Qalandiya - The Ramadan effect?
The checkpoint was all but empty when we arrived at 5:30. All five checking stations were open and all newcomers moved directly through the open turnstile at the end of one of the cages. The situation remained thus throughout the morning. At 6:10 a DCO officer arrived with a number of security guards but did not open the Humanitarian Gate as there was no need to do so. He remained until 6:45.
At one point we were approached by two men, one with a camera. They introduced themselves as coming from Istanbul and had wanted to take photos of the situation at the checkpoint, asking us why it was essentially empty today. They further told us that some elderly gentlemen, waiting to enter without a permit at 8 o’clock (although there were no lines at the checkpoint), ascribed the free moment through the cages to our presence! Blessed be the believer: If only we could take credit for a checkpoint operating smoothly.
At 6:45 we went through the security check in about ten minutes because there was a minor problem with the x-ray machine. A security guard came into the sleeve because he saw a woman there with an infant and a stroller and opened the gate there, allowing her and the women accompanying her, to avoid the turnstile. The last of those women, however, who was going through without a permit by virtue of being over 50, was turned back not because she had come too early (that is, before 8 a.m.) but because she was blacklisted. She seemed thoroughly nonplussed about being so defined but, for lack of choice, immediately came back through the still-open gate. Lord only knows what a woman of her age had done to deserve that classification. She apparently didn’t.
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-16-2026Qalandiya CP: shortcut
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