The daily nuisance

Palestinians with a West Bank ID who want to enter Jerusalem from Ramallah must have a valid permit and endure a dehumanizing passage through the Qalandiya Checkpoint. Ecumenical Accompaniers are the only independent observers monitoring the process and reporting to governments and organizations that advocate for improved conditions. We are at Qalandiya from 4:30 to 7:30 a.m. three times a week, plus spot checks. (My pictures were taken outside the checkpoint, because photography is prohibited inside.)

At 5:20 this morning, lines to enter the checkpoint were at their peak with close to 300 people and started all the way out in the parking lot. Then they continued past the food vendor, finally approaching the the three narrow cages that each hold about 15 persons. I made three telephone calls to the Civil Administration (actually military) humanitarian line to report delays in processing.

End of line in parking lot

Middle of line, past food vendor,  under roofed area

Approaching the three narrow cages

At the end of each of the three cages (the narrowest of which is only about 18 inches) there is a turnstile. The turnstiles are managed by the control booth. Just when they seem to be admitting people smoothly, they  abruptly stop to prevent crowding at the next stage, causing people to pile up in the three cages.

Women, children, the sick, and elderly can bypass the cage lines through a humanitarian gate when it is open. Today it admitted 96 people between 6:07 and 6:40, at about five minute intervals, whenever a cocky and lackadaisical young border guard decided (between texting and chatting with other guards) that there were enough people in the humanitarian line to open the gate.

Whether people go through the narrow cages or the humanitarian gate, they must then line up with a dozen people behind one of five turnstiles that lead to the metal detectors and ID checkpoints. Each turnstile lets in three persons at a time. (I have learned to go though the metal detector without beeping by taking off my belt and jackets with metal zippers.) After two more turnstiles people are through the daily nuisance and can board a bus to Jerusalem.

Jenny with the counters

My EA partner Jenny from England was counting the people exiting, and collecting time slips that I had sent with random individuals to see how long they took to go through. She counted 1600 men, 89 women, and 33 children in the three hours. The longest transit was 24 minutes; mine was only 8 minutes, after the line cleared. EAs monitoring Qalandiya last Tuesday and Thursday said it took some people more than an hour for the process, and angry men were yelling, pushing, and climbing up on cages in a desperate effort to move along. We did not see any of that today, just grumbling when the line was long and smiles after it definitively cleared at 7:03. One man said, "Thank you for coming."

St. Andrew's

There was a reference to restrictions on movement at St. Andrew's Scots Memorial Church where I worshiped this morning. One of the pastors noted that Palestinian Christians do not have ready access to Jerusalem. And I could not help thinking of the Palestinian prisoner hunger strikers when there was a line in a hymn, "Praise to the One who frees the prisoners."

Rev. Loren McGrail

The sermon, on the prodigal son, was preached by one of the church's ecumenical partners, Rev. Loren McGrail. She is a United Church of Christ pastor from Chicago, who was an Ecumenical Accompanier herself two years ago. St. Andrew's draws transient worshipers; its membership rolls are less than 20.

YMCA

On the way home, I passed the YMCA in West Jerusalem with blooming redbud, It reminded me that spring is on the way.