there is utter disregard for the safety and dignity of the many tens of thousands of people who are obliged to pass through the difficult, stressful, dangerous and humiliating conditions there, at least twice daily (including tens of thousands of legal residents of the Jerusalem, whose Israeli-defined Jerusalem neighborhoods are now cut off and placed on the Ramallah side of the checkpoint.

Emily could have been part of the women’s demonstration, she could have been a journalist reporting on it, or she could have been a completely uninvolved innocent bystander who just happened to be passing through at that moment. Tear gas cannisters were sprayed by an automatic weapon in her direction, and fell on either side of her, before she was hit — in her face. And as a result, she lost her eye.

Emily Henochowicz shot in the eye by a tear gas cannister at Qalandia on 31 May 2010

There is a good post, with some ugly comments, on the Willy Loman blog, here.

There is utter disregard for the lives and bodily integrity of those obliged to pass through — Qalandia is a scandal and a shame.

Shooting multiple rounds of tear gas cannisters in a crowded place from which there is little easy or quick escape is, I thought, banned by Israeli rules of engagement.

It is not funny, and it is not comparable, but I noted on this blog earlier that a journalist friend just happened to be driving through Qalandia at a moment when clashes erupted between demonstrators and Israeli forces posted there. Soldiers (Israelis, of course — nobody else is allowed anywhere near there) shot off stun grenades from right next to her car, and all her air bags inflated — frightening her and bruising her. She said she thought she was going to die. And, it cost many thousands of shekels at the garage to have her air bags replaced.

When it rained there in February, Qalandia was flooded. Apparently, there were storm drains constructed there when USAID improved the Qalandia road after a Hamas-free goverment was formed in Ramallah in June 2007. But recent months of Israeli remodling of the checkpoint configuration, and the lack of any rubbish removal system, clogged the storm drains. Cars which unwittingly entered the Qalandia installation were trapped in almost a meter of standing water — and of course there was no way these cars could turn around an exit. That lasted for days. Palestinian TV showed footage of one lone man driving a mini-pick-up truck who drove into the flood and could not proceed. He climbed out of his seat and onto his roof, raising his hands in the air to show the soldiers overlooking the scene that he did not have any weapon!

The traffic jams there are scandalous, and enormously stressful — there is no way to adequately describe the conditions in words, or even in pictures. You have to be there…

Recently, two skinny Palestinians in unmarked navy uniforms with neon green safety vests are sometimes on duty, during regular office hours, and they do help untangle some of the traffic on the Palestinian side, where there is also entering and exiting traffic to other destinations which has also to pass on the single two-lane road around Qalandia.

But there is no traffic control whatsoever on the Israeli approach to the crossing…

Total closure of West Bank continues

Total Closure of West Bank continues:
(1) AFP reported that “Israel maintained a general closure of the West Bank imposed for the week-long Jewish Passover holiday, but the military said it issued more than 10,000 permits allowing Palestinian Christians to enter for up to two weeks … The Palestinians have however complained of restrictions, including long waits at the hundreds of checkpoints scattered across the occupied territory. ‘My family got permits to come to Jerusalem but they decided not to because they will suffer at Qalandiya’, said Rimas Kasabreh, 34, a Greek Orthodox woman living in Jerusalem, referring to the main checkpoint outside the city. Her family hails from a village near the northern West Bank town of Jenin. ‘The lines take hours. It would spoil the happiness of the holiday’, she said … In an Easter message from the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI called for a ‘true exodus’ from the Middle East conflict. ‘I pray… that in the Middle East, and especially in the land sanctified by (Christ’s) death and resurrection, the peoples will accomplish a true and definitive ‘exodus’ from war and violence to peace and concord’, he said”. This AFP report can be read in full here.

(2) In an email over the weekend, Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) wrote that “Palestinian Christians say that Israeli security measures have obstructed their access to Jerusalem and its holy sites, especially the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, long believed to be the site of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. In response, the National Council of Churches asked the Israeli government to provide access for Palestinian Christians who wish to visit Christian sites in Jerusalem during Holy Week. The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, NCC General Secretary, acknowledged Israel’s need to provide strict security during the religious holidays but said, ‘I hope the Israeli government realizes that it is unacceptable to us that Christians be denied the right to worship in Jerusalem, especially Christians whose roots in the region go back to the time of Christ’. Since then, the NCC General Secretary has said that Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, has said that travel restrictions preventing Palestinian Christians from visiting Christian sacred sites in Jerusalem have been lifted”.

(3) Ma’an News Agency wrote about that there was confusion about the prevailing rules of access: “Rumors abound about whether or not Palestinian Christians from the West Bank will be able to access Jerusalem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre over Easter, as crossings into the city remain locked and a general closure prevails on the West Bank. Access restrictions will be implemented by several arms of the Israeli military, police and Border Police units, many of which overlap or cancel each other out. The Israeli military imposed a general closure on the West Bank on the start of Passover that will last until 7 April. According to a military spokesman, Palestinians issued permits for family visits and religious services will not be subjected to the general closure as of 1 April … As of Thursday, the spokesman said, the general closure of the West Bank would no longer prevent Palestinians with permits for the holidays from leaving the area. [But] Border police operate the checkpoints that prevent West Bank Palestinians from accessing Jerusalem. Police ordered main Bethlehem checkpoint (Rachel’s Tomb) closed as of Wednesday, and said at the time that the terminal may open for the Saturday of Light celebrations observed by Orthodox Christians. As of Thursday, it was not clear if the terminal would open. On Wednesday, two German nationals and a pregnant Palestinian woman were denied passage through the checkpoint and told to use the Beit Jala ‘tunnels’ terminal. The Germans were permitted to pass through but the pregnant woman with a hospital permit was not. In February, Israeli officials announced the closure of the Beit Jala crossing for passport and holders of medical permits. On Wednesday, a crossings spokesman said travelers should be allowed to pass through the terminal. Border police also enforce closures on the Old City, setting up and manning barricades around the gates to the ancient quarters where pilgrims hope to enter for Good Friday, Saturday of Light and Easter Sunday worship. A spokesman for Israeli Border Police in the Jerusalem area said no decision had been made as to whether restrictions would be put in place during Easter, and could not confirm or deny reports that Muslim worshipers had been instructed to use the Lions and Herod’s Gates to access the Al-Aqsa Mosque, while access for Muslims at other gates would be restricted … Israeli national police, alongside Border Police, guard the Old City and arrange security for the Sepulchre Church. A spokesman for the body denied reports from Sepulchre officials that Christians would be barred from the Old City, saying the facts were ‘incorrect’, but declined to clarify as to what restrictions would be in place at the Old City Gates”. This Ma’an report is posted here.

(4) Haaretz reported today that “The IDF is investigating the circumstances of the death on Saturday of a 63-year-old Palestinian man who had been delayed earlier at the Al-Hamra checkpoint in the northern Jordan Valley, Army Radio reported. Mohammad Damen Abed Al-Karim E’lieyat, a diabetic with high blood pressure, made several attempts to pass through the checkpoint but was held up by Israeli authorities because he held French citizenship, according to the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency. E’lieyat, who suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure, was allowed to pass after several hours, but later died in a taxi. Palestinian medical officials said he died of a heart attack and dehydration”… This Haaretz report is published here. The Jerusalem Post adds that “According to eyewitnesses, the man was held back since he also held French citizenship and was therefore required to receive special clearance to pass through the checkpoint”… This is posted here.

Qalandia checkpoint today: Israeli-fired stun gun blows air bags in car

Today, a friend was coming from Jerusalem to Ramallah, via the Qalandia checkpoint, and got stuck again in the middle as Israeli forces fired all they had at Palestinian demonstrators.

She said that when Israeli soldiers fired stun grenades very near her car, the airbags reacted, the way they should in a major crash — they puffed or blew up. She said she was bruised, and shocked. And she cannot drive her car until the airbags are repaired.

Meanwhile, the U.S. White House says that there has been no new high-level contact with the Israeli leadership … U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Israeli Prime Minister almost a week ago to express American displeasure with the Israeli government announcement about the advancement in planning for 1,600 new housing units in the Jewish settlement of Ramat Shlomo in East Jerusalem, very near the Palestinian village of Shuafat. State Department spokesmen have said that the U.S. is waiting for a response from Israel, but there apparently has been none so far. After Clinton’s phone call, Netanyahu did have a subsequent long and late-night phone call with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden — but apparently still not the response the U.S. is looking for…

UPDATE: The U.S. State Department piled it on with their briefing in Washington today (Thursday 18 March 2010) — here is an excerpt of the exchange between Gordon Duguid, Acting Deputy Department Spokesman, answering questions from journalists:

“QUESTION: All right. Okay. Thanks. Moving on to the Middle East, has the Secretary heard from Prime Minister Netanyahu yet?

MR. DUGUID: I believe the Secretary, you may have seen, had a press conference in Moscow just over an hour ago –

QUESTION: She didn’t answer the question.

MR. DUGUID: — and she has said that when we have something to say on the particular communication with Prime Minister Netanyahu, that we’ll let you know. As to my knowledge, just before coming in here, I did not have any word that a communication had been received. But when we do have one, we will let you know.”

UPDATE TWO: Netanyahu called Clinton! They agreed to meet in Washington next week…
AP has just reported that “Netanyahu called Clinton on Thursday. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley declined to provide details of the conversation, which he described as the Israeli prime minister’s response to Clinton’s call last week in which she harshly criticized Israel’s announcement of additional Jewish settlement housing in east Jerusalem. ‘They discussed specific actions that might be taken to improve the atmosphere for progress toward peace’, the department said in a statement released by Clinton’s traveling party. Crowley said U.S. officials will review Netanyahu’s response and ‘continue our discussions with both sides to keep proximity talks moving forward’. Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister clarified Israeli policy in the call with Clinton and suggested ‘mutual confidence-building measures’ by Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Netanyahu planned to be in Washington next week for the annual gathering of the premier pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Clinton was scheduled to speak to the group on Monday. Crowley said Mitchell will fly to the Mideast this weekend and hold separate talks with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas … In public comments Thursday while in Moscow for talks on a range of international issues, Clinton appeared to be seeking to calm U.S. relations with Israel, saying the U.S. has not changed its approach to championing an Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Last week Clinton denounced the Israeli housing announcement. The Israeli move was seen by the Obama administration as an insult and a repudiation of U.S. efforts to get Israel to halt construction of additional Jewish settlements. ‘Our goals remain the same’, Clinton said Thursday during a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. ‘It is to relaunch negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians on a path that will lead to a two-state solution. Nothing has happened that in any way affects our commitment to pursuing that’.” This AP report can be read in full here.

Qalandia checkpoint – a hellish place

Qalandia checkpoint — which Israeli officials like to call a “border crossing”, though it is not on Israel’s official list of international border crossings — is a place that could be called one of the points of hell on earth.

Qalandia checkpoint cuts off what was the main road between Jerusalem and Ramallah — and it used to take about 15 minutes to travel between the two cities.

Today, it took my friend and colleague two hours, in the middle of the day — usually, a quieter time. Driving from Jerusalem to Ramallah, she got all the way up to the traffic circle at the entrance to Qalandia, before trouble started. Apparently because some stones were being thrown, the Israeli forces at the checkpoint opened up with what they call “crowd control measures”: rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun gas.

And, they closed the checkpoint. With the unfortunate drivers who had entered at that time stuck in the middle. Thousands of people were stuck…

Continue reading Qalandia checkpoint – a hellish place

Yes, Qalandia Checkpoint is a scandal

The Washington Post has picked up an article written by Ben Hubbard for the Associated Press about the misery that is Qalandia checkpoint. Apparently, Ben spent five days there, early in the morning when Palestinians with permits are being treated not unlike animals as they try to get to work.

Thousands — no, millions, upon millions of words have been written about this shame. We have written about it repetitively — just enter the word Qalandia in the search box on this page, and the stories will pop up.

But, nothing changes. If anything, it simply gets worse.

[UPDATE: Also see Amira Hass’ article published in Haaretz here: “Israel calls the checkpoint a ‘terminal’ and relates to it as an existing, legal border between the State of Israel and the Palestinian entity. For Palestinians, the Qalandiyah checkpoint is a physical representation of the fact that for most of them, East Jerusalem has become as far away as the moon. Most of the people who pass through Qalandiyah are Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. A minority are West Bank residents who have temporary permits to enter Israel”.]

The AP story published in the WPost is entitled Checkpoint misery epitomizes a Mideast divide, and it is posted here.

This is the AP photo used to illustrate the article in the Washington Post – it was taken 15 Dec 2009:
AP photo taken 15 December 2009 - Tara Todras-Whitehill)

Please note that the AP reporter who did the story wrote only about the pedestrian passage. Crossing with a car is a different and separate nightmare, for those who are allowed.

Please note that this is only about Qalandia checkpoint, and not about the main checkpoint at Bethlehem, which, if anything, may be worse, or about the Erez crossing into Gaza.

It is not about the checkpoint on Road 443 that I was shocked to see had Palestinian men stuffed into wire-caged walkways at 4 am last Thursday after passing military inspection, but before boarding white Ford Transit vans for transportation to their jobs in central Israel.

Please note that the crossing times listed for each day the reporter was at this checkpoint — which Israeli forces like to call a “border crossing” — are just for the crossing time only, and not for the difficult transportation that comes before and after the crossing.

Please also note that every Israeli in uniform at this place is carrying at least one big gun, and that there are military reinforcements always at the ready in the immediate enclosure, and more are not far away.

The AP article reports that “The journey to Jerusalem, for tens of thousands of Palestinians [daily], begins in a dank, trash-strewn hangar. They move through cage-like passages and 7-foot-high turnstiles to be checked by Israeli soldiers from behind bulletproof glass. The soldiers often yell at them [only in Hebrew, of course, and in a muffled and incomprehensible way] through loudspeakers. They [the Israeli soldiers] are supposed to work in pairs to speed the lines through, but sometimes one of them is asleep, his feet on his desk. The Qalandia crossing, say the Israelis, is where potential attackers are filtered out before they can reach Jerusalem on the other side. Palestinians say it’s a daily humiliation they must endure to reach jobs, family, medical appointments and schools. This main checkpoint between the northern West Bank and Jerusalem is one of the rawest points of friction between Israel and the Palestinians, a symbol of the day-to-day bitterness that grinds between the two sides as the U.S. struggles to relaunch peace negotiations. Since taking office last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has eased Palestinian movement inside the West Bank, but not into Jerusalem … Qalandia [is] the only way for 60,000 taxpaying [legal and official Jerusalem] residents [whose homes, by Israeli military design, are now behind — or on the West Bank side — of Qalandia checkpoint and The Wall] to reach their city. They too must line up along with tens of thousands of West Bank residents to enter Israel for work – provided they are patient, have permits, and don’t arouse suspicion” … And God help them if they do, because there is nobody who can help them…

The article reports that “The AP reporter saw soldiers sleeping in their booths four times during five days at the crossing. When told about it, Maj. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said he was ‘surprised’ …” though nobody would be who has ever been at a checkpoint when there were only Palestinians and internationals present, but no higher Israeli officer.

The article reports that “The line takes Abu Jalil into a 15-foot-long cage of metal bars, barely wide enough for a large man or high enough for a tall man to stand upright. At the far end, a turnstile clicks open, letting about 10 people through at a time before clicking shut again. Once inside: another line to another turnstile, this one leading to a window where Israeli soldiers check IDs. Abu Jalil waits, then a worker at the front of the line gets turned back. He tells the others they can’t carry lunches through, so Abu Jalil and others with lunches change lines, starting again at the back. It’s a common problem. Sometimes, certain lines accept only certain IDs, but the workers don’t know that until they reach the window. A soldier may close a window without announcing it, leaving people waiting in vain. There is no supervisor or hot line they can take complaints to.

The article reports that one 70-year-old Palestinian woman who returned after living in the U.S. for 11 years (there are many Palestinian West Bank residents who have American citizenship) said to the AP reporter that “I made the biggest mistake of my life in coming back here … This the worst place I’ve seen in my life”..

It may not be the worst thing I’ve ever seen, but it’s truly awful, something to be avoided, if possible, at all costs. It’s really, really bad…

Palestinian TV news did not report shooting at Qalandia checkpoint

Palestinian TV news has shot up in the ratings, I am told, over the past few months — and Al-Jazeera has dropped.

Previously, Palestinians were getting their local news from Al-Jazeera. Could Al-Jazeera really give enough local coverage to satisfy the Palestinians here, I used to ask? It is all there is, I was told, in my own random samplings of the viewing audience in East Jerusalem and around the West Bank.

Now, Palestinian TV has been making an effort to improve its news coverage, and these efforts have been recognized and appreciated.

Still, despite this vote of confidence, tonight’s Palestinian TV news had no mention of a shocking and serious incident at Qalandia checkpoint late this afternoon or early this evening: an Israeli (Arab) truck driver taking a full fuel tank across the checkpoint to make a delivery to a point just after the checkpoint (perhaps to an area which is still part of the Greater Jerusalem municipality, despite being behind The Wall) was somehow panicked or distracted or injured, apparently by rock-throwing, and lost control of his vehicle. He reportedly ran into other vehicles at the checkpoint — which is frequently a clogged and intensely stressful traffic nightmare — and where there is NO traffic control.

The immediate Israeli assumption is always, but always, that things like this are “terror” attacks.

Israeli soldiers or Border Police thought that the truck driver was making an intentional attack on the checkpoint, and they shot. The driver was badly injured, and evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital all the way across Jerusalem, west of Bethlehem. There were reportedly other injuries as well — either by the shooting, or by the vehicle crashing, or both.

There were at least a couple of hours for Palestinian TV to try to get any footage that might be available, or to send a reporter and a camera crew to the scene to do a live report — or even to see if they could get anything from the hospital, or from Israeli TV or other Arab TV networks working in Jerusalem, or from other journalistic sources.

Continue reading Palestinian TV news did not report shooting at Qalandia checkpoint

Palestinian Police deploy up to Qalandia checkpoint for first Friday in Ramadan

For the first time in years, or perhaps ever, Palestinian traffic policemen were allowed to deploy up to the concrete barriers at the entry to the main Qalandia checkpoint today,
which Israeli officials refer to as a “border crossing”, on the road between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

It was a real departure on the first Friday in Ramadan 2009, as thousands of Palestinian men and women and children endured heat and serial military checks in order to be able to go to pray during this special month at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of East Jerusalem.

(The lunar calendar used by Muslims means that the month of Ramadan starts about 11 days earlier every year. Roughly every 36 years, Ramadan rotates through the hottest and longest days of summer.)

One sunny Palestinian traffic policeman helping pedestrians cross through the constant flow of cars and vans said that the deployment had been done in coordination with the Israeli military, and that for now the Palestinian deployment would be just for Fridays during Ramadan, at least for now. “We hope we can come every Friday, and then every day, and that we can also go into Jerusalem to pray”. He said that he is now 34 years old, and according to current Israeli policy, he will not be free to pray in Jerusalem for another 16 years. He said he came from the Old City of Nablus, and that he was one of between 20-24 Palestinian traffic policemen selected for the special task. “Ukhti” (My sister), he called to beckon one woman to cross the street.

“We are here”, he explained, “but without guns”. However, he said, they did not really need guns, because “many people tell us it’s a great day, and it’s good, that they finally see us on the street here. Some drivers even stopped in surprise”, he reported.

Another Palestinian traffic policeman said that there were about 15 Palestinian policemen on duty at Qalandia. Palestinian security cars were lined up and parked just at the entrance into the Qalandia perimeter — an extremely rare sight.

Precisely because there has been no civilian traffic control allowed anywhere near the Israeli military, Qalandia checkpoint has, until now, been the the site of frequent traffic snarls and intimidating traffic congestion where cars have to fight to advance every single centimeter.
The aggressive young beggars that operate in the areas where cars waiting to pass through Qalandia add another layer of misery and stress for the trapped motorists.

For the four Fridays in Ramadan, vehicular traffic has been banned from just after midnight until 3 pm in the afternoon.

Palestinian mini-vans and buses were surprisingly organized, and dispatchers with neon-green vests and megaphones urged the stream of Palestinians onto transport into Jerusalem. The prayer-goers would face at least one other military check at Damascus Gate in the Old City Wall. It was later reported that five Palestinians were arrested, a few for “carrying knives” and one for being from Gaza but not having a permit.

This year, like last year, only men over 50 years old, and only women over 45 years old, are eligible for entry into Jerusalem for the Friday prayers during Ramadan, a holy month which commemorates the revelation of the Qur’an. For the entire month of Ramadan, adults fast completely (and do not even drink water) from two hours before sunrise until sundown. The idea is to give the body a rest, and to develop solidarity with the poor who are often not able to eat and drink as they need.

Men between 45 and 50 may apply for special permits issued for the four Fridays in Ramadan, and women between 30 and 45 were also eligible to apply — but UN officials said that all the Palestinians all had to be married to qualify for the special permits. Apparently, children under 12 could accompany their parents.

Despite the noticeably better Israeli organization implemented by the Israeli military authorities at Qalandia, there were far fewer Palestinians trying to pass through Qalandia today than during the first Friday of Ramadan last year. “Where are the thousands of Palestinians who cannot get into Jerusalem and who ususally come to protest?”, asked one woman from the Israeli organization Machsom Watch. One Palestinian policeman said that it was only the first Friday of Ramadan, and predicted that the numbers would increase in the coming weeks. However, a UN official noted that the fourth Friday of Ramadan this year coincides with a major Jewish holiday, and predicted that Palestinian traffic into Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank would be reduced to a trickle.

According to a tally from the observers with the Ecumenical Accompaniers program (EAPPI) of the World Council of Churches, just over 16,000 Palestinians passed through Qalandia going into Jerusalem between 0600 and 1130 in the morning. Last year, EAPPI said that 36,000 Palestinians passed through Qalandia in more-or-less the same time period, between 0600 and 1200.

Israeli officials later reported that 90,000 Muslims were at the Friday prayers (the exact same figure as last year) up on the Haram as-Sharif plateau on which Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are both built. Palestinians from East Jerusalem, who are legal residents of Israel, and Israel’s own Arab/Palestinian citizens had free access to Al-Aqsa. (The Haram as-Sharif plateau has a reported capacity of 300,000).

Getting a flat tire at Qalandia checkpoint

I once drove through the Ar-Ram checkpoint with two flat tires, just praying that the soldiers wouldn’t be more difficult than usual, so I could get to a garage to put in enough air to get to a place where I could have the tire repaired.

That time, my tires were probably deliberately punctured in the war being waged by my neighbors over parking spaces.

Hair-raising as that was, it was nothing compared to suddenly having a flat tire at Qalandia checkpoint last Sunday afternoon, in the peak heat of the day, as traffic trying to get out of Ramallah began to get out of control, and a collective electric road rage took over. Nobody was in a mood to help, needless to say. And the traffic pressure was increasing, and the heat was unbearable, and then the wilder drivers began driving on the other side of the road, and on the space on the side of the other side of the road, where I had pulled over to get out of the way and to try to think what to do next. They kicked up more dust, the hot wind was blowing, and they drove directly toward me in a stupid game of chicken, trying to bully me to get out of their way (they were really not where they were supposed to be, but that didn’t matter at all to them). They didn’t even think that I might have been there because I had a totally collapsed tire. No, for them, I was there just to be annoying and to bother them by getting in their way. It was, to be perfectly honest, scary. And hot.

The traffic gets out of control at Qalandia for one simple reason — too much traffic is funneled through a too-narrow space, and there is no traffic control allowed by the Israeli military near the checkpoint. So, it becomes a laboratory of the law of the jungle, where the strongest rule. And a multi-hour gridlock ensues.

I was trying to think what to do next. Then, I called Ibrahim, who I had just seen at his worksite, and who had big responsibilities. But he said without hesitation: “I am coming”, and he came right away, with his assistant, and they saved me, really saved me, an act of kindness and sympathetic solidarity for which I am extremely grateful. And all the time, as Ibrahim and his assistant were changing my tire, they were being greeted and exchanging greetings with friends slowly passing by in the gridlocked traffic, in the hot sun as the wind blew up gusts of sand, just outside Qalandia checkpoint. Then got back into their car and drove back to ar-Ram, merging easily back into the slow flow, headed back to the soccer/football stadium that is really just on the other side of The Wall from where I live, but so far away. Yet, coming back around from Jerusalem I can see the bright lights of the stadium lighting up the skyline. And, sitting here at my computer, I can hear the cheers and shouting and singing, whenever there is a soccer match on the other side of The Wall.

The wasteland between Jerusalem and Ramallah

This is the main way between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

The road just beside The Wall was closed by Israeli security yet again today, for the addition of more security measures before Ramadan (the 30-day month of fasting expected to start this year on 1 September), when Palestinians desperately want to go to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and try any way to get past these “barriers” and “fences” to get there.

Need I mention that the way between Jerusalem and Ramallah used to be a lively short trip of about 15 minutes max up and down a vibrant commercial strip? And it was this way not so long ago, either — until the failed Camp David peace talks in late summer 2000, and the subsequent Second Intifada that peaked in 2002-04.

Now, with the bad roads, the checkpoints, and the official unofficial “border crossing” at Qalandia, it is now closer to a 45-minute or even one hour trip, each way, in the best of conditions.

After visiting Ramallah, I came back through ar-Ram, on the other side of The Wall as shown in the first photos above. There is a watchtower to keep an eye on everyone penned in on the Palestinian side.