Atara, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Sun 26.10.08, Afternoon
15:30: Atara. On arriving at Atara we saw a line of about 20 vehicles winding its way to the top of the hill from the direction of Bir Zeit. There were no lines into the intersection from other directions. The vehicles were moving slowly but steadily up the hill because the soldiers manning the barrier, all 6 of them, were busy joking and fooling around and showed no real interest in what was happening around them. We could hear loud music coming from the MP player of the soldier sitting in the concrete watchtower near the intersection. We assume that he will be deaf pretty soon if we could hear his songs together with him while standing one floor below him. We spent about 40 minutes at Atara during which time the traffic continued to flow with almost no interruption.
16:30: Qalandiya. A group of 5 Palestinian men approached us in the parking lot to complain about the terribly crowded conditions in the mornings as hundreds (thousands?) of people desperately try to pass through on their way to work. They told us that there had been many problems on Sunday morning. They also complained that after waiting for hours they had been turned away from the DCO offices and sent home with instructions to return the next day.
Two passageways remained open during the length of our shift (until 17:30), with the exception of several short breaks. Contrary to the report of the MW team on Sunday morning, the two passageways served both Palestinians and Jerusalem residents. Lines were not long and there was no line in the northern entry shed. The northern carousels remained open all the time and were not locked.
A little before 5 PM we met a man from Nablus who was denied entry to Jerusalem because he had no permit. The man, who was 70 years old and whose son was imprisoned in Israel, did hold a permit to visit his son in jail and was on his way to meet a lawyer in Jerusalem. We phoned the DCO and asked them to send the DCO representative to deal with the problem. An officer called Kabalan appeared after a fifteen minute wait and spoke to the man. He explained that he had to request a permit which, he assured him, would be granted with no problems, and that then the man would be able to go to Jerusalem. The man accepted the explanation and returned to Nablus.
17:00: We passed through the pedestrian CP on our way to the vehicle CP. From afar we could see that the line of vehicles at the internal (Jeruslaem) Atarot CP reached as far as the horizon. At the Qalandiya CP traffic into Jerusalem was moving with no special problems but the traffic to Ramallah was continually held up by 3 policemen who were selectively examining the papers of vehicles and drivers. (The policemen also tried to chase us from our observation point by the fence, telling us, to no avail, that this was a "sterile area"!) As a result of the delays caused by the policemen, the line of cars going to Ramallah lengthened until it went all around the square and back down the road to Atarot (where, as we said, the line continued on back to the horizon and beyond). It seemed to us that the police would stop their examination of papers when they realized that the line had grown too long and the truck drivers began to honk impatiently, so we concluded that their role served mainly as an irritation. We can no longer see the length of the line of vehicles approaching Qalandiya from Ramallah because the road is now hidden from view by the concrete blocks erected during the Ramadan.
17:30: We returned to the pedestrian CP and saw that the lines remained short and passage was relatively rapid. We left Qalandiya on our way to Lil.
17:40: Traffic at Lil was flowing freely but we saw that 7 young detainees were standing in the CP next to their transit bus. Before the soldiers managed to shoo us away, the men told us that they were being detained because one of them had a problem with his papers. After waiting one-half hour in the cold and dark (and who knows how long they waited before we arrived), 6 of the men were released and drove off leaving their friend behind.
'Atara
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'Atara Checkpoint
Situated at the northern entrance to Ramallah from Route 465, called also Bir Zeit Checkpoint. Nowadays only remains of what used to be a busy checkpoint remain, a pillbox and concrete blocks.
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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-26-2026Qalandiya. Things you see on the way
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