WaPo: Checkpoint misery epitomizes a Mideast divide
February 25th, 2010 • Awareness, News
Washington Post from the Qalandia crossing:
The journey to Jerusalem, for tens of thousands of Palestinians, 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 through loudspeakers. They 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.
