Fear and loathing in Qalqiliya North
Climbing the fence at Qalqiliya North terminal.
By: Scott Smith, EA from South Africa
The pushing started at 05:00 this morning. Not half an hour after the terminal for entrance into Israel in the completely walled-in city of Qalqiliya opened, more than 500 Palestinians rushed the single turnstile gate. The women simply moved out of the way, the old men ducked, and I got behind a cement block as the heaving mass tumbled towards me. I was hoping that today would be better than the previous time I came to this West Bank city's border on the 1949 Armistice Green line, the internationally recognised border of Israel. People line up here from before 04:00 and wait patiently but this morning the opening was delayed by 30 minutes. The line stretched back almost 100 metres; perhaps a thousand people were backed up and they were all getting restless. "Yes," I thought. "this morning is going to be a bad one."
Through my time here, I have observed the operation of this terminal at least once a week. The experience has never been a pleasant one but during this observation I have also noticed that the system can work. People can get to work on time, people can avoid harassment and maintain dignity as long as Israel does its bit and properly operates the terminal. Arguments for or against the checkpoint system aside, border control can work efficiently and we can all gain something from that. But this morning was not going to be one of those days. This morning was going to be a bad one.
As the soldiers fumbled at the computer terminals to check IDs and verify handprints, the queue backed up even further, and the restlessness grew as the queue swelled and swayed. As those near the food stalls about 80 metres back from the first turnstile started shoving, those closer to the front tried to calm them down. "La la," they said, "La la." No, no, keep calm. That was successful for just a few minutes; then, as the clock struck 05:00, there was no calm. The gate was rushed.
They rushed the gate and all composure melted into the rubbish filled gutter beside them. The men climbed over each other, they grabbed barbed wire, a man lost his shoe and another cracked a rib. This tightly knit people with strong family ties and amazing sense of generosity became enemies simply due to one or two soldiers not doing their job properly. They let this system imposed on them get under their skin and they forgot their brotherhood. Seeing this happen so often is one of the saddest aspects of this occupation. These checkpoints in all their forms are the cause of much of the misery and devolve these people to an extreme level of behaviour. In the words of a member of Machsom Watch, an Israeli humanitarian group that monitors checkpoints around the territories, "It is the checkpoint that breeds hatred. The soldier does not protect but endanger us all the more, every moment they are there." The checkpoints do so much to wear down the humanity of these people.
This was all the more evident this morning as the pushing got worse and the terminal processing slowed even further. As things got slower, the pushing got worse and soldiers had to come directly to the gate to try to organise the queue. Four soldiers came to the gate yelling to all to step back, to calm down, stop climbing over each other. No easy task to calm a justifiably angry mob. But they eventually managed. Once the situation was a little calmer, they opened the gates for a minute, then closed, then opened another minute, then closed. I still am not sure what the reason was for these delays that morning but if you want to keep people calm, you do not want to give them a reason not to be. Of course, the gate was rushed again and so the gate was closed again.
In my opinion - treating people like this is like burning someone at the stake while expecting them to be quiet about it. When they squirm and scream it seems the Israeli Army fans the flames thinking that is going to calm them. As I observe this conflict, it is this kind of mentality that is such a source of frustration. If there is pressure, you alleviate it before it explodes - a simple law of physics.
This kind of situation could easily have been avoided through some simple changes in the infrastructure of the gate system. I have forwarded suggestions to as many relevant organisations as I can. I cannot agree with the existence of these terminals or the Wall but I can agree that we need to make things work as well as possible for the people as long as they are there. At the Qalqiliya North terminal we need more entrance turnstiles and a queue guide so the shoving, and injuries, can be avoided. That said, the hand-print and permit checking terminals inside need to be fully operational with skilled staff.
It was not a good morning at the terminal. Unfortunately, it was very similar to all the other mornings at the terminal. I came to a hard realisation this morning too. As the shoving got worse and the soldiers shouted louder, and the mass of people heaved against the immovable barbed fence, I thought to myself, "and these are the lucky ones who have work."
