Ar-Ram, Hizma, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Sun 15.9.13, Afternoon
Translation: Ruth Fleishman
Qalandiya:
The area along the fence separating the vehicle checkpoint from the Palestinian parking lot is called a "soft spot". 
It is forbidden to stand by the fence or touch it, and it is certainly forbidden to take a picture of it or from it. And so, no one stands near it, no one touches it and no one takes pictures through it. That is to say, no Palestinian would do that. I would. And when I stand there with or without a camera, the top of the tower awakens and yells: ""إلى الوراء, or "Go Back", or "לא לעמוד שם". And the security guards join the tower with a "ho, ho, ho! No cameras" and wave their arms while the soldiers watch with a sourpuss face. 
When I think about the IDF's logic standing behind this prohibition, and what is it that makes that spot so soft, it occurs to me that perhaps they worry that someone might see exactly how the inspection of the vehicles is preformed and exploit the routine, or maybe they just don't want people watching them without their having complete control of the watcher, and maybe they fear someone would shoot at them from behind the fence and disappear? But in the equation of the killed and injured the soldiers have the upper hand, and if they are driven by fear, why didn't they build another eight meter concrete wall? Because today anyone that surrounds another people with fences and imprisons them, is himself imprisoned and fenced inside, telling himself stories that convince him that he is protected from others.
Ar-Ram:
An armored police vehicle arrived at the military gate in the wall bordering with Qalandiya from the inside of the Ar-Ram ghetto. On the back seat, pressed between two PB policemen was a young man whose head was looking down and pressing on the front seat. They sat like that for some minutes, until the gate opened and the vehicle and its passengers disappeared inside.
A laborer that was hunted down without a permit to be in Jerusalem? A detainee being brought for interrogation at the GSS?
Jaba Checkpoint:
Six BP officers, three on each side of the checkpoint pulled cars over, they verified the driver's identity with the one printed on his license and on the police computer, and the vehicle's license with the number on the shield.
"What are you looking for?" – "Weapons and other stuff…". There didn't seem to be a pattern with which they chose what cars they pulled over, not the color of the vehicle, the age of the drivers nor the age of the vehicle itself. It appeared that they didn't really know what were the "other stuff". What was clear was that as a result of their activity there were long lines on bother directions and the privacy and time of the drivers who had been picked, was taken from them.
Hizme Checkpoit:
On the side of the checkpoint the back to back procedure was being performed between two ambulances. The soldier that didn't inspect us because he could see by our faces that we were not Palestinians, said that a casualty from a motorcycle accident was being transferred. When we asked where they were taking him he pointed at the direction of Jerusalem and said: "over to us, we are humane, are we not?" sure we are.
A-Ram
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two kilometers south of Qalandiya and 300 metres north of Neve Yaacov Junction, in Dahiyat el-Barid Quarter. Checkpoint has operated since 1991, in a Palestinian area annexed to Jerusalem in 1967. The checkpoint has been inactive since the middle of 2009.
The wall was built on the road that led to Jerusalem. Since then the situation in the town has deteriorated. Houses are abandoned and half finished, most of the businesses have closed. Severe neglect around the fence and on the streets. Those who could left. Updated January 2024
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Hizma
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Hizma
A checkpoint at the north-eastern entrance to the Jerusalem area which was annexed in 1967, at Pisgat Zeev. The passage is allowed to bearers of blue IDs only. Open 24 hours a day.
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Jaba' (Lil)
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Jaba' (Lil) In fact, the Jaba checkpoint is east of the Qalandiya checkpoint. Its declared purpose is the prevention of Israeli citizens from entering Area A. A road checkpoint for vehicles, located on Road 65, borders the southern fence of Kfar Jaba, about three kilometers east of the Qalandiya checkpoint, on the road leading to the settlement of Adam on Road 60. Archaeological excavations within the village found the remains of a cloth house from the First Temple period. The events that led to the construction of the checkpoint are precisely here: on the day of the abduction of Gilad Shalit and before the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War, a 17-year-old man from one of the settlements was abducted by a Palestinian cell. His body was found several days later at the entrances to Ramallah. A military investigation revealed that his abductors had taken him along this route. The checkpoint was set up to prevent future kidnappings and to warn settlers from traveling to Ramallah and entering Area A (which is forbidden for Israelis). The checkpoint that operates around the clock. Usually only vehicles traveling in the direction of Ramallah are inspected. (November 2016): Every morning, when the settlers en masse travel to Jerusalem on Route 60 and every afternoon they return from Jerusalem on Route 60, the army initiates a traffic jam at the entrance to the Jaba checkpoint and stops the movement of Palestinians traveling toward Route 60. (February 2020): In the last two years the checkpoint has not always been manned. Sometimes the soldiers come and just stand, sometimes they come and stop and check those who enter the village, sometimes they patrol the alleys of the village, sometimes they fire stun grenades and gas and sometimes they invade houses and stop young people, say those passing through the Hazma checkpoint. (Updated February 2020)
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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 FleishmanJul-21-2026Qalandiya. Conversation in the shadow of the wall
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