Ar-Ram, Qalandiya, Wed 19.3.08, Afternoon
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complete and no permits are accepted.
A-Ram. 15.40 A policeman and woman
are preparing the lane. There are about 20 cars in the direction of A-Ram. They
go through on dirt roads.
Qalandiya. At 16.00 At the circle an ambulance has been waiting
more than half an hour for an ambulance coming from Mukasad hospital. A heart
patience is being brought who has no one accompanying him. His brother
complained about the long wait and this after all the coordination. At 16.15
the ambulance arrives from the Israeli side and the patient was transferred
back to back. At the pedestrian corrsing the soldier who speaks Arabic shows
interest in all who are going through. A man who has been released today from
the hospital in Ramallah and is accompanied by a volunteer. The man lives in Gaza and wants to go
home. He has a permit from the hospital and a permit to enter Israel. He has
two big bags. His volunteer is freed but the man is not allowed through and we
also become involved with trying to get his bags through the turnstile. We
speak to Hanah Barag. The Gazan is sent to take a taxi through Wadi Nar to
Tarkumiah. The taxi driver said it was hopeless but he would try his best. At
17.00 the van was still in the parking area.
30 people are in the first turnstile and
we make two calls to Abu Hazeirah who says we should take a deep breath as the
matter is being dealt with. By 17.17 there are about 40-50 workers and two
checking areas are open.
In the car area 2 security guards come to
take away a Palestinian who is wandering from one turnstile to another. 3 boys
turn to them with sign language. They ask for the lines to be shortened and
when they show their birth certificates the policeman opens a gate especially
for them . He says that they take the children's' problems into account. I
asked that the other 50 should also be taken into consideration but did not get
a reply. ]
A father with a 5 year old boy says that
the child has to have an operation the next day on his hand at the hospital
Mukasad. The father has a permit and also a letter from the hospital but he
cannot pass because the closure is complete. We speak to the humanitarian
centre and Gali makes enquiries and Yael S. also tries through the health
centre but the doctors' papers are not satisfactory. The boy will have to wait.
At 17.40 3 turnstiles were opened but
there are still only 2 inside and the lines are long.. We made a note of a man
who has a paper saying "police refused" and he says his son was
arrested ion Saturday. The boy is 14 years old and had been arrested at
Qalandiya for throwing stones and the family do not know where he is. It seems
he is at Ofer and the lawyer has asked for a sum which the man cannot pay. We
told him to approach the Organisation for Human Rights.
At 18.00 there are still 25 people at the
first turnstile.
A man who suffers from his heart has come
to Qalandiya . We left the father and the sick child sitting on a bench and
Yael to deal with the matter and the other man still looking for his son. The
next day the connection with the father and child continues but although Yael
tried bureaucracy won. Why should a person who has a letter from a hospital
pass when there is a three day closure. Or as been said there is no connection
between medical treatment and security consideration. And no one must tell me
that there is a security reason why there should be such an abuse of people. We
dehumanize the Palestinians but this shows our own terrible dehumanization.
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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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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