‘Atarot, Ar-Ram, Jaba (Lil), Qalandiya, Mon 1.12.08, Afternoon
We drove to Qalandiya via A Ram CP. We saw no detainees at the
CP. We continued along the Israeli side of the Wall to Atarot
CP. We took the road to Givat Ze'ev and passed 42 vehicles waiting
in line at Atarot. On our return we were vehicle number 50.
It took us 15 minutes to pass the CP. We continued to Qalandiya.
15:45 Qalandiya:
Two passageways were operating, one with a long line and the other one
empty. There was no line in the northern shed. We quickly
learned that one line was for blue ID holders and the other for green
IDs only. The line of Jerusalem residents was very long.
We phoned Mahdi who didn't answer, so we called Daniel who said he would
look into what was going on. Although he didn't call back,
procedures changed very quickly and blue ID holders were soon passing
through the CP on both lines.
We also went through and out to the vehicle
CP. There were no lines at Qalandiya but we could see in the distance
that the lines at Atarot CP had not grown any shorter.
16:00: Back in the pedestrian
CP, both passageways were working but the flow of people had increased
and at this hour about 20 were waiting in each passageway and another
20 were waiting at the carousel in the northern shed. After a
short time the number of people waiting decreased and the lines moved
faster.
16:30: We decided to look
into a report from last week concerning a surprise CP on the road to
Bir Naballah. On Monday afternoon the road to Bir Naballah was
free and there were no CPs on the road. We returned to Jerusalem
via Lil CP, where traffic was flowing, and Hizmeh CP, where the traffic
was backed up to the entrance to the village. There didn't seem
to be any particular reason for the traffic jam as soldiers were acting
as usual.
Because it was still quite early, we
decided to pay our respects to the Kurd family who were sitting in a
mourning tent near their former home in the Sheikh Gerach neighborhood.
Many neighbors and children were visiting the mourning tent but "Um
Kamel" invited us to join her and told us what the settlers, with
the approval of Israel's justice system, had done to her and her family,
evicting them from their home and causing the death of her husband,
"Abu Kamel". It was very sad to see the suffering of
this noble woman and to hear once again about the injustice perpetrated
in our name.
'Atarot
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Atarot
Atarot was a workers' settlement destroyed during the War of Independence, where the Arab village of Qalandiya now stands, in the southwestern part of Atarot Airport, built by the British Mandate. After 1967, the Atarot industrial zone was established nearby, and until the completion of the wall from the Qalandiya checkpoint to Road 443, a checkpoint was in place. A new Jewish neighborhood is currently planned for the old airport area.
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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 FleishmanFeb-16-2026Qalandiya CP: shortcut
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