‘Atara, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Tue 22.1.13, Afternoon
Translating: Ruth Fleishman
Qalandiya:
Inside the shop of the employer of Ahmed from the Falafel stand, people were waiting to hear our advice regarding the trial that is to take place on February the 12th.
Ahmed's father had been murdered by soldiers during the first Intifada and people from the community are taking responsibility over his fate.
"Today there are no laborers", a friend said when asked if there was a closure.
Closures are bad for the many work cycles surrounding the checkpoint: the laborers lose a day of work, when there are no laborers there is no one to by the coffee or the sweets which they purchase upon returning from work for their children, and even the cab drivers are left idle.
Jaba:
Three soldiers laid a chain of spikes on the lane opposite to the checkpoint. Two stood aside and guarded while their friend stopped vehicles and checked the drivers' IDs.
We couldn't create a model basaed on the cars the soldier decided to stop, and when we asked about the reason that the direction of the checkpoint was reversed the commander replayed: "because that's how we want it".
– How on earth could we have thought that their action have any logic aside of arbitrariness?
Atara/ Bir Zeit:
On the western side of the checkpoint, between the road and the fallow field, coils of new barbed wire were laid.
Out of the shielded building came a soldier. After satisfying his curiosity regarding who we were and why, he explained about the importance of the post for the security of the country, he said that the soldiers' job was to prevent the Palestinian children from throwing stones at the Jewish vehicles passing on the road: "Their children (the Palestinians' children)", he said"are bored, they don't have any televisions of play stations like our kids, so they come here and throw stones…"
No, he hadn't been to Palestinian homes and hadn't seen this with his own eyes, but that's what the commanders said at the briefing. He also said he had already voted, that a mobile ballot passed between all the pillboxes in the area, because the four soldiers that are posted in any pillbox remain there for four days and have shifts of 3X6 (3= hours of observations, 6=hours of rest or sleep).
In light of the pressure they are under, the density of their quarters, the boredom, the constant fear and the fact that the other, the Palestinian, is in the eyes of the soldiers sub-humans, is it any wonder that the soldiers lose their humanity and take their aggression out by assaulting helpless people?
'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 FleishmanMay-13-2025Qalandiya: Back-to-back procedure for transferring patients
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