Qalandiya
Qalandiya Checkpoint is a bloody checkpoint.
One shot turned the beggar-woman into a terrorist.
Day after day, for years, the woman used to sit on the concrete slab at the entrance of the checkpoint (next to which are placed the tissue packets sold by the child) and held her hand out for alms.
On Monday, February 27, 2017, the soldiers shot her in the leg and wounded her.
She was not going anywhere, nor approaching the soldiers’ post – said an eye-witness who, with another young man, dragged her back and made sure she was sent for medical care.
The old woman was not only not going anywhere, she could hardly walk because of being overweight and diabetic.
But the facts didn’t keep the army spokesperson from announcing that:
“When she did not respond to the security officials warning her to halt, warning shots were fired in the air, and she did not respond to that, she was shot in the leg.”
And also: ”At Qalandiya Checkpoint, a woman terrorist was neutralized, apparently after an attempted stabbing.”
Since Monday the old beggar-woman is no longer sitting on the concrete slab at the entrance to the checkpoint, nor holding her hand out for alms.
- Thanks to Yael Arava who forwarded me the army spokesperson’s releases from her important archive.
The horror of it was not the half-hour that passed between the moment the ambulance from the West Bank carrying the patient reached the checkpoint and the moment the East Jerusalem ambulance left with the patient to continue her journey.
The horror was not even the fact that the back-to-back procedure was carried out under so many pointed rifles. Nor even the fact that the patient’s mother, instead of standing next to her daughter, holding her hand and stroking her head, was required to move away from her and exhibit the contents of the bags she brought along for both of them.
The horror was the blood-curdling scream of the patient as she was moved between the two stretchers.
She was sent to Muqassad Hospital (East Jerusalem) because of the exacerbation of her pressure sores caused by a long period in bed, so that the slightest movement was like a blow to raw flesh.
At least this, the horrific suffering caused by this superfluous transfer between stretchers at the checkpoint, she could have been spared had the authorities allowed the West Bank ambulances to drive through directly to East Jerusalem.
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 FleishmanOct-11-2026Qalandiya. Female Beggar
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