No Men Allowed: A Daughter, a Mother and a Heap of Papers at Qalandiya

By Tamar Fleishman

I considered all of those sufferers who’ve died throughout checkpoints and partitions, with out saying goodbye to their family members. 

The Palestinian lady was on a stretcher. 

She appeared helpless, immobile, lined by blankets as much as her neck.

Her entire physique was strapped to the previous stretcher. She appeared disconnected from her environment – an sickness that’s consuming her physique inside, and armed Israeli troopers barking orders and denying her freedom outdoors. 

This was the scene on the Qalandiya navy checkpoint, separating Ramallah from Jerusalem. 

I saved taking a look at her. “It is a most cancers affected person,” the Palestinian paramedic instructed me. 

It was a extremely popular day. The solar was cruel. However the lady’s face appeared so pale, as if it was carved in ice. 

The affected person’s mom slowly approached the Israeli troopers to indicate them the IDs and the transit paperwork she had rigorously ready. 

She intuitively opened her luggage, to show to the troopers that neither she, nor her daughter had been carrying something ‘harmful’.

At Qalandiya,nobody is spared the lengthy wait, the humiliation or the unreasonable expectations of the navy, not even terminally ailing sufferers, determined to succeed in a hospital past Israel’s apartheid wall. 

And solely females are allowed to accompany sick members of the family. Fathers, husbands and brothers are merely not allowed, as a result of Israel’s so-called ‘safety’ system perceives each Palestinian male as a ‘terrorist’ or, at finest, a possible ‘terrorist.’ 

I considered all of those sufferers who’ve died throughout checkpoints and partitions, with out saying goodbye to their family members. 

That is racism at work. 

The previous mom continued to nervously produce but extra papers, whereas her daughter remained on the stretcher as her destiny was being decided by younger Israeli troopers with weapons. 

(Translated by Tal Haran. Edited by Palestine Chronicle Workers)

– As a member of Machsomwatch, Tamar Fleishman paperwork occasions at Israeli navy checkpoints between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Her reviews, photographs and movies may be discovered on the group’s web site: www.machsomwatch.org. She can also be a member of the ‘Coalition of Girls for Peace’ and a volunteer in ‘Breaking the Silence’. Tamar Fleishman is The Palestine Chronicle correspondent on the Qalandiya checkpoint.