Ar-Ram, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Sun 16.11.08, Afternoon
There were 18 vehicles waiting
at the exit of the checkpoint.
The constructions at Dayat
El Barid neighborhood are being done fast, at the end of it this neighborhood
with be separated from Ar-Ram, and become an enclave. The residents
are now just "getting used to it" (an expression I once heard
from one of the commanders of the checkpoint about the new procedures
that will take place).
– We drove along the wall from
the Palestinian side of it. Irit who hadn't been there for a while and
Nur, who hasn't even been there before, were amazed and outraged.
We headed on to the village
Qalandia to see if the court decision regarding the opening of the village
to the direction of Atarot has changed anything (a couple of months
ago it had taken favor of the village in its decision).
The way leading to the village
is by the checkpoint, a distance that shouldn't take along time to cross,
but because of the wall you must now drive 5 km of bad roads.
The road to the village led
us to the conclusion that the occupation has also changed the most basic
laws of geometrics, and can sometimes find more then one line straight
line passing through two dots.
We weren't surprised to find
out that nothing has changed and that the gate to the village remained
locked.
Qalandia checkpoint:
Before entering the checkpoint
we went along a path by the wall. New graffitis were on the walls, we
had never seen them before.
–Perhaps this is the Palestinians
only way to express themselves, their feelings and their protest regarding
their reality, their feelings towards the occupier and the outcry that
isn't heard and echoes though the world.
It's important to document
and spread these testimonies.
16:20- At the entrance to the
checkpoint we stop and chatted with the coffee salesman who we
know, he told us about the difficulty that doctors are now confronted
with, each morning since a new regulation had been decided on, according
to which the entrance to Jerusalem is only permitted through Qalandia.
Mahmud told us that doctor and medical employees have to wait together
with lots of other people for their turn to pass, as of very early in
the morning. On that say (Sunday) the situation was especially hard
since there were 14 buss filled with Christian celebrators who were
heading to Lod.
In spite of the fact that there
were three open lanes the lines didn't move. Every couple of minutes
we were informed through the loudspeaker that one of the lanes had closed
and that they must move to a different lane: Those standing at the end
of the line were no at the beginning and those at the beginning were
now the last ones. And before anyone passed there was another notification:
this lane will now also close, and they all had to move to a different
lane. People ran about in that mouse trap from one lane to the other
and then back again.
16:50- A new announcement was
made: those with blue IDs were told to move to lane number 5, so people
started running again and the line began at it ending, but those who
had managed to make it and stand before the soldier at the counter was
told he had to go back: "Only those without bags can pass here",
the soldier yelled at them. A middle aged man who was in a hurry to
get to his work place at the American consulship had some cards in his
hands, a cell phone and his keys home, he was sent back because of his
phone and keys since the x-ray machine wasn't working and the metal
detector kept bipping. When he got back to lane number 4 he was rebuked,
after all he had a blue ID: "Only people with IDs from the occupied
territories can pass here!" and he was sent back again. He passed
this process four times, waiting in line, receiving a refusal and going
back again.
Irit managed to have a word
with the commander, Abuhatzera, who referred us to his deputy, Eli,
who said he was looking into it. Mahadi, the commander of the passage
until was also looking into it, and the person from the operation room
of the area who answered our call, she promised that a DCL representative
would soon arrive there (he didn't arrive). Nur manage miraculously
to talk to the soldier at the front counter, he told her that all of
this was a result of the fact that they were waiting for a visit from
the regiment commander, but Mahadi said that it all happened because
their computers were down…
- The actual reason
was meaningless, to the Palestinians and to us. We could see what the
situation was. This all went on from more then an hour, people were
asking (as were we): "How could a person with a blue ID and
a bag pass?" (catch 22)
While running from one
lane to the other people kept saying to us: "isn't this abuse?
Is this any way to treat a human being? – we were left speechless.
One of the things that amazed
us was that the Palestinians managed to maintain their sense of humor
in spit of their despair and anger. As the Jews were while at the Diaspora,
just like my grandfather told me that humor was a remedy for the sold
and its fuel as well. How things change.
17:30- It was as if a divine
creature worked its magic and the pressure was dissolved, only few were
left in line.
We once again were puzzled
about the categorization of the place as a "border passage".
– Israel that boasts itself
for being a progressive country and sees itself as a worthy society
among western world countries, has created this "boarder passage"
which is a unique phenomenon even in third world coutries.
Leel/ Geva checkpoint
18:15- The road was fixed,
according to the soldiers they fixed it because the bad road caused
the traffic to slow. But a couple of months ago that was exactly the
reason they gave us for why they had damaged the road. We didn't try
to find the sense in the army's answers or actions.
On the other side of the checkpoint,
from east to west was a large ridge on the road, about 15 meters before
the checkpoint.
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-12-2026Qalandiya. Abdallah at his fruit stand
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