Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights

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Access to health care

"Everybody has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health." (Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) This article further mentions "to achieve the full realization of this right, conditions should be created, which assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness."

Although the health facilities in East Jerusalem are the ones best developed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, since the outbreak of the Intifada restrictions of movement have obstructed access to medical treatment and health facilities in East Jerusalem for Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. There are seven hospitals, including one ophthalmic, and over 40 primary health care clinics and rehabilitation centers. Some of them provide standards of services, which are not or hardly available in the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, like dialyses and cancer programs.

Effects on patients and services
Most patients (90 percent) of the major hospitals in East Jerusalem once came from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This has changed since Jerusalem is closed from the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and especially over the last nineteen months as Israel has tightened its closure on Jerusalem. Al Makassed hospital experienced a 50 percent drop in patients, with St. John's seeing a 75 percent decline in the uprising's first months. Augusta Victoria and St. Joseph's confirmed the decline, but had no figures available. The number of patients then rose after some months, but the patients were not from the West Bank and Gaza, but those from East Jerusalem and the surrounding villages, who once went to Israeli hospitals.

"We used to have a bus operating between Gaza and here, which brought about 50 patients daily, now we have hardly one ambulance coming per day." says Jackie Jaidy of St. John's hospital. Doctor Bassam Abu Libdeh from Al Makassed confirms this, "Before the Intifada, three ambulances used to come from Gaza daily. Now, there is hardly one every one or two weeks, only the most difficult and critical patients come."

Patients were once allowed to enter Jerusalem to go to the hospital without the usual entry permit, but by showing a referral letter from the local doctor. Also this has changed. Today, patients can only enter Jerusalem legally with an entry permit. To get this permit from Israeli authorities, which is a trip in itself, they must have an appointment or scheduled operation at the hospital. Abu Libdeh estimates that 90 percent of those who apply are given permits. The ten percent who are refused, are turned away largely due to unspecified 'security reasons'.

But even though patients have an entry permit, that is no guarantee of reaching the hospital. Arrival depends on the checkpoints along the road and the mood of soldiers guarding the checkpoints. When a total closure is instituted, permits lose their value and cannot be used. The procedure must be commenced once again - from the beginning.

This process causes patients to avoid the trip to Jerusalem. Several hospitals mentioned that patients nowadays wait much longer than they used to before coming for treatment. "The closure mostly negatively affects children and elderly in their right to access to health care," says Jaidy from St. John's. "Patients have to deal with the fact that they are forced to find health care facilities nearby, despite the fact that the quality of service might be less."

Because of the closure, some hospitals have outreach clinics in the West Bank and Gaza. Especially the mobile outreach services are affected by the tightening of the closure. For example the mobile clinic of St. John's hospital experienced many problems because of delay at the checkpoints. Nowadays, they do not go as long and as far as they used to go.

Effects on staff
The closure also has its affects on staff. About 75 percent of the medical staff of the four main hospitals comes from outside the city, most of them are from other parts of the West Bank and a few from Gaza. They need permits to enter Jerusalem. Nowadays, a requirement is to have a magnetic card. All hospitals mention that a small number of up to 10 percent are denied this card because of security reasons, others because they are below the minimum age of 24 to obtain such a card, and some are unable to apply for one as they are unable to go to the civil administration of the place where they originally come from because of the restrictions on movement. With this magnetic card, in most of the cases entry permits are issued for a three-month period after which they have to be renewed. However, obtaining permits is becoming more and more difficult even for medical staff. More and more applications are being denied.

Again means that having a permit is no guarantee that one will be able to reach the hospital. Besides that there can be a total closure in any village, town or specific checkpoint in the Occupied Palestinian Territories at any moment, interviewees mentioned that staff is also occasionally stopped and prohibited from passing a checkpoint even though it is open. Soldiers regularly operate according to their own approval.

Another effect of the closure is that hospital staff arrives late to work, even though most of them have permits. A consequence is that appointments and operations regularly need to be delayed or postponed. Furthermore, since the eruption of the Intifada, Palestinian physicians from the West Bank are not allowed to enter Jerusalem by car anymore. This is a serious problem, in particular in emergency situations, when a doctor must get to the hospital as soon as possible.

Other effects
All interviewees of the main four hospitals mention a shift in their policy because of the closure, which affected their financial situation. Makassed, for example, experienced a drop in income as primary and secondary levels of health care decreased, which used to be the main source of income. For these relatively minor health problems, people now go to nearby clinics. The thirdary level, of which costs are high and income low, remained about the same. Three of the four interviewees mentioned that they had to decrease staff to adjust to the new situation. Furthermore, most of them did not use to work with Israeli health insurance companies, but do now. One mentioned that it become totally dependent of these companies.

Hospitals also became very isolated as cooperation with both Israeli hospitals, as well as other Palestinian hospitals in the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories completely stopped or is reduced to a minimum. Also international staff is reluctant to come because of the current situation.

Interviewees mentioned difficulties in importing supplies. "Because of tight Israeli security measures at Israeli ports, both airports and harbors, and border crossings, donations from Arab and other foreign countries like medical supplies and some equipment can not pass or are being delayed," mentions Dr. Abu Libdeh from Makassed hospital. Ms. Jackie Jaidy of St. John's mentions, "Supplies need to be ordered further in advance and in bigger quantities." They used to have a policy to order supplies from Palestinian companies in the West Bank. Since the Intifada, they had to switch to Jerusalem.

All interviewees agree that these direct and indirect effects of the closure, as part of the whole political situation, affect the quality of the services of the hospitals.

Economic impact, including access to work

The economic impact of the closure is very difficult to estimate as very few data is available on this issue for East Jerusalem specifically. UNSCO estimates that the income losses to the total Palestinian economy, including East Jerusalem, from 1 October 2000 until 30 September 2001 range between US$ 2.4 to 3.2 billion.(9) The amount of US$ 2.4 billion is also mentioned in a recent World Bank report of the damage done to the economy in terms of lost gross national revenues because of the mounting restrictions on freedom of movement imposed by Israel on Palestinians in and out of the territories.(10)

The collapse of the East Jerusalem economy has several reasons, which differ from the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The East Jerusalem economy was always very services based due to its central location and small productive industrial base. The closure of Jerusalem in 1993 has led to a massive exodus of Palestinian business and institutions from Jerusalem. Many offices were completely dependent from Palestinians from the outside Jerusalem, whether as staff or clients. An estimated 90 percent moved to outside the Jerusalem borders after the closure of the city was a fact.(11)

Today, with tourism as the key economic sector, which amounts to 58 percent of the economic activity in East Jerusalem, the almost complete halt of the tourism industry is a main reason for East Jerusalem's economic decline. However, this collapse is only limitedly influenced by the closure as tourists mainly stayed away because of the political situation.

The sector most affected by the closure is probably the public transportation sector. Transportation used to consists of about 12 percent of the economic sector. From the thirteen bus companies, which used to operate from Jerusalem to the rest of the West bank, nine closed down and the other four reduced their services to inside Jerusalem and the villages around. They do not cross checkpoints except for a couple in and around Jerusalem according to the Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce.

The third economic sector is the industry sector, which comprises about 15 percent of the East Jerusalem labor force. Most of the factories in East Jerusalem report a 60-70 percent decrease of production. The main explanation is that people's ability to buy decreased just like the geographical scope of businesses. Because of the closure, the transportation costs of goods increased as vehicles are forced to wait or take detours.

Besides this, the restrictions on movements of workers affected the economic sector as well be described below.

Workers

"The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts. State Parties should take appropriate steps to safeguard this right." (Article 6 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights)

Since 1993, Palestinians have been required to apply for a permit from Israeli military authorities in order to enter Israel or East Jerusalem as mentioned before. This policy has prevented Palestinian workers from entering Israel and East Jerusalem on a large scale and became much stricter since the start of the Second Intifada.

The number of permits issued to Palestinian workers from the West Bank to enter Israel or occupied East Jerusalem, decreased substantially according to a recent report of the World Bank. The pre-Intifada flow of 95,000- 100,000 laborers crossing dropped to 20,000 in the last quarter of 2000. In the first half of 2001, up to 55,000 laborers were able to return clandestinely to Israel and the West Bank settlements, due in part to the porosity of the borders. These numbers declined in the second half of 2001.(12) This decline is confirmed by the UNSCO.(13) This reports states that travel permits were frequently cancelled or not honored, and crossings were intermittently sealed off completely.

From the above mentioned reports can be concluded that nowadays, the numbers of workers from the West Bank, who enter Israel, decreased to less than half of the number of before the Intifada started. The UNSCO study concludes that more and more Palestinians who used to work in Israel are seeking work closer to home or have become unemployed. Although no specific numbers on East Jerusalem are available, the above numbers do give an indication of the decline of workers able to enter East Jerusalem.

The East Jerusalem institutions interviewed for this study do not confirm this decrease of more than 50 percent. They all mention difficulties of staff in reaching their workplace, but did not report changes in their staff policies and percentages of staff coming from outside East Jerusalem. Still the majority of professional educational and medical staff is coming from outside the Jerusalem area. It is assumed that a main reason for this is the lack of skilled staff in East Jerusalem.

Parts of Article New York Times - August 21, 2001 "Palestinians' daily chore: A dirty obstacle course" by Clyde Haberman.

Qalandia, West Bank, August 20 - This is where the miserable part of Dr. Dima Amin's day kicks in. This is where she finds out if it will take forever for her to get to work in Jerusalem, or just horribly long.

Nobody escapes day-in, day-out frustrations, including middle-class Palestinians like Dr. Amin, 29, an obstetrics resident at Al-Makassed Hospital in eastern Jerusalem. She lives on the outskirts of Ramallah. The hospital is about eleven miles away. This trip should take - and did take in the past - about half an hour. These days, two-and-a-half to three hours are typical.

Qalandia can be a make or breakpoint. The roadblock sits alongside an abandoned Israeli airport. Vehicles heading south toward Jerusalem back up sometimes for miles. North and south of the checkpoints, cars are parked willy - nilly.

Israeli soldiers signal the first car in the long line to come forward. They check the driver and tell him to open the trunk. Sometimes, the procedure takes two minutes, sometimes ten. Often, the soldiers pause for four or five minutes between cars, chatting and joking among themselves. Only then do they wave the next car to move up. The line grows.

By the thousands, Palestinians on foot follow a dirt path past the Israeli barriers like Dr. Amin. She carried a handbag, but no soldier bothered to check it. All around her, people carried bags or satchels or attach�. The soldiers stopped a few young men, and ordered them to open their bags. But most Palestinians breezed by the checkpoint, unruffled. On this morning, the foot traffic at Qalandia moved briskly.

The next van had to stop at another Israeli roadblock, at Ram on the northern fringe of Jerusalem. Traffic lines can be numbingly long there, too. Before, it reached East Jerusalem in short order. There was yet another checkpoint, more informal, near the Israeli settlement of French Hill. But those soldiers did not bother to stop anyone.

In East Jerusalem the unemployment rate is much lower than in the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, namely an estimated 22-23 percent according to the Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce compared to at least 35 percent in the rest of the territories. However, the unemployment rate in East Jerusalem used to be 11 percent before the Intifada started. This number does also not include the hidden unemployment. The unemployment in East Jerusalem is mainly because of the collapse of the tourism industry and only indirectly because of the closure. However, the closure does affect the East Jerusalem workers living beyond the main checkpoints and the ones living inside the city and working in other West Bank cities and villages.

Conclusions

It can be concluded that the closure did affect East Jerusalem economically, socially, as well as culturally. As Jerusalem used to be the Palestinian center for economic, social, and cultural activities, to a large extend this has been changed over the years to beyond the city borders since 1993 and increasingly since the start of the second Intifada.

All institutions that remain operating in East Jerusalem mention the decline in the number of people able to come to Jerusalem whether for visiting, services, school or work since September 2000 as the closure became much tighter. Palestinians who do not depend on East Jerusalem for education, health care, work or something else, avoid coming to the city. Cultural and health care institutions especially report this. They have been forced to reform their services since September 2000. While cultural institutions now increased their activities outside the city borders, the hospitals reformed to focus on patients from the Jerusalem area. This means that the East Jerusalem's specialized and highest quality health care services are to a large extend not available anymore for Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip without a Jerusalem identity card.

Educational institutions did not report a decline of students coming from outside the Jerusalem area although they do report increasing difficulties to remain the same level of quality and accessibility of education. This is especially the case for the Al Quds University and private primary and secondary schools.

Besides a decline in people able to visit and use East Jerusalem institutions' services, institutions are affected by the fact that it has become almost impossible to obtain permits to enter Jerusalem 'legally' for staff, while entering without a permit has become much more difficult compared to the period before the start of the Intifada. In all cases, entering Jerusalem, with as well as without permit, has become more time-consuming, expensive, and stressful since the start of the second Intifada. This especially affected the institutions, which largely depend on staff from outside the city. All institutions report a decrease in effective working time because of the closure affecting the quality and quantity of services.

Another effect of the closure reported by all institutions, including the Jerusalem Center of Commerce with regard to the economic sector, is extra costs and decreasing financial resources.

Looking at these outcomes within the context of the current developments of tightening the closure by hermetically sealing of East Jerusalem as currently being implemented by the Israeli authorities, it can be expected that the mentioned problems East Jerusalem institutions face today will increase considerably, further limiting access to and the quality of their services.

Part II

Observations and interviews on daily checkpoint reality

JCSER planned to conduct interviews and observations at four main checkpoints around East Jerusalem during the months March and April as described in the 'Research set up, methodology and justification' chapter. These months turned out not to be representative as this period was marked by two major Israeli army invasions into Palestinian cities including Ramallah and Bethlehem. This resulted in the almost complete closure of both the Qalandia and Bethlehem checkpoint during this period. The first invasion began on February 28. March 15, Israeli forces started withdrawing from the cities, but remained around them, keeping tight control over checkpoints. This meant that they remain closed for almost everybody with a West Bank identity card. The second invasion started two weeks after on March 29 and lasted until May 10 keeping the Qalandia and Bethlehem checkpoints about completely closed. Therefore, the data will be crosschecked by data of Machsom Watch's annual report of 2001 and reports of observations of the International Checkpoint Watch.

Observations

The following paragraphs are parts of reports of observers at the checkpoints.

Ram

Observations at Ram checkpoint, March 5, 2002, 15.00 - 16.00: "The situation is calm although many cars are waiting, 83 at 15.15 o'clock. One can hear the blowing of the horns of many of them. Two soldiers are checking every car that passes towards Jerusalem. One soldier is standing in the middle of the road on a sort of waiting place. He waves as the next car can drive up to the checkpoint to be checked. One soldier checks the ID cards of the driver and/or passengers while the other walks around and looks into the car. Some drivers of private cars are asked to open the trunk of their cars, while some are asked to come to the 'post' to check the ID in their system. On average nine cars per ten minutes are allowed the pass. Most drivers of private cars are asked to open the back of their cars for inspection. At 16.00, 67 cars were waiting in front of the checkpoint to order to enter Jerusalem. The average waiting time for cars is between one and one-and-a-half hours.

Another soldier stands just outside "the post" and has his gun aimed at the cars waiting and the ones to be checked. At 16.00 an ambulance with alarm followed by a car drive up the outside lane. He driver has to go out for a short inspection, but can pass quickly. The car following the ambulance is checked more thoroughly, but can also pass.

People on foot are not being checked even the ones carrying bags. The few ones, who have to show their ID, are the ones passing close to the soldier standing in the middle of the road. From 15.15 to 16.00, four out of 123 people that passed the checkpoint during this period of time had to show their identity cards."

Observations at Ram checkpoint March 7, 2002, 18.00: "The checkpoint is completely closed for cars entering Jerusalem. Drivers, who keep waiting have turned of their engines, others turn their cars and leave to the Ram direction of where they came from. This is still the case at 19.30. People on foot are allowed to pass. Soldiers check IDs and bags of most of them though not of everybody.

Observations at Ram checkpoint March 8, 16.30: The checkpoint is completely closed for both cars and people on foot following the killing of Mahmoud Said Abed Al-Rahim Salah in Beit Hanina, just after the Ram checkpoint. He was said to have explosives with him. Soldiers look nervous, the situation is tense."

Observations at Ram checkpoint March 10, 2002: "The Israeli border police shot dead 21-year-old Izzat Dirgham from Jenin at Ar-Ram checkpoint in north Jerusalem. According to the Israeli border police, the man ignored their call to stop and they shot accordingly. They stated that they found explosives in the bag the man was carrying. The checkpoint was completely closed for everybody after the incident and the situation very tense."

Observations at Ram checkpoint March 15, 2002, 13.00: "65 cars are waiting before the checkpoint in order to enter Jerusalem. The situation is calm. One soldier is checking every car that passes towards Jerusalem. All drivers of private cars are asked to open the trunk of their cars. Nine cars are allowed to pass every ten minutes, which makes the average waiting time over one hour.

The first 20 minutes, no soldier is paying attention to the people passing on foot. 154 persons pass without being checked. Then two soldiers, who were sitting inside 'the border post', start checking ID cards of people who cross the checkpoint by foot. Most of the people automatically show their ID card although in most of the cases the soldiers do not really ask for it. Sometimes they do and sometimes they do not as people just pass. In ten minutes about two-third (43) show their ID card and one-third (19) do not. On both sides of the checkpoint you can see people walking around it."

Observations at Ram checkpoint March 25, 2002: "The Ram checkpoint is moved about 300 meters towards Jerusalem. Every single car and every person on foot are being checked at all times. The back of private cars is also systematically checked, bags of people passing on foot just occasionally."

These procedures remain in place during April and May without particular incidents being reported.

Cross check
Reports of both Machsom Watch, International Checkpoint Watch and based on testimonies of people interviewed show that the situation at the Ram checkpoint normally is much more quite and relaxed as it has been since March 2002. In 'normal' days, soldiers would pull over cars occasionally instead of checking every single car. In most cases the driver was not made to get out of his/her car. This would only be the case after an attack or when there was an alert for a possible attack. Palestinians were being detained for security reasons occasionally.

Since the killing of the two Palestinians in the beginning of March and moving the checkpoint more towards the city center, together with the incursions into Palestinian cities, the situation for people crossing this checkpoint has become much worse. Since that time every single person in car or on foot is checked, which results in more waiting and more harassment.

Qalandia

At the Qalandia Checkpoint
Published February 26, 2002 by the Palestinian Independent News Agency

Qalandia checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem has been sealed to all traffic for almost one week. Pedestrians, vehicles, and goods have had to find alternate routes or cancel trips altogether as a result of the closure imposed on all Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

For most of this past week, Palestinians and foreigners alike have been commuting between Ramallah and Jerusalem via an alternate route before the very eyes of the Israeli soldiers stationed at Qalandia ostensibly in the name of Israeli security.

Pedestrians are dropped off by taxis at the make-shift parking lot just before the metal dividers of the checkpoint. They then turn off the main road towards a rock quarry. A path has been carved through the quarry, approximately 50 meters away and parallel to the main road. Palestinians needing to go between Ramallah and Jerusalem or the villages between the two have been forced to walk this rocky, steep path for the past week, regardless of age, disability, infants too small to walk, or weight of luggage.

The path through the quarry then meets the Hizma Road; after a quick right turn, pedestrians end up just at the other end of the checkpoint, where more taxis are waiting to take them to Jerusalem. All of this occurs in full view of the soldiers protecting Israeli security concerns.

The Israeli soldiers have shot at Palestinians attempting to pass through this route several times during the week. However, for the most part, there has been little effort to block this alternate route, and hundreds of people are taking this path daily.

Observations at Qalandia checkpoint, March 6, 2002, 15.00 - 16.00: "The checkpoint remains closed. An armed personnel carrier and three soldiers are standing in front of the checkpoint at the Jerusalem side, their guns pointed at cars and people approaching. Soldiers wave everybody away and the place itself is deserted. A couple of trucks are waiting in front of the checkpoint (from some distance) for the checkpoint to open again. They have to drop their goods in Ramallah and there is no other way to go.

When walking about 50 to 100 meter to the right when standing in front of the checkpoint facing Ramallah, there is a dirt path. In front of this path on the main road, there are service taxis, private taxis, cars, a lot of people and even an Israeli army jeep. However, the soldiers stay inside. Also a couple of good sellers are moved from Qalandia checkpoint to this place. You can see hundreds of people walking on this path, crossing from the Jerusalem to the Ramallah side and the other way around, going around the Qalandia checkpoint. It is a long lane of men, women, young and old, babies and children. Some people are trying to make a living by transporting luggage in small handcars. I can see bags, boxes, even televisions, computers and a mattress passing. Nobody is being checked.

Back at the checkpoint an ambulance is allowed to pass after being checked. One of the truck drivers walks up to the soldiers to ask something. Guns are pointed at his head. He is allowed to approach up to one or two meter after having pulled up his shirt and with his hands in the air. This is repeated when the co-driver of the ambulance walks up to the soldiers to ask something."

After the end of the incursion into the city of Ramallah half March, Qalandia is open again during the day and people are allowed through one-by-one. People have to queue while being held at gunpoint and then called up for inspection. Israeli soldiers regularly fire warning shots to frighten off people in line, who are getting too close. During this two-week-period between the two incursions, the checkpoint closes at 18.00 o'clock. The situation remains very sense.

During the next incursion Qalandia has been completely closed for days, while limitedly opened for people living in the surrounding villages. The checkpoint is closed for vehicles except, to a very limited extent, for UN vehicles and the Red Cross. Since the last week of April, things were going back to 'normal' except for the fact that people with a West Bank identity card now need special permission from the Israeli administration to cross Qalandia checkpoint.

Observations at Qalandia checkpoint May 2, 2002: "The Qalandia checkpoint has been limitedly opened for pedestrians and occasionally and even more limited to cars and trucks over the past month. The chaos is as before. The pedestrian 'by-pass', which people used on a large scale until the month of March, was been completely closed with fences and barded wire. Nobody can 'by-pass' Qalandia anymore by using this route.

At 14.30 o'clock some trucks and a few cars are waiting in front of the checkpoints, however, not many. Most of the road is closed with barbed wire. About 50 pedestrians are waiting in two different lanes to cross from the Jerusalem side to the Ramallah side. Soldiers call when the next person can walk up to the soldiers to check the identity. They get very nervous when the people waiting come to close and more than one at a time approach them. They start shouting and waving people back before they continue their routine. Every person above the estimated age of sixteen years (who does have to carry an ID card) has to show one's ID card. Occasionally a person also has to open one's bag, and people are being shouted at. A couple of times soldiers stop checking to go the border post, while people keep waiting. The average time people on foot have to wait is about ten minutes on this side of the checkpoint. The situation at the checkpoint is relatively calm.

On the other side, to go from Ramallah to Jerusalem, the line of people waiting is much longer. At least one hundred people are waiting to pass towards the Jerusalem side. However, this is going rather 'fast', the average waiting time is an estimated ten to fifteen minutes. Four soldiers are controlling and checking pedestrians. Also on this side, everybody above the age of sixteen years and older is called to walk up to the check post to be checked, sometimes including luggage.

At 17.30 o'clock the line is still that long on the Ramallah side to go to Jerusalem, but people can pass quite 'easily'. The same procedures are in place. On the other side the line is much longer than before. An estimated 150 people are waiting. Also on this side, the soldiers still apply the same procedures."

Observations at Qalandia checkpoint May 4, 2002: "At 12 o'clock same procedures are being in place as two days before. Over 100 pedestrians are waiting to be checked to go from the Jerusalem side to the Ramallah side. The average waiting time is 20 minutes for people who cross the checkpoint on foot. At several times soldiers stop checking and take a 'break' as the people waiting in line come too close according to them. They start checking again as they feel people returned back into line again and there is enough space between the people in line and them, the soldiers checking the identity cards. After 20 minutes the remaining line consists of about 50 people. Only a limited number of cars are allowed to cross. The average waiting time for cars is difficult to estimate.

On the other side, the line of people waiting to cross from the Ramallah side to the Jerusalem side is much longer. The number is estimated at several hundreds. This is still the case at 16.30 o'clock. An estimated 500 pedestrians are waiting in line to be checked. The average waiting time is then between 45 minutes and one hour for people who pass on foot. For cars it is difficult to estimate because of complete chaos and unclear procedures. Two Armed Personnel Carriers are present at the checkpoint. Another one drives up to the checkpoint and later leaves again towards the former airport strip next to the checkpoint.

On the Jerusalem side there is no line at 17.30, only about ten people are waiting in font of the control post. Also no cars are waiting on that side at that moment."

"Bound in by red tape"
Parts of an article written by by Brian Whitaker -published in the Guardian - May 20, 2002

The only real function that Qalandiya has, so far as I can see, is to waste people's time. The soldiers look at people's identity papers but they do not check the names against a "wanted" list. They search some bags, rather cursorily, but not most of them. I have passed through eight times in the last five days with a computer case over my shoulder and nobody has ever asked to look inside. For all they knew, I was carrying a kilogram or two of Semtex. Possibly they let me through because I am a pale-faced blue-eyed foreigner, but it seems to be the same for the vast majority of Palestinians who make the crossing.

Nobody attempts to take a vehicle through the crossing unless it is absolutely essential. The quickest and surest way is to get a minibus or taxi to the checkpoint, walk through, then catch another minibus or taxi into Ramallah. Crossing on foot, people are channeled into queues between the concrete Lego bricks. There is one queue for men and another for women - or "girls" as some of the Israeli soldiers address them in Arabic.

At the front of the queue is a dusty patch of no man's land and, on the opposite side, piles of sandbags with two or three soldiers behind them checking documents. The men's queue is almost always several times longer than the women's queue, and sometimes there are shouts from one or other queue that it is not getting a fair turn.

One morning, with extraordinarily long queues, and in a heavy shower of rain, one of the two Israeli soldiers on duty disappeared from his sandbags - apparently to go to the toilet. That left just one soldier checking the documents. There were protests from the crowd and, for several minutes, all checking of documents stopped.

Often, such small incidents lead to arguments among the queuing Palestinians. Some are in a hurry and just want to get the whole tedious process over as quickly as possible, while others insist on their rights even if by doing so they add to the delays.

Cross check
Since its creation during 2001, crossing Qalandia checkpoint has become more and more dangerous and difficult, which resulted in the death and injuries of several people crossing. Every time the Israeli army imposes a curfew or invades the Palestinian city of Ramallah, this affects the checkpoint. For example, the International Checkpoint Watch (ICW) reports on June 12, 2001 between 18.00 - 20.00: "Any car who's driver does not live in Ramallah was forced to turn around and the other way around at the Ramallah site as the Israeli army imposed a curfew on Ramallah," on June 15, 2001 at 17.00: " Soldiers are not allowing any Palestinian with Jerusalem identity cards through the checkpoint," and August 9, 2001 between 17.15 - 19.15: "All cars that were turned around at the Ramallah side had green (Palestinian) plates."

Decisions often seem arbitrary with unclear security purposes. For example on December 6, 2001, ICW reports: "At 13.30 an Israeli soldier refused to allow eight female students to pass to their villages after the Qalandia checkpoint although their identity cards indicate which villages they are from. The soldier claimed that his commander told him not to let the young women through "because they are not from the Jerusalem area." Each young woman offers to have her bag searched, but the soldier refuses saying, "I cannot search 10,000 bags. I have a lot to do...I have to stand here." After ten minutes pass, the soldier walks away and stations himself at another post, leaving the women to go through at 14.30." At December 8, 2001 between 12.30 - 15.30, ICW reports "All men and women were stopped and made to show their identity cards until 13.00. Afterwards, only men had to present their identity except for some women, usually with children. They were verbally harassed for not presenting their identity card. Soldiers screamed in their faces before waving them away. From 14.30 to 14.30 all men with a West Bank identity card were denied permission to pass to Jerusalem. A group of five men for the Palestinian Ministry of Education were held for at least two hours. Each of these men had special permits from the Israeli authority, which the soldiers ignored."

Many cases are reported about harassment and endangering people's life, for example by shooting at boys throwing stones who hide behind cars waiting to be checked. Another example of this are the following observations made by Machsom Watch on November 14, 2001 between 16.05 and 17.15. Machsom Watch reports to have observed six ambulances crossing Qalandia checkpoint of which two headed to Makassed hospital in East Jerusalem. The first case was a premature baby in need of an incubator and intensive care. The time the ambulance had to wait at the checkpoint was fifteen minutes. The second case was an ambulance transporting a woman in advanced stage of labor. This one had to wait for twenty minutes before being allowed to continue towards East Jerusalem.

Ras Al-Amud

Observations at Ras Al-Amud checkpoint, March 12, 2002, 7.15 - 9.00: "Many students cross the checkpoint to go to their schools in Jerusalem. They form the majority of people passing until 8.00 am. Pedestrians are stopped by the Israeli soldiers and are asked to show their identity cards, only men are being searched. Some students under the age of 18 years are stopped and asked to open their schoolbags.

Policemen who are standing some 20 meters away from the checkpoint on the crossroad to Silwan and Jerusalem complicate the movement of vehicles. The police is stopping cars after the checkpoint.

Most people cross the checkpoint on foot and take other transportation afterwards instead of waiting in vehicles before the checkpoint. On average, there were between 35 and 50 cars in line waiting to be checked by the Israeli soldiers.

Security measures vary from one car to another. One vehicle is being stopped for some time as the driver is asked to show his identity card and to open the trunk of the car, while the next vehicle can just pass without being stopped or checked at all.

During the time of observing, several times the soldiers chat with each other and pay no attention to the long row of cars waiting. People in line start blowing the horns of their vehicles in protest. However, this does not seem to help.

Two settler' cars pass without being stopped, checked or asked about their identity papers. On the contrary, they were allowed to pass all other vehicles waiting in line.

Pedestrians are often stopped by a military jeep and asked for ID. During the observation, several of them are not allowed to pass. For example, a woman who was not allowed to cross said that she had to rent a car to take another route to be able to reach the clinic for medical treatment."

Observations at Ras Al-Amud checkpoint, March 29, 2002, 11.00 am: "Israeli soldiers search cars and check ID cards. Drivers are often forced to get out of the car and open the trunk to be searched. This process can take up to 15 minutes, and is repeated twice every hour. On average there were between 30 and 35 cars waiting in line.

At 11.30, the soldiers allow vehicles to pass without being stopped or checked. At least, ten cars cross the checkpoint without being stopped at all. Than the process of checking starts again.

Pedestrians going to the health center, opposite to the checkpoint, are not stopped or checked. Soldiers stop especially young men and women to check their identity cards and sometimes they even have their cloths searched.

Some 27 pedestrians (female and male) cross the checkpoint back and forth without being stopped at all, as soldiers are busy searching vehicles."

Observations at Ras Al-Amud checkpoint, May 6, 2002, 8.15 am: "This time, the checkpoint was not filled with cars. Over one hour and a half, the Israeli soldiers allowed yellow plate vehicles to cross the checkpoint without being searched at all.

Afterwards, the soldiers only check the ID cards of the middle-aged. Citizens from the nearby areas like Abu Dis and Al-Izzariya are not allowed to cross. An old woman with a young lady re not allowed crossing the checkpoint as they probably carried West Bank ID cards.

Observations at Ras Al-Amud checkpoint, May 8, 2002, 7.45-8.45: "Since early hours, the Israeli soldiers have been searching the ID cards and vehicles of all people passing very carefully. The row of vehicles is long and slow. Drivers are asked to open the trunk to be searched. The suicide bombing that took place last night in 'Ritchon Litceon' is probably a reason for these procedures.

A number of pedestrians carrying West Bank ID cards are not been allowed to pass. Their names are being registered."

Cross check
There are few reports to cross check the observations at the Ras Al-Amud checkpoint. This checkpoint has not been the focus of the ICW or Machsom Watch as it is normally relatively calm compared to Bethlehem, Ram, or Qalandia. On April 24 2002, Marchsom Watch reports "Soldiers check cars going into Jerusalem only. It takes about 30 to 40 minutes on average to cross the checkpoint by car as the soldiers keep writing the names of the people in the cars on a form. Pedestrians are not being checked at any direction." "There is only one soldier at the checkpoint as two others left to go and do something. As he is not allowed to work alone, he closed the checkpoint while a long line of drivers is waiting. They have been waiting there for about one hour. After the other two soldiers returned, the checkpoint opened again. Some cars are being checked thoroughly, while others pass without inspection," reports Marchsom Watch on May 9, 2002.

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