Ar-Ram, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Rafat (Bir Nabala), Sun 23.3.08, Afternoon
A-Ram CP: Impressive presence of soldiers and civilian security
personnel. Absence of Palestinians.
16:09 Qalandiya: About 50 people were waiting before the northern carousel and we could see through the fence that lines in the two interior passageways that were operating were full. We had just arrived
and begun to sniff out what was happening when suddenly another passageway was opened and the whole crowd at the northern entrance flowed into the CP.
Examining the notices pasted on the CP walls we found one announcing the opening of a post office in Kufr Aqeb. (As I wrote this down in my notebook, a suspicious soldier shouted at me over the PA system:
"What are you writing?")
16:14: Approximately 25 people were waiting in each of the CP lines. The carousels were
allowing three people at a time to enter the examination area. No one else was allowed to enter until the first three had left. It took an average of 3 minutes to check the papers of each threesome.
We joined the lines and passed through the CP to get to the vehicle checkpoint. Traffic was moving as usual with no particular disruptions. From afar we could that there was a long line of cars at Atarot CP,
but the line more or less disappeared within 10 minutes.
16:40: Returning to the pedestrian passages, we found that only two were operating and that the northern entrance was once again closed. We clocked the waiting time before the northern entrance at 10 minutes with an additional ten minutes wait to enter Passageway No.1, for a total waiting time of ca.
20 minutes in the CP. But just about then, the computer in Passageway No. 2 fell and the people in line continued to wait about 30 minutes in the heat and crowded conditions without receiving any explanation
for the delay. (Why wasn't the PA system used to tell them?) After several phone calls to the "Humanitarian Hotline" (where we were told that that they weren't interested, because of the closure which precluded passage of Palestinians holding green P.A. ID cards, and wouldn't get involved for those holding blue Israeli ID cards) and to CP headquarters, a third line was opened and then the computer in Passageway No. 4 revived, so three lines were operating.
In general, the closure appeared to be enforced selectively because I myself saw people with green ID cards and permits allowed to pass. A man who had not been allowed through approached me. He claimed that he had been allowed through the CP in the morning and only now in the afternoon had been denied entry.
He complained that the soldiers generally treated Palestinians in an insulting manner, especially so when the soldiers were female.
18:00: Bir Nabala: A long line of 29 vehicles was waiting. Our guest and I got out of the car and walked down the line counting. We stationed ourselves opposite the soldiers. The line began to move a bit faster.
We discovered that people whose ID cards stated their place of residence as Hebron and Nablus were not being allowed to enter Bir Nabala. (Tamar quoted one CP soldier describing the above as "a dumb order":
everyone knows that many people from Hebron and Nablus have moved into Bir Nabala where rents have dropped dramatically because the original residents abandoned the town after it was encircled by the Wall.)
Drivers on their way to Ramallah complained to us that lines at this CP are generally much longer and that conditions only improved when observers from MachsomWatch were present. There were 25 vehicles
waiting in line when we left.
17:20: Lil: There were no lines and traffic was moving unimpeded.
19:43: Hizmeh: A Red Crescent Ambulance had been waiting 40 minutes to take a woman from
Hizmeh village to give birth in Mukassad Hospital in Jerusalem. Dalia Bassa (the IDF officer coordinating such problems) said that the woman didn't have a permit. It turned out that the woman (mother of two with contractions every three minutes whose amniotic sack had broken), lying in her husband's car not 10 meters from the ambulance, was not allowed to transfer to the ambulance in spite of the fact that the three crew members swore that they had the skills and the equipment necessary to deliver the baby safely in their vehicle.
We began making telephone calls and that seemed to do the trick – the woman was shortly allowed to transfer to the ambulance. But then Yael S. (MW coordinator for hospitalization) told us that the woman had requested permission a week ago to give birth in Jerusalem and had been told that the "Shabak" (Israel's General Security Forces) had refused permission and that, since there were no medical complications, she would have to give birth at one of the hospitals in Ramallah (a 30-40 minute drive over bumpy roads from her home). (Yael suggested that we get the husband's version of the story but we failed to do so.)
In spite of the fact that the ambulance crew recommended that the husband transfer his wife to the Ramallah hospital in a Palestinian ambulance, in view of the practical certainty that she would give birth en route,
he refused to do so and decided to take her to Ramallah in his own car.
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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 FleishmanApr-16-2025Qalandiya: summer fruit
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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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