Ar-Ram, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Rafat (Bir Nabala), Sun 1.6.08, Afternoon
15:30 A-Ram CP: One pedestrian and a small number of cars were at the checkpoint.
(photo above: watermelon break)
15:45 Qalandiya: Two passageways, 1 and 4, were open. There were very few people in the CP at this hour and no one at all was waiting in the DCO shed.
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16:10 Vehicle CP: The CP was working as usual. The "Canine Patrol" (employees of a private company called K9) were not present. Instead, a detachment of IDF photographers was taking pictures of the scene (perhaps the presence of photographers generated a more relaxed atmosphere?).
16:40: From the distance we could see that the line of vehicles at Atarot CP was very long, reaching as far as the horizon.
On our return to the pedestrian CP we saw that one of the female soldiers on duty in Passageway No. 1 was quite tired and had draped herself across two chairs while playing with her cigarette lighter, desultorily trying to ignite her computer screen. Just as we took her picture, she turned around and discovered that her behavior had been recorded. Naturally she ordered us to give her the camera. We refused the order and telephoned her commanding officer. Following another call to him, Hanan asked us the name of the soldier but we could not give it as the soldier was not wearing a name tag. When the soldier realized what was happening she quickly pulled her name tag out of her backpack and put it on. Which is how we found out that all the soldiers have name tags that they are supposed to wear and that the soldier's name was Noa. At this point a policeman called Ron C. arrived at the post. After questioning us about what had happened he sent us on our way with the camera in tact.
17:00 We emerged into the northern entrance to Qalandiya CP and found a crowd of 40 waiting outside the first carousel. The two open passageways, 1 and 4, were full and working very slowly. We phoned the humanitarian hotline and the CP headquarters and waited until we saw that things were beginning to move.
17:25 Rafat (Bir Nabala): We were still quite far from the CP when drivers coming towards us stopped us to say that things were bad and that the CP was closed. When we arrived we found a line of 32 vehicles. An officer on patrol stopped to tell us that the length of the line was the result of an "incident" that had caused closure of the CP (he did not provide details), but that now that the incident had been resolved the CP was open once again. He proved to be right – the soldiers waved the vehicles through very quickly. Entry to Bir Nabala was open to all.
17:45 Qalandiya Village: We met the Mukhtar of the village who told us that he expected shortly to hear the decision of Israel's Supreme Court on the village's appeal for a gate in the Wall. From his house at the edge of the village we could see that the line of vehicles at the
Atarot CP (several yards away) was still quite long and tedious.
18:15: We returned to Rafat CP and found that the line was stable at 10-12 cars. At any one time there was always one minibus pulled over at the side of the road while the soldiers inspected the ID cards of its passengers. When they sent one minibus on its way, the soldiers would immediately detain another.
19:20 Lil CP: The line of cars waiting to pass was constant at 10.
On the way to Hizmeh we got stuck in a giant traffic jam. At the entrance to Hizmeh Village we discovered that the jam was the result of a horrible collision.
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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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 FleishmanNov-30-2025Qalandiya: Puddles and dirt after the rain
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Rafat (Bir Nabala)
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Rafat (Bir Nabala) With the completion of the Bir Nabala enclave, which includes also Al Jib, Al Judeira and Beit Hanina al Balad, a checkpoint was put at enclave exit. The passage into the enclave is allowed only to the enclave inhabitants and to Ramallah District people.
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