Qalandiya – youngsters find a way to cross the wall
My heart throbbed at the sight of these lively youngsters seeking livelihood who lowered themselves to the other side of the wall.
On my way in, I met two security guards who just got back from months of reserves duty in the Border Police. They gladly showed me the new patch they had on their uniform, that unites the Israeli and the Druze flags.
We stood and had a profound talk about the rights of minorities in general, and those of the Druze in particular.
Here’s a bit of the lot I heard on the other side of the apartheid wall:
- If a missile falls on Netanyahu’s head and kills him this will be good for you and for us.
- Ben Gvir mixes you up and fucks up Al Aqsa (Temple Mount) for us.
Acquaintances said that on Saturday night representatives of the Jerusalem municipality raided the vendors who offer their wares to passengers on the road from Ramallah to Jerusalem, and confiscated wares from their owners. “They took goods from me that cost over a thousand shekels”, told me an old acquaintance from Bani Naim. “They were still hanging out here with police and security guards until 11 p.m.”. As if that was not enough, the law people also laid on every one of the robbed vendors a fine of 475 shekels.
With or without connection to these ill-wishers, the young vendors – children and boys – distanced themselves from the disastrous site and congregated about 200 meters away, under a huge advertisement planted in the main roadside from Ramallah, and made up a kind of youth ‘parliament’. Some of them whom I know called out to me. I came. There were both acquaintances and new kids there. Knowledge passed from one to the other that I was photographing and would bring them their pictures the next time we meet. Dina, a 9-year-old who lives in Qalqilia and has almond-shaped eyes came to me hesitatingly and asked me to take her picture. I did. One of the kids whispered something in her ear. She raised her head and asked, Are you Jewish? -Yes, I answered. Are you Jewish? she repeated. And I answered yes once more.
Dina looked amazed, like someone who for the first time in their life had seen a Jew who was not threatening but smiling, touching, speaking to her as a person, a Jew without a gun. When we said goodbye, she handed me a fig.
I couldn’t help thinkibg about Moishele.
Location Description
Qalandiya Checkpoint / Atarot Pass (Jerusalem)
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Click here to watch a video from Qalandiya checkpoint up to mid 2019 Three kilometers south of Ramallah, in the heart of Palestinian population. Integrates into "Jerusalem Envelope" as part of Wall that separates between northern suburbs that were annexed to Jerusalem in 1967: Kafr Aqab, Semiramis and Qalandiya, and the villages of Ar-Ram and Bir Nabala, also north of Jerusalem, and the city itself. Some residents of Kafr Aqab, Semiramis and Qalandiya have Jerusalem ID cards. A terminal operated by Israel Police has functioned since early 2006. As of August 2006, northbound pedestrians are not checked. Southbound Palestinians must carry Jerusalem IDs; holders of Palestinian Authority IDs cannot pass without special permits. Vehicular traffic from Ramallah to other West Bank areas runs to the north of Qalandiya. In February 2019, the new facility of the checkpoint was inaugurated aiming to make it like a "border crossing". The bars and barbed wire fences were replaced with walls of perforated metal panels. The check is now performed at multiple stations for face recognition and the transfer of an e-card. The rate of passage has improved and its density has generally decreased, but lack of manpower and malfunctions cause periods of stress. The development and paving of the roads has not yet been completed, the traffic of cars and pedestrians is dangerous, and t the entire vicinity of the checkpoint is filthy. In 2020 a huge pedestrian bridge was built over the vehicle crossing with severe mobility restrictions (steep stairs, long and winding route). The pedestrian access from public transport to the checkpoint from the north (Ramallah direction) is unclear, and there have been cases of people, especially people with disabilities, who accidentally reached the vehicle crossing and were shot by the soldiers at the checkpoint. In the summer of 2021, work began on a new, sunken entrance road from Qalandiya that will lead directly to Road 443 towards Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. At the same time, the runways of the old Atarot airport were demolished and infrastructure was prepared for a large bus terminal. (updated October 2021)
Tamar FleishmanFeb-27-2026Qalandiya: On the way to prayer
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